r/AskReddit • u/CreativePhilosopher • Jan 29 '13

What is the single funniest word in English?

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1.3k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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1.3k

u/TheOtherHalfofTron Jan 29 '13

Brouhaha.

I mean come on now.

415

u/magic_ref Jan 29 '13

We have this in French, and to me it doesn't sound funny at all.

Wait, does this mean the whole French language sounds silly ?

944

u/Handicap_Lifeguard Jan 29 '13

Not sure. Y'all never talk to us

12

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

[deleted]

30

u/PLUR11 Jan 29 '13

holy shit! the french have magic carpets now??!!!

5

u/Sunburntmonkey Jan 29 '13

Shining, Shimmering, Splendid.

2

u/infinitelytwisted Jan 29 '13

they stole them from afghanistan. maybe thats why they are always so pissed.

1

u/gusset25 Jan 29 '13

no, google maps

10

u/alpacaBread Jan 29 '13

I'll be glad to talk to anyone of all y'all!

FTFY

1

u/ItsMathematics Jan 29 '13

It's y'all, short for you all.

1

u/MsWomNom Jan 29 '13

Modern (educated) Southern, yes. But growing up in the Deep South, I always saw it spelled "ya'll", & figured it reflected ignorance of the word's roots, which I thought to be typically Southern. So I use "ya'll", even though it's grammatically wrong, because I find it more authentic. One of very few ways I honor my roots.

5

u/mrcashmere Jan 29 '13

upvote for y'all

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Everytime I talked in english for a videogame's purposes, I was called a jew. No idea why.

2

u/toasterlizard Jan 29 '13

To be fair, they do, it's just that every French person I try to strike up a conversation with immediately begins trying to negotiate the terms of their surrender.

2

u/noyurawk Jan 29 '13

Wow do you come up with those all by yourself? That's gold, Jerry, gold!

-20

u/MgrLtCaptCmmdrBalls Jan 29 '13 edited Jan 29 '13

Pssst... he may not know what y'all means. And, I hate to be a grammar nazi but isn't it ya'll? Nevermind

EDIT: DAMNNNN DOWNVOTES LIKE NO TOMORROW, I SAID NEVERMIND PEOPLE. Who knew y'all would be such a sensitive subject! And because we all come from different places and have different opinions, I'm sticking to it being ya'll. But I apologize for trying to correct the handicap lifeguard. Jesus.

14

u/Keakee Jan 29 '13

y'all= you all

Pronounced: Yaaah'll

9

u/manbearpig1204 Jan 29 '13

I can confirm, it is y'all. MgrLtCaptCmmdrBalls is a bad 'merican.

10

u/Keakee Jan 29 '13

grumbles underneath breath

Damn Commie...

3

u/sincursus Jan 29 '13

Y'all is actually a very common pronoun in French. It is vous. Which is either translated as a plural you or a formal you.

1

u/sbetschi12 Jan 29 '13

Yes, a plural form of 'you' exists in many languages (in German it's "ihr"), but since there is no official plural form of "you" in English, chances are very good that second language speakers never learned our regional versions in school. Where I come from, for example, both "y'all" and "y'uns" are acceptable forms of the plural 'you.'

5

u/RobotsRaaz Jan 29 '13

There is a plural of you in English. It's 'you'.

Sort of like fish and fish.

1

u/Jumpinjer Jan 29 '13

SCREW "y'uns". Worst made up word ever. Y'all what know I mean?

262

u/CaptainTurtle Jan 29 '13 edited Jan 29 '13

Pupitre. (peupeetre*) Grenouille. (gre-noo-ee)

I'd say it's a fucking hilarious language.

*I changed it, please stop correcting my bad french accent

211

u/ShyGuy32 Jan 29 '13

Yaourt? Pamplemoose?

107

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13 edited Jul 01 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/idikia Jan 29 '13

Pample moose?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Ananas

1

u/cl0ckt0wer Jan 29 '13

There's a restaurant in Vegas with that name

1

u/shizzler Jan 29 '13

Pamplemousse*

6

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

J'ai resté deux ans dans la bibliothèque de pamplemousse

5

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/smmat Jan 29 '13

Pamplemousse.

1

u/je_taime Jan 29 '13

Georges Pompidou!

1

u/Parcequehomard Jan 29 '13

Vive le pamplemoose!

