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The best way to understand a culture and its people is to immerse yourself in their traditions such as food, language and art.
But once you understand the local sense of humor, that’s when you know you’ve truly made it in — because what people laugh at says a lot about who they are, their values and where they come from.
Inside jokes give an exclusive peek into the culture of a place that travel guidebooks won’t usually write about.
So if you’re planning an international trip anytime soon, here are some of the funniest local jokes from around the world, straight from the people who live there.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Ireland
For many, many years, the Irish were considered the stupidest people in Europe and only good for manual labour, as a result they were the subject of many 'Paddy and Sean say/do something stupid' jokes. This one turned the tables.
Paddy goes for a job on a building site. The boss doesn't really want Paddy on the crew so decides to ask what he thinks will be a tough question for Paddy, believing Paddy will get the answer wrong and the boss can dismiss him from the site, "Paddy. What's the difference between joist and girder?" "Ah shuh now, that's an easy one." Paddy responds. "Joyce wrote *Ulysses* and Goethe wrote *Faust.*".
Forrest Hobbs 4 hours ago
Now this, I really like. Only I'm not at all sure that the whole 'Irish are thick' business was a thing much outside England (yes, excluding Wales and Scotland - they just take the mick out of us English). I've heard, from a Norwegian, that Norway's equivalent to Irish jokes are aimed as us English. As for what the Germans think about Brits, just look up Inselaffen. And I know the French think we're as absurd as we think the French are. 😉🤣
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#2
Canada
Half the things you've probably heard about Canada are just things we told the U.S. about us, just to see if they would believe it. If they ask if we live in igloos, we will say yes, and describe our life growing up on an igloo farm raising domesticated narwhals. Any other Canadian in the vicinity will immediately jump in and corroborate the story, and expand it to make it sound more ridiculous. Then we try to outdo each other to see how ridiculous we can make the story.
#3
Czechia
Here in the Czech Republic, we have a man named Jára Cimrman, who was one of the gratest poets, musicians, teachers, philosofers, authors, inventors, scientists, athletes and an misunderstood genius. But his character is completely fictional. And that's the whole point. We all pretend he was a real person, even though he wasn't. There are so many sights named after him and there is also a really famous comedy theatre group (Divadlo Járy Cimrmana) performing plays he "wrote". I think this is the most czech thing that exists, I'm curios if your country also has something similar.
farbenzirkel 4 hours ago
We do have a fictional cult figure in Germany, but he is basically the exact opposite of Jára Cimrman. While Cimrman is the 'forgotten genius' who almost invented everything, our character is Karl Ranseier. Ranseier originates from the 90s comedy show RTL Samstag Nacht (RTL Saturday Night). He was a running gag in the news segment, where he was always introduced as 'the most unsuccessful [profession] of all time.' For example, he would be described as 'the most unsuccessful lighthouse keeper of all time'—who turned off the light because it was too bright so he could sleep. Every segment ended with the news anchor solemnly announcing: 'Karl Ranseier is dead.' So, while Cimrman is a national hero of 'almost-success,' Ranseier is a national icon of 'total failure.'
Inside jokes have a way of bringing people together and they are born out of shared memories or interests that outsiders have a hard time understanding at first.
But they get even better when they’re shared by millions of people.
"Certain cultures, for example the British from the Romantic period onward, take pride in having a special 'sense of humor' which becomes part of the national identity. That is why we have countless discussions of how the British sense of humor differs from, say, the French or Chinese sense of humor," says Salvatore Attardo, a linguistics professor at East Texas A&M University.
#4
Australia
As a joke, some of us try to convince tourists that drop bears don't exist. Nasty little things and can do some real damage with their claws.
HappyMaskSalesman 4 hours ago
Got attacked by one of these the other day while I was out riding my kangaroo. Little bugger was too fast for my boomerang to get.
#5
Germany
Bielefeld is non-existent, even the city of Bielefeld has offered a prize to anyone who can credibly prove the non-existence of Bielefeld.
Jaya 3 hours ago
It's a parody on conspiracy theories. "Have you ever been to Bielefeld? Do you know anyone's who's from Bielefeld? See, it doesn't exist, it's a conspiracy, they WANT you to think it exists." If I remember correctly, they got the inspiration from a conversation at a party or something, where one person said they were from Bielefeld, and the other person said "Das gibt's doch nicht!" (which means something like "No way!" but literally also means something like "that doesn't exist")
#6
United States Of America
Florida man, tho it's been exported to an extent. I dont think passing observers understand how insane most Florida man stories are.
