to take a joke
19
3.3
- idiom
- Informal
- When she left, Jody smiled at me and was glad I could take a joke.
- learn how to take a joke
- take a joke anymore
- knows how to take a joke
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Watch on YouTubeAnd she's going to think, OK, he can't take a joke, right?
- And she's going to think, OK, he can't take a joke, right?
- All right, so again, there's a a lot of men who feel like one, a lot of women don't know how to take a joke, OK.
- Literally great sense of humor but can't take a joke.
- We'll have to prove ourselves, you know, wit versus being able to take a joke.
Examples
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Anyone who takes a joke seriously is obviously just uptight (in their eyes).
Blog text (10) -
Come on, you guys at Duke can take a joke, right?
Blog text (27) -
You know like-- you take a joke like this, you know.
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Thought they could take a joke.
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Learn how to take a joke.
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I can take a joke.
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"No one in this family can take a joke but me."
Fiction book (2000) -
Come on, you can't take a joke?
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Can't you take a joke?
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It's important to have a sense of humor and to take a joke from friends.
Synonyms
21
4.2
Treat a problem or criticism as not important by joking about it
10
4.2
To make a joke about something embarrassing to show it is not important
2
4.6
To make a problem seem unimportant by joking about it
Antonyms
How Offended
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is compositionally built from 'take' (accept/tolerate) + 'joke' (a humorous remark), so a learner who knows those words can readily infer that it means to tolerate or not be offended by a joke. Cross-linguistically similar constructions (e.g. Spanish tomárselo a broma) and the ordinary sense of 'take' as 'accept' make this immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Take a joke comes from the simple image of someone taking a joke and smiling when they hear it instead of getting angry, so it means 'to not be offended' when someone teases you.