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Inherently Funny Words

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"Fifty-seven years in this business, you learn a few things. You know what words are funny and which words are not funny. Alka-Seltzer is funny. You say 'Alka-Seltzer', you get a laugh... Words with 'k' in them are funny. Casey Stengel, that's a funny name. Robert Taylor is not funny. Cupcake is funny. Tomato is not funny. Cookie is funny. Cucumber is funny. Car keys. Cleveland... Cleveland is funny. Maryland is not funny. Then, there's chicken. Chicken is funny. Pickle is funny."
—Neil Simon, The Sunshine Boys

Fact: Whether by pronunciation, spelling, or use, some words are just plain funny. List your favorite Inherently Funny Words here!

Warning: Do not use any of these words to try tomake an unfunny sentence funny.

See alsoNarm, which is what happens whenInherently Funny Words crop up in inherently unfunny contexts. The word "Uranus" gets this so much,it has its own Trope.

Examples of Inherently Funny Words include:

Words With a "K"

Del: What's "duckà l'orange"in French?
Rodney: [pause] It'scanard.
Del:I know it's hard!

Booker: Why did you name me Booker?
Orson: I like books.
Booker: I'm glad you don't like kumquats!

Words With an "oo" Sound

Celebrity Names

Given Names

Brad: "Hello and welcome to the 6 o'clock news, I'm Chester Snapdragon McFisticuffs..."

Animal Names

"Your Majesty, if you were king, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?"
"Not nobody! Not nohow!"
"How about a hippopotamus?"
"Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottom-us!"

  • horned toad
    • or better still, "horny toad"
  • horse
  • humuhumunukunukuapua`a (Hawai`i's State Fish)
  • iguana
  • kangaroo
  • kiwi
  • koala (especialy if they come fromKoala Walla Land.)
  • kukaburra
  • Kunekune
  • liger (the offspring of a lion and a tiger)
  • lizard
  • llama. It's got to be the double L.
    • alpaca
    • guanaco
    • vicuña
  • lobster
  • lumba-lumba (Malaysian for dolphin)
  • manatee
    • seacow
      • both got nothin' on Dugong
  • mandrill (a kind of old-world monkey; separate the two words with a hyphenfor full effect)
  • marmot
  • mongoose
  • monkey
    • Even more inherently funny than duck. Especially when used as an Adjective. Go ahead, add the word "monkey" to any verb or nn-proper noun you can think of.
      • So, what about "duck-monkey"?
    • It's also useable as a handy verb. Or an expletive.Especially as an expletive.
    • There's a type of flower called the Sticky Monkey Flower, apparently because its sticky and it looks like the face of a monkey. Try thinking about sticky monkeys without laughing.
  • moose (...once bit my sister...)
    • This has led to something of a fundamental difference in the perception of the animal in the US and Europe; it's hard to remember sometimes that the "majestic elk" in folklore isn't the larger animal in the Pacific Northwest, but the goofy animal that Americans, and increasingly the rest of the Anglophone world, know as the "moose."
  • narwhal
  • ocelot, according toGreg Proops
    • Proops is quite the funny name too.
  • orangutan
  • otter. Try inserting it into an average sentence.
  • penguin
  • pig
  • platypus
  • polliwog
  • {{{Video Game/{Iji}} pony}}
  • Pudu. Thisis a real creature (look it up!), the world's smallest deer. Scientific name?Pudu Pudu.
  • Quokka.
  • sheep (known toblow up real baaaaaad)
  • SNAAAAKE!!
  • sperm whale
  • SPIIIIIIDERS!
  • spotted shag(actually a kind of seabird)
  • squid
  • squirrel
  • titmouse (which is neither a tit [breast], nor a mouse)
    • And one variety, the tufted titmouse.
  • Tits!They're actually cute little birds.
    • Pictures of them make surprisingly good offerings when people online ask for tits without specifying which kind.
  • Tree sloth
  • trout

Anything goes in
Anything goes out
fish, bananas, old pajamas
mutton, beef and trout

    • Or, if you prefer:

Often thinks that travel widens
"Stay at home," thetrout obliges

  • turtle
  • walrus
    • I has a bukkit!
  • weasel (one of Dave Barry's favorite words)
  • weimaraner (a breed of dog)
  • wombat (actually a very dangerous animal, but a funny name to be sure). And even their dangerousness is in a veryKiller Rabbit way; since they have a similar ecological niche to rabbits and look like them, though they are rather larger than any rabbit.
  • woodcock
  • yak
  • yellow-bellied sapsucker
  • Most if not all animalnoises as well, some of which have already been listed.