Edit: here's a fun thing, look up florida man and your birthday. There'll be something wild.
Sometimes these jokes become global — if you are one of those who Googled their birth dates and “Florida Man,” you know what I’m talking about.
What started in local news, has grown into a well‑known global cultural reference. And people from Florida are far from offended.
So much so, that the residents there have organized games and celebrations around the joke in recent years.
This shows that inside jokes can also become a source of pride or shared identity for the locals.
If you haven’t heard about it, “Florida Man” memes come from local news stories about men from Florida doing something unusual or odd — often criminal activities. These stories can range from alligator encounters to bizarre robberies in this US state, and they're all real-life incidents.
The weirder a story is, the more chances are there of it going viral around the world.
#7
Canada
The world will end at 12:00pm on Thursday.
12:30 in Newfoundland.
Newfoundland is in its own time zone (UTC -3:30), which results in many national radio broadcasts in Canada being announced as occurring at a given time “and half an hour later in Newfoundland”.
LinkTheHylian 20 minutes ago
30 extra minutes to live if I'm in Newfoundland? You know what? I'm good.
#8
Czechia
That one time our (now ex-)president almost threw up at St. Wenceslas crown. He was drunk as f and his spokesman told the press "he had a flu", so now sometimes "having a flu" means being wasted/hangover.
Forrest Hobbs 4 hours ago (edited)
Here in the UK, it's 'tired and emotional' - at least for those of us who read Private Eye. 'It was popularised by the British satirical magazine Private Eye in 1967 after being used in a spoof diplomatic memo to describe the state of Labour cabinet minister George Brown' - George Brown being infamous for, erm, his lack of sobriety...
Experts say that shared jokes act sort of like cultural glue.
If you meet a stranger in your own country and don’t know what to talk about, inside jokes are the perfect ice-breakers — they can help you make new friends.
#9
England
"I blame Toby Blair" or "That's Thatcher's Britain for you" is often said in England in response to literally any problem (e.g. dropping a biscuit).
Forrest Hobbs 4 hours ago
Er, almost. That'd be Tony Blair. Although these days, it seems everything gets blamed on Keir Starmer, even when the problems were mostly originated by Mrs T and worsened by bl00dy David Cameron. (no, really - Mrs T started the wrecking of the nation with her mad ideology, and Cameron - a Thatcher acolyte - picked the austerity route in response to the financial crisis which was exactly the opposite of what the country needed, delivering us to the current mess. Oh yes. And Lettuce Truss.)
Since some jokes are usually language-specific and linked to clever wordplay or puns, it always helps to approach a local to make sense of them.
And if you are a local, you shouldn’t think that explaining your joke will ruin the punchline — it can spark intercultural learning and help your friend from another country feel more at home.
Attardo, one of the leading scholars in humor research, says: "There aren’t really any forms of humor that are impossible to get outside of a country. At most, some styles are more popular in some countries than others. For example, the British seem to prefer understatements to exaggerations."
Jokes often give us clues about stereotypes and social issues as well.
#10
Ireland
I just heard that DJ Carey was sentenced to five years.
I didn't even know he'd been charged.
DJ Carey is a famous irish hurler (irish sport)
He also ean a scam raising money to pay for his cancer treatment when he wasnt really sick. This included sharing g a now famous picture of him 'in hospital' with a phone charger up his nose
#12
France
I do not know how much known it is outside of France, but there is a joke argument about whether chocolate croissant is called "pain au chocolat" or "chocolatine". The truth is that it depends on the region, as the south-west calls it "chocolatine" and most of the rest of France "pain au chocolat", plus some other names less used in the north/north-east. The joke is to stubbornly stick to whatever your region's term is and to adamantly refuse to recognise any of the other names.
#13
United States Of America
In the upper Midwest we have these two guys, Ole and Sven, who appear in various stories where they get blue-collar jobs and mess them up in very funny ways, such as by burying entire telephone poles when told to dig holes and put the poles in them.
#14
Switzerland
The town of Olten: There is a nationwide inside joke about the town of Olten, often described as an uninteresting place where people just pass through on the train. The humor comes from the shared understanding of its mundane reputation as a major railway hub.
#15
New Zealand
In Aotearoa New Zealand 'Waikikamukau' refers to (the concept of) a small rural town. It's pronounced roughly "Why kick a moo cow". It doesn't actually exist.