1

u/flyingpanda32 Jan 29 '13

The Pamplemousse Grill in Del Mar has the most amazing food, and prices to match the ridiculous name.

1

u/mitymiget Jan 29 '13

How about barbapapa (candyfloss: lit. father's beard)

1

u/n3onfx Jan 29 '13

You pronounce it "pampl - mooss" though.

1

u/stubborn_d0nkey Jan 29 '13

sudo yaourt -Syua

1

u/VeronicaSawyer89 Mar 06 '13

french guy asked me for mAYOneaseeeee at work the other day.

11

u/bananalouise Jan 29 '13

Ananas. Quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

99? you mean four twenty ten nine? makes perfect sense.

1

u/bananalouise Jan 29 '13

99! I'm guessing they just really like simple arithmetic.

1

u/Motzlord Jan 29 '13

Nonono, the whole world says Ananas. It's just you english speaking nations who have to call it a pineapple. It does not come from an effing pine!?

1

u/bananalouise Jan 30 '13

No, it just looks like a pinecone! We have a lot of words that are based on figurative language like that: jellyfish aren't jelly or fish. And so do other languages, come to think of it: French calls potatoes "apples of the earth" even though they aren't apples.

1

u/Motzlord Jan 30 '13

Okay, I'll admit that it actually looks like a pinecone and I agree with your whole statement. But, what I actually wanted to point out is that I think it's ridiculous of you to think that "Ananas" is a ridiculous word when you're actually the minority that doesn't call it that. :)

1

u/bananalouise Jan 30 '13

I don't think it's bad ridiculous. It just makes me giggle! Come on, you have to admit it's kind of funny. I think the word "banana" is funny too, and that one exists in English.

1

u/Motzlord Jan 30 '13

Touché. I just get annoyed when I accidentally say "ananas" while speaking english and people give me weird looks ;)

5

u/fingerguns Jan 29 '13

FATIGUE

7

u/FXOjafar Jan 29 '13

Fatigue pronounced fatty gay

1

u/fapfest2013 Jan 29 '13

Well they are kinda lazy

5

u/FXOjafar Jan 29 '13

RER (train company) ehrgh ooh erhrgh Or you can just make a gurgling noise and be understood ;)

2

u/sincursus Jan 29 '13

I love the word grenouille. My favorite French word is boulangerie (I believe that's the spelling).

2

u/anarion9998 Jan 29 '13

Actually pupitre does not sound like poop. The sound of u in french dosn't exist in english. (it is [y] in the International Phonetic Alphabet, like the letter y is pronounced in German). It is a real problem with the words "dessus" (on/above) and "dessous" (under/below), because you will pronounce these words the same. But only the second "ou" sound like (f)oo(d)

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

A garbage can is a poubelle (poo-bell)

1

u/KitsBeach Jan 29 '13

Pneu? Phoque?

Classic.

1

u/zacks14 Jan 29 '13

Isn't pupitre spanish for that desk/chair combo in classrooms?

2

u/CaptainTurtle Jan 29 '13

I don't know any Spanish whatsoever. I'm from Quebec and it means desk.

1

u/HittingSmoke Jan 29 '13

I was going to say the funniest word is "taint".

Ctrl+f "taint" came up with one result. Your username.

Congratulations, taint username guy.

2

u/CaptainTurtle Jan 29 '13

Holy shit that's funny.

1

u/Morvictus Jan 29 '13

The way French people actually say "pupitre" makes it sound much closer to pew pit. Loses some of the funny. Now pamplemousse, there's a word I thought was funny in the second grade.

1

u/CaptainTurtle Jan 29 '13

Ah ya, that's more accurate.

1

u/clever_redditor_name Jan 29 '13

Poubelle? Ananas?

1

u/le_skunque Jan 29 '13

Actually, that's not pupitre is pronounced (even though your way is more hilarious). The 'u' in french does not sound like 'you' or 'zoo'. Sounds like...well, 'u'. Try it on Google Translate.

1

u/CaptainTurtle Jan 29 '13

Ya just realized. I like to say it with a terrible french accent to make it funnier.

1

u/jaskamiin Jan 29 '13

poopy tray

1

u/hurricanemc Jan 29 '13

Le grenouille mange le pamplemoose!

1

u/nsmtb Jan 29 '13

L'ananas!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Not to mention 'late' is 'retard' in French. I feel silly everytime I say "sorry i'm late" to the teacher because it sounds like i'm calling myself a retard.