Place Names

  • Whose Line Is It Anyway? lampshaded a whole string of this in one session ofScenes From a Hat, when the suggestion "Cities that shouldn't have a song about them" came up:

Ryan:We wuv u,Walla Walla, Washington...
Colin: Proud...citizens ofDoglick!
Ryan: We call itButte (not Butt), Montana...
Jeff: Who wants anOxnard? I do! I do!
Ryan: (with a stoned look on his face) What's the matter withWeed?

  • Abu Dhabi, hence its abuse inGarfield comics.
  • Albuquerque, NM
    • Not only Weird Al,Bugs Bunny knew it was funny ("I knew I should've taken a left turn at Albuquerque.") Made funnier by his Brooklyn accent that toined it into Albecoikie.
      • It even shows up in aHalo fanfic, of all places, narrated by a Covenant Elite: "...we had landed on the UNSCDF orbital platform Albuquerque. I had no idea which was more bizarre: The platform's name, which tied my mandibles in knots..."
  • Antananarivo, Madagascar
  • Antwerp, Belgium
  • Attawapiskat, ON, Canada
  • Azerbaijan
  • Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
    • Even funnier when you know that "Baden" means "Baths."
      • So it's German for "tub-tub"?
      • Actually, no. "Baden" is a German verb which translates to "to have a bath" and "to bathe". The correct German word for "Baths" would be "Bäder".
  • Bald Knob, AR/WV/VA
    • "Knob" here is a dialect word for "hill/mountain", which explains why there are not one but three cities named after a nearby summit with exposed rock.
  • Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
  • Bangkok, Thailand
  • Batman, Turkey (and yes, it is pronounced the same asBatman).Apparently they've tried to sue Warner Bros.
  • Beaver County, PA. With two boroughs called Beaver and Big Beaver and a city calledBeaver Falls...
  • Belchertown, MA
  • Belgium
    • "Things were getting prettyBelgium, so..."
  • Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky
    • Located near the towns of Beaver Lick and Rabbit Hash...
    • Heck, "Kentucky" itself becomes somewhat funny after saying it enough times.
  • Bird-in-Hand, PA
  • Blue Ball Lane, Surrey
  • Blue Ball, PA
  • Boring, OR. Whenever a resident makes the newspapers, the headline always reads something like: "Boring man arrested for..."
  • Boogardie, WA, Australia
  • Booger Hollow, Arkansas. Look it up.
  • Booger Mountain, North Carolina. Known for Christmas trees; their marketing campaign is "Always Pick a Booger!"
  • Botswana
  • Bora Bora
  • Bruce Rock, WA, Australia
  • Bundaberg, QLD, Australia
  • Buttzville, NJ
  • Caniapiscau, Quebec, Canada.
  • Cape Foulwind, New Zealand
  • Cape Horn. If you don't get it, just yell "I really like Cape Horn!" really loudly and quickly in front of all your friends.
    • ... K-porn? Oh dear. Ain't the same thing as K-pop, is it?
  • Chattahoochee River
    • Chattahoochee, Florida
  • Chattanooga, Tennessee
  • Cheesequake State Park, New Jersey
  • Chicken, AK
    • So named because they couldn't spell Ptarmigan.
  • Chittagong, Bangladesh.
  • Cleveland.
  • Climax, Michigan
  • Clitheroe, Lancashire, England (the middle syllable is pronounced like "the", but still)
  • Cockalofty, Hereford, England
  • Cockburn Town, capital city of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
  • Cockfield, County Durham, England
  • Cockfosters (aPiccadilly Line destination)
  • Cocklebiddy, WA, Australia
  • Condom, France. Where you can find theCondom Cathedral. No, it's not made of rubber.
  • Cooma, NSW, Australia
  • Cox Bight, TAS, Australia
  • Cuba, Missouri
  • Cucamonga, CA (Animated characters are required by law to pronounce it "KOOK... aMUNga!")
    • The full name is "Rancho Cucamonga", which might be even funnier.
  • Cut and Shoot, TX.No, really.
  • Czechoslovakia
  • Denial Bay, SA, Australia (I have no idea why)
  • Dike Access Road, Washington (if you've ever driven north on I-5 from Portland to Seattle, you couldn't have missed the sign)
  • Dildo, Newfoundland, Canada
  • Dingle Peninsula, Kerry, Ireland
  • Diss, Norfolk, England
  • Djibouti (congratulations, you just laughed at thousands of starving people.)
    • Sheik sheik sheik, sheik sheik sheik, sheik djibouti...oh yeah!
  • Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
  • Dookie, Australia.
  • Dooomadgee, QLD, Australia (yes, with three o's, I checked)
  • Dubbo, Australia
  • East Taphouse, Middle Taphouse and West Taphouse, County Cornwall, UK
  • Embarrass, Minnesota, USA
  • Eromanga Basin, Australia.
  • Fazakerley
  • Fernando Poo (see entry above on "poo")
