History Main / AlternativeJokeInterpretation

* During the Bizarro World arc of ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', Bizarro asks why Bizarro Batman is absent at the assembling of the Unjustice League and is told by Bizarro Green Lantern that it's because Bizarro Batman was shot by his parents. This either means that the Bizarro World's counterpart to Bruce Wayne was killed by his parents before he could become Bizarro Batman or that Bizarro Batman became a bat-costumed vigilante while his parents were still alive only to be shot to death by his mother and father sometime before Bizarro called for the Unjustice League to show up.

** In ''Recap/AsterixInBritain'', there's a joke where the idea of a tunnel under the Channel is mentioned, but it'll take a while. Today, it seems like typical understatement from the British, but when the comic was written in the 60s, it did indeed seem like an unattainable dream.

** "The Mythbusters vs. The Ghostbusters": When addressing the Mythbusters, Venkman derisively refers to somebody as "Literature/TheLorax". Is he talking about Jaime Hyneman, due to Hyneman having a mustache similar to the Lorax's? Or is he talking about Walter Peck, an EPA agent the Ghostbusters were at odds with?
** At the end of the video "Romeo and Juliet vs Bonnie and Clyde", [[spoiler: Bonnie shoots Juliet, causing her to collapse. Romeo thinks Bonnie killed her and poisons himself. When Juliet regains consciousness, she is horrified when she sees Romeo lying dead, and stabs herself. Bonnie and Clyde are confused at what just happened. However, when they realize they have each other at least, they are immediately shot.]] Then the battle ends, and the announcer says "Who won? Who's next? You decide! [[TitleDrop Epic Rap Battles of History]]!" as usual. The problem is, he says the first part in a quiet voice and the second part in a loud voice. Some see the first part as mirroring [[spoiler: Bonnie and Clyde's confused reaction to Romeo and Juliet's deaths]], and the second part as [[LargeHam the announcer]] getting back into character. Others see the first part as mirroring [[spoiler: Juliet having woken up and regained consciousness]], and the second part as mirroring [[spoiler: Juliet's horrified reaction to Romeo's death]].

** Part of Peter's CopycatMockery of Lloyd involves him standing on a box. Is this a dig at Lloyd's height via ScullyBox? Or, since Peter is accusing Lloyd of complaining too much about his problems, is he illustrating Lloyd's tendency to get up on a soapbox?

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In Issue 13 of WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad, Cheerleader resorts to calling her "B-list" of boys, and ends up calling a plumber's. Either Cheerleader got a wrong number, or the fat guy who answers the phone really is the "Randy" she meant to call.

* ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'': There's a RunningGag that a horse whinny sound effect plays every time [[CreepyHousekeeper Frau Blücher's]] name is said, even in scenes where no horses are present. This was probably intended as a parody of the ScareChord trope, but some people saw it as an [[GeniusBonus obscure reference]] to the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, whose horse was famously shot dead at [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars the Battle of Ligny]], or that [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals the horses are scared of her because she abused them in the past]]. And then there's the famous [[PopCultureUrbanLegends urban legend]] that it's because "blücher" is supposedly the German (or Yiddish) word for glue...

** In his episode on ''{{Franchise/Barbie}}'' games, one segment on the Platform/Commodore64 game has Jon jokingly theorize that the reason [[WelcomeToCorneria Ken keeps calling Barbie with the exact same phone call for a seemingly nonexistent date]] is because [[DelusionConclusion Ken had died and Barbie's going insane unable to accept it]], followed by a mini-skit of Ken from the beyond calling again, saying "I miss you. It's so quiet after you die. There's nothing. But the voices, they never stop. ''(beat)'' [[MoodWhiplash See you in an hour!]]" The last bit reads as just a simple MoodWhiplash gag, but some viewers think that based on the circumstances, this was actually [[YourDaysAreNumbered some kind of thinly-veiled threat or warning that Barbie's about to perish herself]].

** The EndOfEpisodeSilliness of one episode has the Doctor comment on how Queen Victoria was scratched by a werewolf, and then notes that she and her descendants were all hemophiliacs and implies that had something to do with the werewolf scratch. Is he claiming that they weren't actually hemophiliacs and it was just a cover story for them being werewolves (albeit jokingly, since he'd be more concerned if he actually thought that, not to mention that it's a bite that transmits the lycanthropy rather than a scratch) or is he suggesting that werewolf scratches cause hemophilia?

