This is an All Ears English podcast episode 121.
Fun or funny?
Learn the difference between two English words.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection, when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and Boston, USA.
USA.
What is the difference between fun and funny?
Even though these words seem the same, they are very different.
Find out more today.
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How's it going, Aubrey?
What's up?
Anything funny going on in your life today?
Any funny jokes or anything just silly?
And he does it with a little pirate accent.
That's the cutest thing you've ever heard.
Oh, that's adorable.
Adorable.
I love that.
I love that.
So that's good.
Are you a joke teller?
Do you go around telling jokes sometimes?
No, I'm not.
My husband is and my dad is.
They both tell dad jokes, right?
They're like puns. funny little jokes.
Yeah.
What is a dad joke, by the way?
Just sort of something that's kind of meant for kids or just sort of very typical, like cheesy.
They're usually pretty jokes, pretty cheesy jokes, like that pirate, one that for sure would be considered a dad joke.
But it has to be a dad telling it, right?
If I tell it, then nope, it's just a joke.
Yeah.
It's so true.
It's so true.
So what are we getting into today?
What's the topic of today's episode?
I think it's actually a really important one.
Oh, yeah, this is very good.
We're talking about the difference between the words fun and funny.
This is one of the most common mistakes made by English language learners, and of lots of other languages.
I know I make this mistake in Spanish.
Once upon a time I made it in French, because often these words will be sort of difficult, different variations of each other and you'll accidentally use the wrong one and say fun when you mean funny or funny when you mean fun.
It's so true.
Yeah, you want to make sure to avoid this because the meaning is so different.
It's so different.
Again, same here.
I've seen mistakes being made and I've made mistakes, and it does have to do with different languages translating these in different ways.
It can be quite confusing, but we are here, guys, today to clear up your confusion, okay?
That is the key.
We want you to come away from today's episode being very clear on what each word means.
Exactly.
What's frustrating is the words are so similar, right?
And why?
Why couldn't we have created a totally different word to avoid this confusion?
I know you would think, right?
Because you would think they would be related or just an extension of each other, but they're not.
So they're really not like that little related where, like you, have fun when something is funny, but it's just confusing.
Exactly.
Like you can be fun, but not necessarily funny.
But usually if you're funny, you're usually pretty fun too.
What do you think?
So let's go through the definitions of both of these, right?
Yeah.
So fun is something enjoyable or exciting.
If you have a good conversation, if you go to a party, you would say that was fun or this is fun.
Yeah.
So in my earlier example I talked about describing a person, which is which is possible to.
You could describe a person as fun.
But you know, today we're talking more, a bit more about just circumstances, something you do like activities.
Yeah.
And if you're going to ask someone like the question you asked me earlier, it would be more.
It was more normal to say like anything fun going on instead of anything funny going on.
Right.
I intentionally tried to use that funny, but it is kind of a strange thing to ask someone anything funny happening.
It's like yeah, it's a little weird, like weird funny, like funny business funny, because we use it in kind of slang to like oh, something funny is going on here.
Like something fishy, something strange.
Fishy, strange.
And we can definitely do another episode on that, that use of funny in that way.
Something weird.
Something's a little off here.
Something funny.
I heard a weird noise or something funny in this house.
Right.
That's not ha ha funny.
Right.
No.
But if you just want to ask someone if they're having a good day, if they're having a fun time, you would say anything fun going on.
Yeah, I love that.
That's what I should have asked.
So something enjoyable, a nice walk with a friend, maybe.
Do you consider roller coasters fun?
Yes and no.
When I was younger, I loved roller coasters, and I still do if they're very smooth.
At Disney World there's the Rockinar Roller Coaster, which is like the band Aerosmith themed that I love.
It's very smooth, but it starts off super fast.
And then there are a couple at Disneyland, two newer roller coasters I feel like are smoother, more enjoyable.
But I hate old rickety roller coasters where you're getting thrown side to side and your neck and you don't expect it.
Maybe you're in the dark.
That's the worst.
So You probably hated Coney Island, the famous cyclone at Coney Island.
I actually wouldn't get on that one because I could tell, just looking at it, that that was the type of roller coaster that was.
Yeah, I think I threw my neck out for like a week after that cyclone.
I don't even know how that's still legal that it's still running, but it is an experience, guys.
If you're in New York City, you know, Aubrey and I have both lived in New York City.
It is really fun to go down to Coney Island, especially when you have friends in town.
Get a hot dog.
Do the whole thing.
Do the Coney Island thing.
It's fun.
It's part of New York City.