  • Fingringhoe
  • Fishkill, New York
  • Floyds Knobs, Indiana, USA
    • And in the same state, French Lick.
  • Flippin, Arkansas, USA
  • Fort Gay, West Virginia
    • Microsoft didn't think it was funny (that, plus they didn't know there really was such a place). An Xbox Live user from there got banned for it. The user had to fight to keep his account. Even the mayor got involved, and MS only reinstated his account when it started making national news.
  • Fucking, Austria; which had problems with British tourists stealing their signs.
    • Same country: Oberfucking, Unterfucking, and Fuckersberg.
  • Great Cockup and Little Cockup. These are the genuine names of two hills in England.
    • Both are near the town of Cockermouth, which itself belongs on the list.
  • Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
  • The Gliese 581 System
  • Gosh, Armenia
  • Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (this is funnier to Spanish speakers than English, mind you.)
  • Guam
  • Hackensack, NJ (mentioned in manyJoisey jokes)
  • Hahatonka State Park (in the Ozarks in Missouri)
  • Ha Ha Road, London
  • Hamtramck, Michigan
  • Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada
  • Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta, Canada
    • So called because First Nations hunters used to chase buffalo off the cliff.
    • Dave Barry: "I have called the centre, and when they answer the phone, they say, very politely--I absolutely swear this is true--'Head-Smashed-In, may I help you?'"
  • Hell, Michigan (which does tend to freeze over in the winter)
  • Hialeah, Florida (Bells Are Ringing has Handel'sHialeah Chorus)
  • Hoboken, NJ. "Yeah, but that's Hoboken."
  • Hohokus, NJ
  • Hooker County, Nebraska
  • Humptulips, WA. (Yes, it's said like you think.)
  • Ii, Finland
  • Illibilli, Sudan (which is also the longest palindromic place name)
  • Intercourse, Pennsylvania, right around Amish country.
    • When the town was named it referred to a rail road crossing.
    • In case you didn't know, Intercourse is right near some other towns named Gap, Bird-in-Hand, Paradise, and Blue Ball. I'll let your dirty mind fill in the rest.
      • Though, sadly, there appears to be noForeplay.
      • Don't forget Virginville, PA!
  • Idaho
  • Inaloo, WA, Australia
  • Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Jackson Hole, Wyoming
  • Jalalabad, Afghanistan
  • Kalamazoo, Michigan (that "zoo" is the crucial syllable is ably demonstrated by the song "I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo")
    • Ironically, there is no zoo in Kalamazoo. There is, however, an aircraft museum called the "Air Zoo".
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kapuskasing, ON Canada
    • Robert Munsch evenwrote a story about a girl who just wanted to go to Kapuskasing because the name was so awesome.
  • Kennebunkport, Maine
  • Keokuk, Iowa
  • Kiek in de Kök, Tallinn, Estonia
  • Kokomo, Indiana. Sadly, nothing like theBeach Boys song.
  • Kola Superdeep Borehole, Russia (which happens to be in theMurmansk Oblast)
  • Kush (now known as the much less funny "Sudan")
  • Lahaina, Hawaii
  • Lackawanna, New York
  • Lake Merrimu
  • Lake Minnetonka(where you have to purify yourself)
  • Lake Okeechobee
  • Lake Titicaca
  • Lake Winnipesaukee (What About Bob?)
    • Lake Made-Of-Winnipesaukee!
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lizard Lick, North Carolina
  • Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales
  • Loachapoka, Alabama (another real place, pronounced "low-cha-POKE-ah")
  • Lucky Slap, Angus, Scotland
  • Luxembourg
  • Medicine Hat, AB Canada
  • Meat Camp, North Carolina
  • Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Mississippi
    • Pascagoula, Mississippi
  • Monkey Mia, WA, Australia
  • Moose Factory, ON Canada
  • Moose Lake, Minnesota
  • Muff, County Donegal, Ireland
  • Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan Republic of ArtsakhIt's Complicated...
  • Nempnett Thrubwell, England
  • Nicaragua
  • Nizny-Novgorod, Russia
    • And for that matter Novgorod.
  • Ngorongoro, Tanzania
  • Normal, Illinois
  • Norway, or is that just me?
  • Nob End, Lancashire, England
  • Okefenokee Swamp
  • Oktemberyan, Armenia
  • Olongapo, Phillipines (Known to anyone who's served in theUS Navy's Pacific Fleet as the host city of U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay)
  • Oonadatta, SA, Australia
  • Orlando, Florida.
  • Orly, France ("NO WAI!")
  • Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