** The mention that the in-universe function of the inventory is a bag that's bigger on the inside was intended as a reference to the TimeMachine from ''Series/DoctorWho'', but some players took it as a reference to either the carpet-bag from ''Film/MaryPoppins'' or [[Literature/HarryPotter Hermione Granger]]'s purse.

** DoorstopBaby puns on the expression "doorstep baby", but what exactly is the pun? Is it that someone would stop cold if they saw a baby on their doorstop, or is it a joke about using babies as doorstops?

** In his look at bootleg Disney games, there's a gag with Hitler singing a Nazi-themed parody of "[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Hakuna Matata]]"; the song includes the line "No Jews, crips or gays". Does "crips" refer to disabled people, since the Nazis infamously euthanized those they considered too disabled to be worth keeping alive? Or is it a reference to [[{{gangbangers}} the Crips street gang]], since some white supremacists believe that black people are inherently inclined to criminality (a theme that came up in real-life Nazi propaganda)? Either way, it's definitely a CrossesTheLineTwice gag.

* ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'': There's a RunningGag that a horse whinny sound effect plays every time [[CreepyHousekeeper Frau Blücher's]] name is said, even in scenes where no horses are present. This was probably intended as a parody of the ScareChord trope, but some people saw it as an [[GeniusBonus obscure reference]] to the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, whose horse was famously shot dead at [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars the Battle of Ligny]]. And then there's the famous [[PopCultureUrbanLegends urban legend]] that it's because "blücher" is supposedly the German (or Yiddish) word for glue...

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]'', after [[TheNthDoctor regenerating]], the Eleventh Doctor catches a glimpse of his hair and notes that he's "still not ginger." This was intended to be a CallBack to the Tenth Doctor being disappointed that he wasn't a ginger in ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion The Christmas Invasion]]'', but several viewers interpreted it as him being glad he wasn't.

* ''Website/{{Neopets}}'': In [[https://www.neopets.com/ntimes/index.phtml?section=195805&week=232 this]] article, the section regarding not getting paper petpets wet mentions not to let them near the little Neopet across the street "if you know what I mean". Does this mean that the Neopet across the street is a baby and may drool on the petpet, is not toilet trained and may pee on them, is too young to look after a petpet and may dunk them in water, or was painted with a Water paintbrush?

* In ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'', Voldemort gives Ebony a "dude-ur-so-retarded look". Is this a DisapprovingLook, a DeathGlare, or a mocking "stupid person" face?

* ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'': There's a RunningGag that a horse whinny sound effect plays every time [[CreepyHousekeeper Frau Blücher's]] name is said, even in scenes where no horses are present. This was probably intended as a parody of the ScareChord trope, but some people saw it as a [[GeniusBonus obscure reference]] to the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, whose horse was famously shot dead at [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars the Battle of Ligny]]. And then there's the famous [[PopCultureUrbanLegends urban legend]] that it's because "blücher" is supposedly the German (or Yiddish) word for glue...

* A joke that has this by design: A woman marries into a foreign country while having little knowledge of the local language. She continues learning and eventually gets confident enough in her skills to go to the butcher's to buy chicken breasts. Unfortunately, she forgets the word for "breast" as she orders and, in desperation, points at her own breasts, which is enough for the butcher to give her the correct item. The next time she tries, this repeats with chicken thighs. The next time after that, she's coming for sausages and forgets the word yet again. With no idea what to show the butcher this time, she leaves and returns with her husband. [[spoiler:Because he can speak the local language. If you first thought of another, anatomy-related, reason, it's a feature, not a bug]].

* In the TrollFic ''Fanfic/SupperSmashBrosMishonhFromGod'', one of the plot twists is that Michelle Obama is actually Michael Jackson, and that Barack Obama is gay. Is this meant to suggest the in-universe author is a ConspiracyTheorist, a transmisogynist who thinks [[TransEqualsGay transgender women are gay men]], and/or a racist who [[RacialFaceBlindness thinks all black people look alike]]?

* In the DMV scene in ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', Nick tells the joke, "What do you call a three-humped camel? Pregnant!" Some have taken the joke as meaning that the third hump was the baby camel, while others saw it as a play on the word "[[{{Parental Bonus}} hump]]". There was even a minor Administrivia/EditWar on this very wiki about the meaning of the joke.

