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Glite Dictionary
blue joke

blue joke

8.6
A joke about sex or other adult subjects that may offend some people
  • noun
  • /blu dʒoʊk/
  • Offensive
translation icon : chiste verde
  • He made everyone uncomfortable by telling a blue joke at the dinner table.

Examples

  • Some audiences prefer clean humor, while others don't mind a blue joke now and then.

  • He told a blue joke at the party.

  • The comedian was known for slipping a blue joke into every set.

  • I can't believe you shared that blue joke!

  • The comedian told a blue joke that made the audience both laugh and cringe.

  • During the party, someone shared a blue joke that quickly became the highlight of the night.

  • He was known for his blue jokes, which often pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable.

Synonyms

dirty joke
vsblue joke
  • Offensive
8 7.2

A joke that talks about sex or private parts in a rude way

is used more generally for indecent material, not only explicit sexual references
blue story
vsblue joke
  • Offensive
9.9

A rude joke about sex that can offend people

is the shorter indecent form rather than a longer narrative
off-color humor
vsblue joke
  • Offensive
9.0

Jokes that are rude or offensive

focuses specifically on indecent or risque material often about sexual matters

How Indecent

dirty joke
  • Offensive
8 7.2
blue joke
  • Offensive
8.6
risque
  • NSFW
1 7.7

Surface Forms

blue joke singular
blue jokes plural

Morphology

blue + joke

The sense of 'blue' meaning 'indecent' is idiomatic and not predictable from the basic color meaning plus 'joke'. A B1 learner who knows 'blue' as a color and 'joke' as an amusing story would not reliably infer the risqué meaning without prior exposure, so this phrase is language-specific and opaque.

Etymology

Blue joke may come from old show business. One popular story says performers marked risqué lines 'blue' in their scripts, so a blue joke was a joke for adults, which is why today it means a 'joke that is indecent'.