#16
Germany
We have Jakob Maria Mierscheid, a member of the Bundestag for the SPD since 1979. This person doesn't exist. It's a fictional character who nevertheless keeps appearing in documents, references, and lists. He's often criticized in the Bundestag for missing sessions again, or he receives birthday wishes.
#17
Spain
In Spain, when someone is daydreaming, or with the head in the clouds, we say "estar en Babia" (to be in Babia).
Babia is a region in the province of León. In the Middle Ages, the Kings of León used to go to this region to take a break. When in Babia, they weren´t attending to any issues, so when they said "The King is in Babia" they meant that he wasn't going to pay attention to them. The term became generalized to all people who are distracted and not paying attention.
#18
Ireland
Our former Taoiseach (prime minister), went on national radio at the time of the financial crisis with a horrific hangover/possibly still pised, and it was attributed to him "being congested". Ever since then, it's a euphemism for being really hungover
#19
Poland
2137- our funny number.
jwrsk:
The exact time John Paul II passed away was 9:37 PM, some folks in Poland decided it was a holy hour, some folks decided it was a meme. The meme won.
#20
Portugal
I went to Poland for my studies and made a joke about Portuguese people that were house builder. Absolutely nobody of my polish, italian or spanish friend get the joke. And I recently learn that in our history Portuguese people went to France as immigrants and choose (I dont really know why) to work mostly as house builder or in the building construction.
LinkTheHylian 15 minutes ago
Never hire a builder from the American mid-west. Bunch of cowboys...
#21
France
🇫🇷 "Where is Brian?"
cheese_McDoogles:
Sorry Frenchbros, I'm going to let strangers in on the joke and ruin its inside-ness: "Where is Brian? Brian is in the kitchen." is France's stock phrase/exchange to sarcastically demonstrate English proficiency much in the same way that "¿Dónde está la biblioteca?" is America's stock-phrase to sarcastically demonstrate Spanish proficiency
LinkTheHylian 11 minutes ago
Everyone join in! Dónde está la biblioteca? Me llamo T-Bone, la araña discoteca.
#22
Brazil
🇧🇷 We have a joke about a state in Brazil (Acre)where dinosaur's still alive, kind of 'Flintstone' vibe. Just because it is far away from everything and we never see too much news about it.
#23
Netherlands
A very recent one here is "Ik heb daar geen actieve herinnering aan." ( "I have no active memory of that". ).
It was a phrase used by Prime Minister Mark Rutte (current head of NATO) several times, where he'd essentially refuse to answer critical questions instead claiming he had no memory of it.
By now it's a staple sentence here, it's in one of our biggest dictionaries (Dikke van Dale), it's on mugs, on T-shirts. It's both a bit of an inside joke and a figure of speech that people outside of The Netherlands will not know the origins of.
Jaya 3 hours ago (edited)
I never quote "I have a dream" or "yes we can" or any other inspiring political quotes. But I quote "Ik heb er geen actieve herinnering aan" at least once a month 😄 It's just such a fun thing to say ("Hey, you promised you were gonna do the dishes yesterday!" - "Who, me? No, I don't have an active memory of that at all 😇"). It became a very popular expression in the Netherlands, because it's absolutely insane for a politician to try to get away with lying about super important stuff by saying "I didn't lie, I just didn't remember".
#24
United States Of America
Johnny Appleseed was a real man and the stories about him generally follow his real life but so many embellishments and folk tales have grown up around him a lot of people believe he is totally fictional.
It also kind of reminds me of chuck norris jokes.
#25
United States Of America
If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.
(Actually I'm not sure if non-US people would know this and an am genuinely curious if they do.).
KaijuicyWizard:
Johnny Cochrane (sp?) during the OJ trail, right? I’m a Brit but it’s been pretty referenced throughout a lot of sitcoms etc over the years I reckon
#26
Sweden
Bellman.
LordOfDorkness42:
Context for none Swedes: There's an entire joke structure that turns one of our most historically important bards into basically Swedish Chuck Norris, but a lot grosser and dumber. And usually very verbose for a joke.
Example joke, translation from memory, me:
A Norwegian, A German and a Bellman was out walking, when they met a terrible giant.
"I shall challenge you to challenge me!" The Giant bellowed at them. "Grant me an impossible task, or I shall eat you!"
The three men were terrified, but saw no other way out. So the Norwegian went first.
"Race around the world!" The Norwegian said.
But the Giant was mighty indeed. And he did so in a single leap. And then he gobbled up the Norwegian in just a few, horrible bites.
The two men were now even more terrified, but tried to stay brave.
"Jump around Jupiter" The German screamed.