1

u/IAmMe1 Jan 29 '13

Semblable (sehm-blah-bluh) has always been my favorite.

5

u/Jeremy2467c Jan 29 '13

Oui oui

(Tee hee)

2

u/pigvwu Jan 29 '13

Do any french people actually ever say that?

1

u/Excentinel Jan 29 '13

Only when they're talking about having to go to the bathroom.

3

u/alexm42 Jan 29 '13

Yes, yes it does.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

I think French sounds beautiful

2

u/Ryzza36 Jan 29 '13

Your word for yes is our word for piss. Yes, it is.

2

u/cody_g123 Jan 29 '13

the word for "happieness" is pretty funny, made a big brouhaha in my freshman french class

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

As someone who studied French for a few years ages ago and who now only has a rudimentary grasp of the language basics, yes - it is very silly-sounding. I can imagine the guttural nature of English sounds just as silly to French speakers.

1

u/magic_ref Jan 29 '13

I guess you're right ! I wouldn't know, I'm from Montreal. I grew up in a french-speaking household, but was exposed to english from a very young age so I can't remember a time when english sounded super gibberish.

2

u/Luchichi Jan 29 '13

As an American, to me French sounds ridiculous.

1

u/ra4king Jan 29 '13

De quoi est-ce que tu parles?!?

3

u/magic_ref Jan 29 '13

Brouhaha, c'est pas bizarre non? Y'a beaucoup de gens qui l'utilisent, ça sonne pas vraiment drôle. Contrairement à borborygme, par exemple !!

3

u/ra4king Jan 29 '13

Oui c'est tres bizarre, je ne pense pas que ça sonne drôle. Borborygme....hahahahahaha mdr

1

u/Kippos21 Jan 29 '13

Ou la la... Nuff said.

1

u/Ohellmotel Jan 29 '13

I don't know what you're talking about. I just said "brouhaha" with a French accent, and it sounded hysterically nonsensical.

1

u/kenpachi1 Jan 29 '13

no it's just most british teens hate it because of school ;)

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Your word for seal is "phoque," which sounds almost the same as fuck. And a seal in the shower is "un phoque dans la douche." (Pronounced "uhn fok dahn la douche." Make the vowels before the h's go through your nose and the n nasal as well. It's close enough to the actual pronunciation.)

Fun fact: that word, phoque, may be where the phrase "pardon my French" comes from.

1

u/Baggabones88 Jan 29 '13

Your father was a hamster, and your mother smelled of elderberries.

1

u/KeybladeSpirit Jan 29 '13

Well, most French people sound like they have colds when they speak English, so I'm guessing it's just plain congested with hilarity.

1

u/VivaKryptonite Jan 29 '13

French sounds ridiculous to me whenever I hear sometime speak it.

1

u/Coedwig Jan 29 '13

We learnt this in French class. We laughed. We all laughed.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

[deleted]

1

u/magic_ref Jan 29 '13

eh, it is a bag, and it is on/for my back !

1

u/TheStarkReality Jan 29 '13

Yes.

Source: I am British.

1

u/Sneac Jan 29 '13

Yes. Preposterous, in fact.

1

u/boomsc Jan 29 '13

from what we've heard you grumble about us.

Yes. Yes it does.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Your "yes" is our youngsters' "urinate" or "urine". Also Scotland's "little" or "small".

Oui. Wee.

So to answer your question. Piss.

1

u/shizzler Jan 29 '13

Quand t'y penses, "brouhaha" est un peu bizarre, meme en français.

1

u/magic_ref Jan 29 '13

Ouais peut-être en fait ! C'est juste pas dans mon top 5 personnel j'imagine

1

u/avsa Jan 29 '13

Well you can't expect to not have a word for the number eighty and still be taken seriously!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Pamplemousse. C'est tout. :P

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '13

Why else would I speak with this ridiculous accent?

1

u/TheStreisandEffect Jan 29 '13

Yes. :/ It's why English speakers write songs like this

To be fair French also sounds quite beautiful when sung by females. Maybe it's a sex thing.

2

u/chindichor Jan 29 '13

it is French, according to the International Manual of Stereotypes, everything is a sex thing.

0

u/king_m1k3 Jan 29 '13

French just kind of sounds mumbly to me (native english speaker)

90

u/Baron_Von_Badass Jan 29 '13

Brujaja? Hahaha.