    • In fact, Burkina Faso itself is a pretty funny name.
  • Pahrump, Nevada
  • Relating back to funny animals, Penguin, TAS, Australia
  • Peculiar, Missouri
    • Allegedly named because the first two or three names submitted for the town were already in use elsewhere in the state; they were reportedly told to "choose something peculiar".
  • Pee-Pee Town
  • Penistone, Yorkshire, England.Not pronounced how it looks, but with a short E. Suffers from theScunthorpe Problem nevertheless.
  • Petaluma, California
  • The River Piddle, England, near the towns of Puddletown, Tolpuddle, Piddlehinton, Piddletrenthide, Affpuddle, Briantspuddle and Turnerspuddle. How I love being British.
  • Pimperne, Dorset, England. Just let that imagery simmer for a little while.
  • Pismo Beach, CA.
  • Pratts Bottom, London
  • Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
  • Qatar. Looks strange enough to English-speakers because it violates the q-u rule, but it's pronounced like "cutter".
  • Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut, Canada.
    • How the heck do you pronounce that?
      • Badly.
  • Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England.
  • Regina, SK, Canada. Innocent enough if you don't know how to pronounce it (rhymes with 'vagina').
  • Ringarooma, TAS, Australia
  • Romanshorn, Switzerland (recently featured inIrregular Webcomic)
  • Santa Claus, Indiana
  • Saratoga Springs, NY
  • Saskatchewan, Canada, but that may be because ofthis song.
    • Also, nothing rhymes with Saskatchewan.
    • Not to mention its biggest city, Saskatoon.
  • Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. (Possibly even funnier whenrendered as "S!!!!horpe" by internetcensorware.)
    • If pages related to it are not just blocked.
  • Seattle, WA
  • Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! PQ, Canada. Exclamation points and all.
  • Sexmoan, Pampanga, Philippines (sadly,nerfed)
  • Sheboygan, Wisconsin
  • Shitterton, Dorset, England.The village that dare not speak its name.
  • Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire, England(this is honestly a real place)
  • Smackover, Arkansas[1]
  • South Kumminin, WA, Australia
  • Sparta (orSPAAAAAAAAARRTAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!)
  • Stampersgat ("stomper's hole"), the Netherlands.
  • Swadlincote, Derbyshire, England
  • Tallahassee, Florida.
  • Termonfeckin, County Louth, Ireland.
  • Tierp, Sweden
  • Timbuktu, Mali, Africa
    • Which inspired the name of theOne-Hit Wonder group Timbuk3 (of "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" fame)
  • Tippecanoe, Indiana
    • "Tippecanoe andTyler too"
  • Tittybong, Vic, Australia
  • Tlaquepaque, Mexico
  • Toad Suck Ferry (near Conway), Arkansas
  • Toast, North Carolina
  • Togo. Formerly the European colony Togoland.
  • Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico
  • Tuckahoe, Pennsylvania
  • Tumbarumba, NSW, Australia
  • Turkey Scratch, Arkansas (birthplace ofThe Band's Levon Helm)
  • Tuzigoot, Arizona (pronounced too-see-goot)
  • Twatt, Shetland, Scotland
  • Two Egg, Florida
  • Upper Volta
  • Ur (not related toUr Example) and Uruk
  • Useless Loop, WA, Australia
  • Versailles, MO doesn't look so funny, butit's pronounced "versaylz".
  • Vulcan, Alberta, Canada
  • Wagga Wagga, Australia
  • Wahoo, Nebraska
  • Walla Walla, WA.
  • Wanglik (AKA Hengli,) China
  • Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland,Home of the Young Boys.
  • Wanker's Corner, Oregon.
  • Waterloo, either because of the -oo or the bathroom implications. Or both.
  • Wawa, ON Canada
    • A couple hundred miles up the road (the Trans-Canada Highway, to be precise) from Petawawa, ON, Canada.
  • Westward Ho!, Devon, England.
  • Weed, CA. Mentioned earlier, but too briefly. They like to lampshade it, too: one of the town's mottoes is "Trylegal Weed!"
  • Wetwang, England
  • What Cheer, Iowa.
  • Windpassing, Austria.
  • Winnipeg, MB Canada
  • Wolverhampton, England. It doesn't seem like it'd be that funny, but believe me, it is.
  • Woonsocket, Rhode Island (and South Dakota)
  • Wonthaggi, Australia (known locally as Wonni or The Thag, often depending on youropinion of the place)
  • Worms, Germany (famous in history for theDiet of Worms)
  • Yazoo City, Mississippi
  • Yeehaw Junction, Florida
    • Former name was Jackass Junction, Florida
  • Yemen
  • Zimbabwe
  • It'd probably be easier to list the British hamlets whose names don't qualify.
  • Äteritsiputeritsipuolilautatsijänkä, Finland

