Translations and Explanations

221.Translation: What does the lazy fish do?

What does the lazy fish do?

Nothing!

or

He swims!

Explanation: Nada, in this context, has two meanings: it could mean “nothing”, i.e. the fish does nothing, because he's lazy. However, nada is also the third-person present singular form of the verb nadar, “to swim”. So a lazy fish does nada!

222.Translation: Which fruit laughs the most?

The orange, ha ha ha ha…

Explanation: In Spanish, laughter is normally written as “ja ja ja ja”. It’s like “ha ha ha ha” in English; the Spanish “j” sounds roughly similar to the English “h”. The word for “orange” is naranja, which ends with a “ja”. So oranges must laugh a lot, because they have a ja (“ha”) in their name.

223.Translation: What do you call an angry bear?

Furious!

Explanation: A bear is an oso (a cognate of the uncommon English word ursine, which means “relating to or resembling bears”), and furious is translated to furioso. Get it? A furi-oso!

224.Translation: What did the number 18 say to the number 2? Come with me!

Explanation:Vente in Spanish is an informal command which means “come,” but the similar-sounding word veinte means “twenty.” So what it's really saying is: What did the number 18 say to the number 2? Together we’re 20!

225.Translation: What was the last animal to enter Noah's ark?

The dolphin.

Explanation: “Dolphin” in Spanish is delfín, which sounds just like del fín, meaning “from/of/at the end”. Because delfines are del fin, they'd obviously be the last animal to get on board.

226.Translation: The police officer was searching for the chicken thief. When he saw him, he got on his radio and said “help, help!”.

Explanation: This is a pun because the thief has been stealing chickens, and apoyo, “help”, sounds like pollo, “chicken”. Is the policeman asking for help, or is he describing what he sees?

227.Translation: “What’s the laziest type of cow? A vacation!”

Explanation: It’s a play on the fact that the word vaca, meaning “cow”, is the same as the first two syllables of vacación, meaning “vacation”. So “vaca-ciones” are like lazy cows, because they always go on vacations.

228.Translation: How do you write “nose” in English?

I don’t know.

Correct!

Explanation: “No sé” means “I don’t know”, but it’s of course written with the same letters as the English word “nose”.

229.Translation: How does the cowboy call to his daughter? Daaaaaughter!

Explanation: Hija means daughter. But hiiiija sounds like yeeee-haw. Which is what a cowboy says.

230.Translation: How many stars are in the sky? Fifty.

Explanation: Cincuenta may mean “fifty,” but sin cuenta…that means “countless.”

Thanks to fluentin3months.com for all these jokes and their explanations.