Dad Jokes

You’ve almost certainly heard the type of joke referred to as a “dad joke”—the kind of joke that makes you groan, roll your eyes at its awful punchline, and regret the five seconds of your life wasted in listening to it. Yet for all the bad rap they get, “dad jokes” are still alive and kicking. Stanley Dubinsky is here with us today to talk with us about why dad jokes are still so popular, and what linguistic characteristics make them special. The idea for this story came from The Atlantic.com.