General

"Hope Rob don't say balls nasty!"
"Balls nasty."

There was aphids on the lettuce
and I...ate every one

Inherently Funny Words by language

Celtic languages


Yiddish

  • Anything inYiddish, or soundinglike Yiddish, even (Note that about half of the examples are either Hebrew and German words, or very close to them. Yiddish practically mishes the rediculoucy of those two languages and takes it aup to eleven):


other Germanic languages (minus English)

  • Afrikaans:
    • Aardvark- literally "earth pig"
    • (my personal favorite) Free Sample= Gratis Monster (Gratis pronounced Hratis)
    • Hell, "Afrikaans" itself is pretty funny.
    • Trying listening to someone with an Afrikaans accent speak English. They sound like some sort of mutant who bounces between Australia, the UK, and some alternate dimension on business regularly.
    • For other examples, see the entire of the filmDistrict 9.
      • For a further, greater example, see Lethal Weapon: "But... You're blick!"
    • Klipspringer
  • Dutch:
    • tentoonstelling
    • sokken
    • pannekoek
    • daarna
    • zeehond
    • varken
    • telefoon
    • nieuw
    • kinnesinne
  • German:
    • Achtung
      • !
        • !!!
          • Gesundheit!
    • Arschgeige
    • Lederhosen
      • funny word for a funny garment
    • Flammenwerfer
    • Pritschenwagen ("pickup truck", which is pretty funny itself)
    • Wolpertinger, a mythical creature that is itself meant to be frightening but, seeing as it's a bunny rabbit with large antlers, ends up as adorable
    • Kaninchen. In other words, a li'l fluffy bunneh!
      • Karnickel, a regional term for the same li'l bunneh! (But it is better because it has more k's!)
    • Gegenüber
    • Kampfflugzeug
    • Kofferraumdeckel
    • Mannschaft (which is simply the word for "team" butsounds dirty)
      • "Ich spiele gern mit mein Mannschaft, jeden tag."
    • Schwanz ("tail"; in slang it can mean what you think Mannschaft means)
    • Ochsenschwanzsuppe (ox tail soup, but considering what the word above can mean...)
    • Schnurrbart
    • Dick (it means "thick" in the measurement-and-body-shape-senses)
    • Schlange ("snake")
      • By extension, the English slang term "schlong".
    • Siebenfacher Sonnenkreis (OK, so it's two words, but this phrase fromThe Magic Flute never fails to crack me up)
    • Spinnenfinger ("spider fingers", unattactively long (often cold) fingers, that look like spiderlegs; especially funny if spoken in a Hessian dialect)
    • Ausfahrt (highway exit)
    • Gegengegangen
    • Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft.Longest-published word in the language, at 79~80 letters (nowadays, it would be written with atriple F).
    • Ananas
    • Schmetterling (Butterfly. Interestingly, "schmettern" means to strike hard/violently)
    • Schnauzer
    • Schwippschwager (The brother in law of your brother or sister in law)
    • Und (and), if said in therightway.
    • Wienerschnitzel
    • Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung ("speed limit")
    • Pferdefedern (literally, "horse feathers")
    • Dirndl
    • packen
    • kaputt
    • Mumpitz (which means something along the line of "balderdash")
    • Ach!
    • Vergnügt (pronounced "fair-gnyct." go ahead, try and say it without giggling.)
    • Dudelsack, pronounced "doodle-zock". It means "bagpipe".
    • Schmaltz
    • Büstenhalter
    • Pfannkuchen
    • rumspringen
    • Oddly enough,schadenfreude. It means receiving pleasure at the pain of others.
    • Fünfundfünfzig (Foonf-oont-foonf-zic. It means 55.)
    • Walpurgisnacht
    • Schnupfen
    • Besteckschublade
    • vollgepfropft ("choked up")
  • Swedish
    • Basically, anything at IKEA. One particular example, appleflarn, an oat cookie withapple pieces baked in.
    • 'Fart' means 'speed', as in 'velocity'. There are roadsigns in Sweden with words such as 'Infart', 'Utfart', 'Påfart' and 'Avfart'.In =In. Ut = Out. På = On. Av = Off. Also, 'Cruise control' is 'Fartkontroll'.
    • slut ("end"; pronounced "sloot")


