Reader question:

Please explain “inside joke” in this:

Inside Joke: Joe Biden has created more millionaires than any other president. Unfortunately they all live in the Ukraine.

My comments:

US President Joe Biden has passed many bills in support of Ukraine, giving the latter billions of dollars’ worth of military aid. Presumably, quite a few Ukrainians, as middlemen or as contractors, have benefited from this, including a few – more than a few – who have become millionaire in the process.

Hence the joke, that Joe Biden has created more millionaires than any other president previously. But the irony is: these beneficiaries are all Ukrainians, not Americans.

Any truth in this joke?

Maybe there is.

Anyways, it’s a joke, something funny that makes people laugh.

Oh, inside joke.

Inside joke, as name suggests, is a joke that only insiders understand.

Here, as pertains to our example, insiders are people who are familiar with US-Ukraine relations in general and Joe Biden’s Ukrainian policy in particular. Otherwise, they won’t be able to enjoy this joke. They’ll be like, what’s funny? They hear other people laughing out loud and they’ll be like, what’s going on?

Those “other people” who are laughing, by the way, are insiders who are from the inside, who are part of the inner group, so to speak, who are privy to what’s going on inside, say, a members-only club.

That’s right. If it’s a members-only club, then club members are the insiders. If they tell a joke about each other, only members of the club understand.

Others won’t be able to understand because they, well, are outsiders who are left out.

Inside joke, in short, is a humorous reference that is understood only by a particular group of people, i.e. insiders.

All right, here are media examples of “inside joke”:

1. It’s a nickname so clunky that it’s absolutely catchy.

It’s the inside joke that makes you laugh every time, even if you don’t quite get it.

When anyone says it out loud, you can practically hear the ironic air quotes around it – and these days you’re hearing it a lot.

“The Donald’s strange pompadour and Hillary’s strange server have eclipsed all the usual primary permutations.” – Maureen Dowd, New York Times

“Fascination with the Donald has been sucking the life out of the other candidates.” – Elaine Kamarck, Newsweek

“I’m willing to concede that The Donald could become the GOP nominee. . .” – Charles Gasparino, New York Post

Which Donald? Oh come on. You know. Not Sutherland. Not Rumsfeld. Not Duck. The Donald.

So how did Donald Trump get this nickname – and why has it caught on so big?

Considering that Trump hardly shrinks from the name (opening sentence of his 1997 book “Trump: The Art of the Comeback”: “It’s usually fun being The Donald”), you might be surprised that its origins lie in what he’d probably consider enemy territory – a fluke moment of harmonic convergence between the long-estranged wife whose fame once matched his and the legendary, long-defunct magazine that built its reputation by ruthlessly mocking him.

- Why does everyone call Donald Trump ‘The Donald’? WashingtonPost.com, September 1, 2015.

2. When junior Hannah Evans looked to her side during a rehearsal of the Emerald Regiment’s 2015 field show, “Story of My Life,” she noticed junior Cami Kudrna across the field and made eye contact with her.

“While Cami and I were kneeling, we tried so hard not to laugh. She had spit from her flute running down her leg, and for some reason that was so funny to us,” Evans said. “When we got up, we marched the rest of the show next to each other and my shoe was untied.”

When Evans and Kudrna halted their march as the band made a heart shape, Evans kicked off her shoe and marched the rest of the show.

“For some reason it was so funny to us,” Evans said. “At some point [after that] I realized my shoe was untied so I just kicked it off in the middle of our run. Cami and I could not stop laughing for the rest of our show. Even our marching director was laughing.”

Evans believes her most memorable inside joke was “a stupid one” but hilarious at the time. Though they were already good friends, it brought her and Kudrna even closer. The shared experience just added to their bond.

Inside jokes come in many forms. There’s the relatable meme, the awkward memory or the constant roast-joke of a close friend. Whatever the kind, inside jokes bring together two or more people.

At any time, a fond memory of something funny that happened can surface and change a bad day to a better one. Inside jokes are meant for humor, and that’s just what they accomplish, like with the unkempt laughter during Evans’ and Kudrna’s marching experience. Inside jokes, like when sophomore Preston Martin tried to flirt and failed with his pick-up line or when junior Janylah Thomas’ friend thought her brother was a parrot, strengthens relationships and bonds.

As for Evans, her inside joke was about dedication. She and Kudrna fought through a bad run with humor, and it became an important and memorable time in their friendship.

“It was just something for the two of us to laugh at and make fun of ourselves for,” Kudrna said. “Our stupid inside joke is ours, which makes it so great for us.”

- Inside jokes strengthen friendships, BreakingNews.org, February 2, 2017.

3. Taylor Swift has been caught in a major lyric typo error in her new album booklet for The Black Dog, causing fans to express their disappointment online.

On Friday, April 19, the 34-year-old singer released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. The album explores themes of past love and heartbreak.

In a surprising move, Taylor also dropped a second album just two hours after TTPD’s release, with both drops totaling a whopping 31 new songs for fans to enjoy.

Before the album’s release, Taylor introduced four different variants that corresponded to the different stages of grief: The Manuscript, The Black Dog, The Bolter, and The Albatross. Each variant came with its own CDs and vinyl records for fans to order.

Now that the album has been released, fans have begun receiving their orders. Some observant Swifties noticed a significant mistake in one of the lyric booklets.

Fans on X pointed out that The Black Dog contains an unfortunate typo in the lyrics of the song with the same name.

Fans shared photos of the error on the social platform. One fan wrote: “Typo in The Black Dog lyric booklet,” while another made a Swiftie inside joke, saying: “Who let the woodvale intern back into the building?” A third fan commented: “Six weeks? Sorry I only know ‘siz’. There’s a spelling error in the black dog booklet.”

The lyrics are supposed to go: “Six weeks of breathin’ clean air / I still miss the smoke / Were you makin’ fun of me / With some esoteric joke?” However, in a quirky twist within The Black Dog variant lyric booklet, “six” is mistakenly printed as “siz”.

- Taylor Swift fans fume over ‘spelling error’ in The Black Dog album booklets, TheMirror.com, April 20, 2024.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：張欣   編輯：丹妮）