Dad jokes are often met with slight disappointment because of their simplicity and low-hanging fruit nature. However, clinical psychologist Dr. Yael Schonbrun says these jokes aren’t just random humorous attempts, but “linguistic puzzles” that rely on simple types of wordplay.
Homonyms are one type of wordplay you will often find in most dad jokes. These are words that sound the same, have the same spelling, but have a different meaning. An example Dr. Schonbrun used was “I told a chemistry joke, but there was no reaction.”
In this joke, the word "reaction" referred to both the chemical process and the audience's response.
Much like homonyms, homophones are also often used for many of the dad jokes you hear. But in this case, the words sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.
In this scenario, Dr. Schonbrun used this joke as her example: “To start a zoo, you need two pandas, a grizzly bear, and three polar bears. It’s the bear minimum.” Here, you play on the words “bear and bare.”
Paronymy is another type of wordplay that those who love dad jokes would often use. Here, it involves unrelated words spelled completely differently, but sound the same.
As an example, Dr. Schonbrun used the joke: “I gave her a shoulder to crayon,” playing on the words “crayon” and “cry on.”
You may scoff at dad jokes all you want, but experts say they serve an educational purpose. According to humor researcher Marc Hye-knudsen, it can help a child build self-confidence and resilience.
“By continually telling their children jokes that are so bad that they’re embarrassing, fathers may push their children’s limits for how much embarrassment they can handle,” he told FOX 2 Now in 2024.