Italic and Romance languages

  • Latin:
    • The pronoun hic, haec (pronounce [haik]), hoc. Also works if you're a Francophone, as "hic" is the onomatopoeia for hiccups in both French and English.
      • TheAsterix comics went to town with this—every time they showed a drunk Roman, they'd use all three pronouns for his hiccups.
    • Not to mention, the verb 'facio'. (And to go with imperatives- 'Dic me! Dic me!' It ought to have some indicators for long vowels, but not in our textbook...)
    • ambulabamus ("We were walking")
      • In fact, any verb ending in -bimus, -bamus, -bimini or -bamini is funny.
    • plumbum (lead)
    • superbum (superb)
  • French:
    • bibliothèque
    • ennui
    • escargot
    • fromage
    • ménage
    • caoutchouc, especially in the songÇa Plane Pour Moi
    • pamplemousse (used as a running gag in the webcomicBob the Angry Flower)
      • Usedincorrectly, nonetheless; "pamplemousse" actually means "grapefruit".
      • There's even a band that derives it's name from this word, though they change the spelling to Pomplamoose.
    • poisson
      • "Who poisoned the poisson?"
    • poubelle
      • plus belle qu'une poubelle
    • merde, even better because it means poop (as well as made famous byMonty Python).
    • phoque, pronounced like a certain English F word (elementary school French class was never the same when they came up with that silly zoo program where you clicked on the animals, and all you could hear was "phoque", "phoque"...)
    • quinze
    • harpe, and since the h is silent, it makes someone saying sound as if they are trying some strange seal bark. Try continually saying "arp arp arp arp" with a French accent and not laugh.
    • hockey, especially when "au" is used before it.
    • calculatrice
    • le fromage est mort parce que le chat est dans l'aspirateur or: the cheese is dead because the cat is in the vacuum cleaner.
    • agrafeuse, the lovely word for stapler
    • affiche, or "poster" used in the same way with a French accent
    • concombre, or cucumber
    • raplapla, meaning tired
    • roploplo, usually used as plural,roploplos
  • Spanish:
    • chimichanga (a Mexican dish)
    • hablaba (he/she/it spoke)
    • trabajaba (he/she/it worked)
      • And by association, trabajábamos (we worked)
    • mundo (world)
    • mofongo (a Puerto Rican dish)
    • bufanda (scarf)
    • jipijapa (Panama hat)
    • galimatías (gobbledygook)
    • Perú, emú, cebú, anticucho (according to the -oo phonetics)
      • Ñandú. Seriously, try to say it with a straight face.
    • marmota (groundhog)
    • panza (belly)
    • By extension, most words with the suffix "-ito" and "-ita" as a diminutive ("pancita")
      • Not to mention you can repeat the diminutive as many times as you like for emphasis, thus something extremely small could be "chiquitititititito" or "chiquitiquitiquitico"
    • pie (foot) (pronounced PEE-eh)
    • sacapuntas (pencil sharpener)
    • equipaje (baggage). Say it out loud.
    • catorce (fourteen)
    • yuxtaponer (to juxtapose) and all its conjugations: yuxtapusiste, yuxtapuesto, yuxtaponga...
    • cacahuate (Mexican Spanish for peanut)
    • marmita (cooking pot)
    • limpiaparabrisas (windshield wipers)
    • poner, pongo (to put, I put)
      • And puse ("I put" in the past)!!! Meow, meow...
    • pescado (fish)
    • atún (tuna)
    • pez globo (blowfish)
    • facón (a sword carried by Argentinian cowboys)
    • quizás (perhaps)... again, say it out loud.
    • desafortunadamente (unfortunately)
  • Italian:
    • squillante
    • Adverbs which are formed by adding the suffix "-mente" to present participles ending in "-ente". Particularly the wordindipendentemente ("independently"). More so if youstill haven't grasped its proper pronunciation.