But the Giant was mighty indeed. And he swiftly raced around Jupiter. And then he gobbled up the German in just a few, horrible bites.
Bellman was so terrified, he let out a great, and horrible fart.
"Chase down that fart!" Bellman shouted. "And paint it green!"
The giant ran off. And never came back.
#27
France
There are a lot of jokes in France based on the TV comedy sketch from "Les Inconnus" (3 guys playing together) that were incredibly successful in the 1990s (to the point where I think that 25 years later, nobody has been as funny as them in French since.
The most famous one is "Le bon chasseur, il voit quelque chose qui bouge, il tire, le mauvais chasseur, il voit quelque chose qui bouge, il tire, mais c'est pas la même chose" translating as "When a good hunter sees something moving, he has to shoot, when a bad hunter sees something moving, well, he has to shoot, but that's totally different."
It is a quite funny and deep reflection on how our judgements and norms are sometimes hypocritical and arbitrary.
Lee Gilliland 3 hours ago
It is, sadly, something that doesn't translate well but is hysterical.
#28
Germany
The entirety of German humor is an injoke nobody seems to get, to the point where everyone thinks we don't have humor at all.
Zig Zag Wanderer 2 hours ago
The fact that you don't, is the joke, however. Like any good plot twist.
#29
Chile
The first line in the national anthem of Chile says, pure chile with your skys blue... But it also sounds pure Chile with heaven by your side. Argentina is by Chile. They hate each other.
It's how the language is.
Puro Chile con sus cielos azulados. (Blue sky's)
Puro Chile con sus cielos a su lados. (Heaven is next door)
They sound exactly the same.
#30
Denmark
Every Dane knows that Ausfahrt is the biggest city in Germany!
PipBin:
Genuine story. My dad, English, was in Germany visiting a friend. All the German he knows is how to order a beer (and do you really need to know more?). The friend collected him and my mum from the airport and drove them home. When the got to his friends small town he couldn’t understand how this small town had signs all along the motorway. Mum, who speaks some German, asked what he meant. He said that they had seen signs for Ausfarht all the way from the airport and where they had turned off...
Corfiz74:
"Ausfahrt", from the German word "ausfahren"="to drive out"
#31
United Kingdom
You have no authority here, Jackie Weaver.
Forrest Hobbs 4 hours ago
A viral on-line council meeting. Look up Jackie Weaver if you must know. Apparently, she really didn't have any authority, but it didn't stop her disconnecting the troublemaker.
#32
United States Of America
In America we pretend Wyoming doesn’t exist and/or everything is Ohio.
Michael Largey 1 hour ago
"Ohio is just closet space that never made it to New York." - Jack Paar
#33
Canada
"Sauf une fois au chalet" > "except that one time at the cabin." It's used jokingly to claim that doing a bad thing doesn't count if it was just once, and it was at a cabin in the woods.
References a famous court case where an old guy who was accused of SAing his daughters vehemently denied hurting his daughters, he swore he never ever touched them...(long pause, then adds more quietly, as if just remembering)... except that one time at the cabin.
Jaya 2 hours ago
It's very different, but it reminds me a bit of the "except for the slavery stuff", from the Daily Show interviews with MAGA people. If a time back then was great except for slavery, then it wasn't really great was it? It's become a staple expression at my home, for when someone overlooks or forgets to mention 1 "detail" that's actually a majorly important part of the story.
#34
Sweden
Nej... Nej, jag tror faktiskt inte det.
("No... No, I don't think so." Quote from the king after being asked by a journalist whether he'd been to the local strip club).
#36
United Kingdom
I cannot sweat, I was at a pizza express in woking.
Forrest Hobbs 4 hours ago
That's a reference to the Andrew formerly known as Prince. BBC interview - very sad.
#37
Indonesia
We live in either Konoha country or Wakanda.
David Paterson 1 hour ago
I had to look this up. Konoha and Wakanda are fictional places from Naruto and Black Panther. By criticising the government of Konoha or Wakanda you can't be arrested for criticising the Indonesian government.
#38
Sweden
The gays (derogatory) are to blame.
Aroace tiger (she/they/he) 3 hours ago
That's something I'd ironically say as a queer individual...
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What do you think ?
Zig Zag Wanderer 2 hours ago (edited)
Why not Harold Holt in Australia? Naming a swimming pool after a prime minister who was lost at sea is pretty funny!
Zig Zag Wanderer 2 hours ago (edited)
Why not Harold Holt in Australia? Naming a swimming pool after a prime minister who was lost at sea is pretty funny!
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