If you're there when they do the mermaid parade, I walked in the mermaid parade.
We all dressed up like mermaids.
Oh, God.
We actually made mermaid sugar cookies and handed them out to the crowd.
It was so fun.
That's hilarious.
Oh my gosh, I love it.
That is a big part of New York culture, the mermaid parade.
So guys, check that out.
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I feel the same way, to be honest, about roller coasters.
Those ricky old wooden ones, I don't want them.
But you know, I guess they can be fun.
But honestly, when I get to the top, I'm just thinking to myself, why did I do this?
What if I'm the one whose thing releases and I die?
That's what I think.
Do you have that thought when you're on a roller coaster?
I do.
I don't.
I can't allow myself to think like I might die.
But I do have that moment of you know that your stomach's just going to drop when you're at the top, and it's one that dives down.
And I don't love that.
I don't love that feeling when your stomach does somersaults.
Okay.
So it's debatable whether roller coasters are fun or not, but we would never refer to a roller coaster as being funny, would we?
No, exactly, right?
There's nothing funny about a roller coaster.
This is a very different word.
This is to describe something that is comedic.
It makes you laugh, right?
It's amusing, like a joke or a funny story.
Totally, totally.
And we've had some comedians on the show, right?
We've had Luke's English podcast, Luke.
He's a funny guy.
We had Ron on the show.
So guys look around our back catalog of episodes to see some interviews with actual comedians and funny people.
Yeah, I mean, someone who's just funny, they just make you laugh.
A person is funny.
Do you like to go to comedy shows?
I do.
I love stand-up comedy.
It's one of my favorite things to do.
And I love that now you can see a lot of them on Netflix.
So just from the comfort of your home, you can watch these stand-up comedy specials.
I really love Key & Peele.
Do you like Key & Peele?
Yeah.
Oh, I don't know that.
No, I don't know that one.
So it's Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key.
And it's all sketch comedy.
But they have in between the different sketches, they do a stand up bit.
And it's all really hilarious.
I highly recommend it.
I love that.
Yeah, stand-up is really funny.
A good comedian can put you in, what is that, stitches in your stomach?
What's that expression?
Yes, they put you in stitches.
It's like you feel a stitch in your side when you're laughing so hard you almost get a side ache.
Yeah.
Right.
That's so good.
Yeah, I'll go to a good stand-up comedy show once in a while for sure.
For sure.
Would you ever do stand-up comedy?
I wouldn't be able to.
I don't think my brain thinks that way.
I really respect people who do.
Really quickly on your feet.
Right.
And not just to talk, but to be funny, be clever, be witty.
Anyone who can do improv.
I know Michelle's done some improv or stand up comedy.
I'm so impressed by that.
I know.
Michelle has done some stand-up comedy too in New York when she was living there.
She's still living there, but she's done a little bit of it and she talks about it once in a while on the show.
Yeah, it's a different way of thinking.
I think comedians are also really good at understanding what is a shared experience in a culture.
Right.
We're things that we all do that we don't think about it, but they bring that to the surface.
Silly and funny things that happen.
And that's why it's so funny.
Yeah, exactly.
Right.
Yeah, I know.
I've always wanted to do that, especially improv.
I think it'd be fun to do sketch comedy.
And there are some places.
There's a place here in Phoenix called Jester's where you can go, and sometimes they'll bring up audience members to participate.
And I always kind of hope I'll get chosen.
I think it could maybe shine, but I don't know.
Maybe I would be terrible.
I don't know.
Oh, usually I sink in my chair and I pray they don't choose me.
Run to the bathroom really quick.
Oh, sorry.
I have to go.
No, no.
So guys, hopefully we had some fun today and we should have fun on an episode talking about fun versus funny.
Right, Aubrey?
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So hopefully it's clear, guys.
Again, just to review, let's just review real quick before we wrap up.
What is fun and what's funny?
So fun is anything that where you have. an enjoyable or exciting time you would describe as fun.
And then funny has to be something that would make you laugh.
Comedy, something that specifically is very entertaining.
And I love that as the, just think of it that way.
If you would laugh, it's funny.
Oh, love it.
That's a perfect synopsis right there.
And actually, speaking of Luke's English podcast and stand up comedians, in the next episode we are going to have Luke on the show to talk a little bit more about this whole comedy thing.
All right.
I love it.
It will likely be very funny.
So you guys can look forward to that one.
For sure.
Looking forward to it.
All right, Aubrey, thanks for hanging out today and a good episode.
Good stuff today.
Awesome.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
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