总有人喜欢讲“冷笑话”来调节已经很尴尬的气氛，然后气氛就变得越来越尴尬。
冷笑话的英文是什么呢？
冷是cold。
笑话是joke。
那么冷笑话顾名思义就是“cold joke”啦！
——当然不是！
“冷笑话”真正的英文是lame joke。
lame joke：A joke that is deemed (often by the listener) to be corny or otherwise not amusing.
（通常被听众）认为老掉牙或不好笑的笑话。
例句：
A: "Come on, isn't that funny?"
B: "It's kind of a lame joke, Mom."
A：“得了吧，这不是很好笑吗？”
B:“这是个冷笑话，妈妈。”
那么lame是什么意思呢？
lame
adj. 比较级是lamer，最高级是lamest
1. 过时的，现在通常令人反感的；dated, now usually offensive
2. 跛的; 瘸的; unable or only partially able to use a body part and especially a limb
3. 无聊的、愚蠢的或不谙世故的；boring, foolish, or unsophisticated
lame在以前是常用的形容词，用来形容任何不能充分利用身体某一部分（残疾）的人或动物。然而，在20世纪，lame的许多贬义用法变得很常见，这使得原本常用的中性医学用法越来越令人反感。
Lame was formerly common as a descriptor of any person or animal lacking full use of a part of the body and especially a limb. Over the course of the 20th century, however, numerous disparaging uses of lame became common, making the neutral medical uses as applied to people increasingly offensive.
所以后来，lame不再适用于医学背景下的人，而是出现了贬损性的用法，如“蹩脚的借口”、“他太蹩脚了”和“蹩脚的笑话”，偶尔也被认为是冒犯性的。
Lame is no longer applied to people in medical contexts, and the disparaging uses, as in "a lame excuse," "he's so lame,"and "lame jokes," are occasionally considered to be offensive as well.
lame在动物身上的用法仍然很常见，通常不被视为冒犯。
所以作为动词，lame也有“使残废， 把……弄残废，使跛”的意思。
lame也是一个名词。
除了代表“跛脚的人”以外，还有金银锦缎的意思。
除了lame joke，joke还有其他我们不熟悉的用法吗？
running joke
流传的笑话。
A joke or humorous element that is introduced early on in a story and then appears or is referred to again repeatedly.
一个笑话或幽默元素，在故事的早期被引入，然后重复出现或被提及。
例句：
There's this weird running joke throughout the novel about the protagonist's dislike of avocado, but it falls flat every single time.
整部小说中都有一个奇怪的笑话，说主人公不喜欢鳄梨，但每次都不攻自破。
crack a joke
打趣。
To say something funny; to tell a joke.
说一些有趣的话；讲笑话。
例句：
The teacher scolded me for cracking a joke in the middle of class.
老师责备我在课堂上瞎玩闹。
inside joke
圈内笑话。
A joke that is amusing to certain people but is not readily understandable or humorous to others.
对某些人来说很有趣，但对其他人来说不容易理解或幽默的笑话。
例句：
What you said must be an inside joke. It makes no sense to me.
你说的一定是个圈内笑话，这对我来说毫无意义。
joke的百变用法你学会了吗？
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走路身体左右摇晃怎么改正常用的纸张厚度是多少mm