Japanese

  • Japanese:
    • Japanese has a good bit of reduplication, usually used to indicate some degree of vagueness; there's even a character used to indicate repetition of the previous kanji (々). As such, you end up with words like 時々 "tokidoki" (sometimes, "time-time"), 黙々 "mokumoku" (mute, "silence-silence"), 中々 "nakanaka" (rather) or 我々"wareware" (we "I-I").
    • desu - if you don't think it's funny, say it five times fast without giggling.
    • kyuukyuusha (ambulance)
    • koko/soko/asoko (here/there/over there)
    • demo (but)
    • eeto (erh...), n, and other stopgaps and fillers
      • In particular, "ano...," meaning "that..." is popular as well, sounds slightly dirty in English and IS dirty in Spanish.
    • moshimoshi
    • haha (mother) and chichi (father)
    • aso, because if you say it the right way...
    • chin - while still a body part, it's not in the same region as the english one.
      • Try below the belt. Actually, almost any euphemism for a penis is Japanese is hilarious. There's at least twelve.
    • Nobuatsu Aoki.
    • Baka (largely thanks toAkaneTendo)
    • bukkake (the smart bomb of dirty words. First off, few people know what it is - those who don't go home and look it up..."AAAAAAAAAAGH!" It also has a totally clean alternate meaning as a style of noodle preparation. Plus, it's ridiculously fun to say). And it can also be easily confused with "Bokukko".
    • Moshi moshi
    • Yoshi
    • Oppai
    • bonkura
    • Itadakimasu (somewhat appropriately, sounds like "Eat a duck, we must")
    • Nani?! Standard for any moe-blob.
    • Dango
    • No da!/Na no da!
    • Gyūnyu (cow's milk)
    • Washi (how old men say "I" or "me"). Try saying it in an old man's voice.
    • -tachi, a collectivizing suffix for all the various gender- and age- specific ways to say "I" (ore/boku/atashi/watashi/etc.), which can add a humorous nuance beyond the meaning of "we" ("Ore-tachi"="we [tough guys]...")
      • The word "tomodachi" was originally made by applying the collectivizing "-tachi" to the word "tomo" (friend), but nowadays this word also means a single friend. How to make a noun which explicitly means "a group of friends"? Well, of course, add the same suffix once more: "tomodachitachi"!
    • Seieki.
    • 若干 (jakkan), despite being more or less synonymous with ちょっと (chotto) or 少し (sukoshi), is considered more inherently funny.
    • Atatakai - warmish
      • Even more fun in past tense, "Atatakakatta"
    • Uso. It means "Lie".
    • Midori means green and is insanely fun to say (though not as much as tokidoki)
    • Wagamama (selfishness)
    • Hikikomori, but probably not funny if youare one.
    • Hito is 'person', while hitobito is 'people'.
    • mimikaki
    • Ninki (popular)
    • Nonki (easy going. Trying it and the above in rapid succession.)
    • Shishunki (puberty). Especially funny for Russian speakers when transliterated (using thePolivanov system) as "сисюнки", which is dangerously close to the Russian word for "titties".
    • konichiwa
    • shiitake (as in the mushrooms)
    • Basically any by itself, especally "Pu" (see "Poo" above), and any other symbols ending in "U" (for the same reasons of he "oo" words).
    • The sequence of numbers, 8-8-7-1 (hachi hachi nana ichi)
      • Using the slightly less popular Japanese variation for "seven", the same sequence is "Hachi-Hachi-Shichi-Ichi.
    • geso (squid tentacles for eating)[2]
    • sumo (a funny name for a funny sport)
    • Ninja
    • Unputenpu (trusting something to chance). Fans ofKaiji will be familiar with this one.
    • Kuuki versus Kukki: the first means "air," the second is the Japanese pronunciation of "cookie."You will get them mixed up.
    • Many JapanesePokémon names qualify as this, with many of them being portmanteaus of existing words:
      • Pikachu ("Pick a chew, any chew!")
      • Fushigisou (Ivysaur)
      • Shizarigā/Shizariger (Crawdaunt)
      • Roobushin/Roopushin (Conkeldurr)
      • Būbā/Boober (Magmar)
      • Matadogasu (Weezing)
      • Ragurāji (Swampert)
      • Kekkingu (Slaking)
      • Bosugodora/Bossgodora (Aggron)
      • Mukuhōku (Staraptor)
      • Rejigigasu (Regigigas; fun to say in English as well)
      • Gigaiasu (Gigalith)
      • Gamageroge (Seismitoad)
      • Darumakka
      • Hihidaruma (Darmanitan)
      • Rankurusu (Reuniclus)
      • Baibanira (Vanilluxe)
      • Shikijika (Deerling)
      • Mebukijika (Sawsbuck)
      • Tamagetake (Foongus)
      • Gigigiaru (Klinklang)
      • Shibishirasu (Tynamo)
      • Shibibīru (Eelektrik)
      • Ononokusu (Haxorus)
      • Genosekuto (Genesect)
  • mushi
  • Mushishi