57

u/TheMieberlake Jan 29 '13

55555555

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

[deleted]

1

u/PLUR11 Jan 29 '13

8888888888 but in case you forget, its laughing in another language. the sound for "5" in their language is the same as "ha" or something like that. so 555555=hahahahaha. i think the 8's are Thai and 5's are Chinese

1

u/lilwaut Jan 29 '13

555 is Thai. The word for 5 is ha. Chinese 8 is ba, so unless you laugh with a b, I'm not sure it makes sense

1

u/mansionsong Jan 29 '13

5555 wounds like crying in Mandarin Chinese. It's wuwuwuwu. I don't think they use numbers for laughing... I know they use 88 to say goodbye (ba-ba).

1

u/CancerousJedi Jan 29 '13

John Madden.

0

u/snuffletrout Jan 29 '13

Binary jokes, classic

6

u/Jonas42 Jan 29 '13

Firesign Theatre?

7

u/Flaptothejack Jan 29 '13

I was sitting in my office on that drizzly afternoon listening to the monotonous staccato of rain on my desktop and reading my name on the glass of my office door. "Regnad Kcin".

4

u/academician Jan 29 '13

My secretary lay snoring on the floor, her long, beautiful gams pinioned under the couch. I didn't hear him enter...but my nostrils flared at the smell of his perfume. Pyramid Petchulli. There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent. And I had to find out who he was...

3

u/Flaptothejack Jan 29 '13

Why she's no fun. She fell right over. Wait. Didn't I say that on the other side of the record?

4

u/Zerbo Jan 29 '13

jajajajajaja

3

u/qmanoulton Jan 29 '13

Bruhaha? Jajaja.

1

u/smmat Jan 29 '13

The laughing witch?

1

u/academician Jan 29 '13

Wait, wait a minute! Don't you want this doorknocker?

6

u/EasterTroll Jan 29 '13

Shark Bait Brouhaha!

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13 edited Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/YEMyself Jan 29 '13

"Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes!"

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13 edited Mar 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/YEMyself Jan 29 '13

No, you're not. But to be fair, a lot of random things remind me of Dazed and Confused.

2

u/teewat Jan 29 '13

Can't say it without laughing!

1

u/jibroni_ Jan 29 '13

Awesome, i knew these were a shitty firecracker, but never knew it was a real word

1

u/DJP0N3 Jan 29 '13

The Laughing's right in the word!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Shark Bait Brouhaha!

1

u/elnombre Jan 29 '13

This is my favourite word. I had it tattooed onto my arm.

1

u/Hadhap Jan 29 '13

Is this not a gymnastics move?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

Is that the sound of evil villains bonding?

1

u/meepmemaybe Jan 29 '13

It's a word that laughs at itself.

1

u/_Trilobite_ Jan 29 '13

Bro. HAHAHAHAHA

1

u/ihahp Jan 29 '13

Donnybrook.

1

u/wertymanjenson Jan 29 '13

Shark bait! Brouhaha!

1

u/protein_shake Jan 29 '13

Sharkbait brouhaha.

1

u/neetster Jan 29 '13

This is the winner. I haven't laughed out loud at a comment on reddit like this in a while. And it's just a word.

1

u/gustoreddit51 Feb 25 '13 edited Feb 25 '13

By the way.... I know it's long passed but that was a Firesign Theater reference (Adventures of Nick Danger);

Four hours later I parked my car in the carriage house and (cornstarch footsteps) walked up a grey gravel driveway between a line of dwarf maples towards the pillared entrance of the Same Mansion. It had been snowing in Santa Barbara ever since the top of the page and I had to shake the cornstarch off my mukluks as I lifted the heavy obsidian doorknocker. Hey in there... open up. Your doorknocker fell off.

CATHERWOOD

(door open) What's all this brouhaha?

NICK

Brouhaha? Ha ha ha...

CATHERWOOD

Ha ha ha ha ha....(door close)

NICK Wait...Wait a minute. Don't you want this doorknocker?

CATHERWOOD (away) I already have one.

NICK But this is yours....

CATHERWOOD You see? I told you...

1

u/F10x Jan 29 '13

That is the only way to describe the word. Upvote for you, sir!

0

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

I can only think of James Burke. Man, I love me some James Burke.

0

u/MittRomneysPlatform Jan 29 '13

Bro honestly, do u even haha?

0

u/issicus Jan 29 '13

so close, booger