ACE IN THE HOLE

Andy Martin's posts

I went to my doctor and told the receptionist that I felt like a deck of cards. She said, “Have a seat. The doctor will deal with you when he can.” What’s so funny about this? OK, I acknowledge that this cartoon is a little strange, but so is saying that you feel like a deck of cards. Colloquially it’s possible to say something like that though it’s not meant to be taken literally. It means that you would like to have or possibly to play with a deck of cards, in other words, you feel like playing cards. This could get further confusing because another, more complete name for cards like this is, “playing cards”. It all rests on the word “playing”. It can be a verb or an adjective. The latter just means cards for playing. The former means you want to play. A better example might be the statement, “I feel like a martini”, referring to the drink made with gin and vermouth. Taken literally it could mean that you actually feel on the inside, as if you were an alcoholic drink with an olive. But figuratively, to “feel like” something means “to want” something, so it’s just another way of saying you want to drink a martini. But interpreting something literally especially if you know that’s not the intention of the speaker, is a great source of jokes. In today’s joke, the nurse is being literal, because the patient actually appears to be a deck of cards. The nurse could have said that the doctor would see him or treat him soon. But the reason she said “deal with” is because that’s how you play with a deck of cards. You deal them out one at a time to the players. In other words, pass them out one by one. This joke really suits the nurse in spades. And THAT’s what’s so funny! This joke was posted on punofthedaycom by rb from Norfolk, VA #joke #pun #ESL #ELT #ELL #ELD #ESOL #EFL #TESOL #ESOL #English #language #learnenglish #twinglish #wordplay #cards #playingcards #aceinthehole #dealwithit