Other Languages

  • Aboriginal Australian languages:
    • kookaburra
    • Woop Woop. Yes, it's a place.
    • kangaroo
    • wallaby
    • Toowoomba
    • Woomera
    • Coonamble
    • Wagga Wagga
    • Goondiwindi
    • didgeridoo
    • Wollongong
    • Wombat
    • Bundanoon
    • Tubbarubba
  • Armenian:
    • apoosh (meaning fool)
    • chezarmanak (meaning "don't be suprised")
    • duduk
    • saganakagoyn (brown)
  • Finnish:
    • saippuakuppinippukauppias (the world's longest palindrome, 'meaning' "soap cup bunch merchant")
    • Kalevala
    • höpö-höpö! (meaning "nonsense!")
    • lämpimämpi (meaning "warmer")
    • saarikaari (meaning "arch of islands")
    • hihhuli (meaning "fanatic" and also theonly Finnish word with a geminate "h")
  • Polish:
    • fart ((good) luck)
    • pies (dog, mostly funny due to the false friend)
    • potrzebie
  • Russian
    • бутерброд (sandwich) pronounced "booterbrod". Comes from the German word "Butterbrot" (Butter bread, aka Bread with Butter)
    • глупый (stupid) pronounced "gloopyi"
    • Phobos-Grunt (Фобос-Грунт), where "Grunt" is pronounced "groont".
    • гофрированный (like, wrinkly metal. Damn, it got funnier) pronounced "gophrirovannyi"
    • грымза (old hag, borrowed from Polish) pronounced "gryimza".


  • Turkish:
    • Bashi-Bazouk
      • Along with the rest of Captain Haddock's vocabulary. Captain Archibald Haddock, to give his full name...
    • Ali Baba
    • babaganoush
    • sesame
    • baklava
    • Constantinople
      • Istanbul
    • elele
  • Chinese
    • Bōluó (pineapple)
    • Moo Goo Gai Pan
  • Indonesian
    • Kerbau (water buffalo)
    • Kuda (horse)
  • Marathi
    • dabbawala (someone who delivers lunchboxes)
  1. ↑As in "you bet your sweet..."
  2. ↑We haveSquid Girl to thank for that,de geso.
  3. ↑pronounced "dug"
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