* A joke has a cadet get standed on an uninhabited island with his loaded gun, a somewhat misogynistic gay man and a somewhat homophobic woman. When it becomes obvious that help is not coming and they can realistically survive for a while, each of the cadet's companions approaches him separately, suggesting that he use his gun on the third person so they can spend their days having "a normal sexual life." The punchline has the cadet start living "a normal sexual life" after killing them both. Is the cadet abstaining from sex and so principled about it that he's doing what it takes for things to stay that way? Really into masturbating, but ashamed about it? Asexual and hence genuinely uninterested in the "having regular sex" part of both offers? And let's not get started on the fact that those three options aren't entirely mutually exclusive.

** In one book, Greg notes that it was [[AwkwardPoetryReading a bad combination]] when, at the talent show, a girl read a poem about global warming at the same time as a boy rode a unicycle while playing the harmonica. Is he saying that the harmonica was so loud nobody could hear the poem, that playing an instrument on a unicycle was too silly to pair with a poem about something serious like global warming, or a bit of both?

** Sheldon sneezes a lot, and claims that it's because he's "H2O intolerant", which basically means "[[AbnormalAllergy allergic to water]]". Is this true, or is he exaggerating by saying that his allergies are so bad that it might as well be water that he's allergic to?

** In his episode on ''{{Franchise/Barbie}}'' games, one segment on the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 game has Jon jokingly theorize that the reason [[WelcomeToCorneria Ken keeps calling Barbie with the exact same phone call for a seemingly nonexistent date]] is because [[DelusionConclusion Ken had died and Barbie's going insane unable to accept it]], followed by a mini-skit of Ken from the beyond calling again, saying "I miss you. It's so quiet after you die. There's nothing. But the voices, they never stop. ''(beat)'' [[MoodWhiplash See you in an hour!]]" The last bit reads as just a simple MoodWhiplash gag, but some viewers think that based on the circumstances, this was actually [[YourDaysAreNumbered some kind of thinly-veiled threat or warning that Barbie's about to perish herself]].

** Another famous Sumerian joke we only have the vaguest of AJIs for is the famous "A dog walked into a tavern and said, 'I can't see a thing. I'll open this one'." The best context we have, since the source it comes from has a lot of "talking animal" stories, most serious, but some silly, is that the "dog" is probably actually a dumbish human guard, and the tavern possibly rents out bedrooms, and may or may not have prostitutes renting said bedrooms. From there, we've got nothing ''but'' guesses as what's so funny here. A pun or other wordplay? Probably not, but worth mentioning. Dog opens a bedroom door to let in more light to "hilarious" results? Dog wants to check said bedrooms? Dog has its eyes closed? Something about a window in the middle of the night? Nobody knows.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': In one scene, a monster tries to [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight scare a sleeping girl at night]], only to find her already awake, listening to rock music, and walking very close to him unfazed, despite allegedly being only six years old. Does this mean that 7-11 years have passed without the monsters noticing and the girl is now a teenager? Or does it mean that the girl is an unusually tough six-year-old, [[MusicAgeDissonance listening to music she's clearly too young for]] and AdmiringTheAbomination?

** At the beginning, [[TheHero Simba]] learns that he will become king just like his father, and he excitedly tells his uncle Scar who secretly wants the throne for himself. When Simba asks, "When I'm king, what will that make you?", Scar responds, "A monkey's uncle." Was he calling Simba a monkey, or was he saying that it was unlikely for Simba to become king?

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In ''[[DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]'', after [[TheNthDoctor regenerating]], the Eleventh Doctor catches a glimpse of his hair and notes that he's "still not ginger." This was intended to be a CallBack to the Tenth Doctor being disappointed that he wasn't a ginger in ''[[DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion The Christmas Invasion]]'', but several viewers interpreted it as him being glad he wasn't.

* A joke that has this by design: A woman marries into a foreign country while having little knowledge of the local language. She continues learning and eventually gets confident enough in her skills to go to the butcher's to buy chicken breasts. Unfortunately, she forgets the word for "breast" as she orders and, in desperation, points at her own breasts, which is enough for the butcher to give her the correct item. The next time she tries, this repeats with chicken thighs. The next time after that, she's coming for sausages and forgets the word yet again. With no idea what to show the butcher this time, she leaves and returns with her husband. [[spoiler:Because he can speak the local language. If you first thought of another reason, it's a feature, not a bug]].

* A joke has a cadet get standed on an uninhabited island with his loaded gun, a somewhat misogynistic gay man and a somewhat homophobic woman. When it becomes obvious that help is not coming and they can realistically survive for a while, each of the cadet's companions approach him separately, suggesting that he use his gun on the third person so they can spend their days having "a normal sexual life." The punchline has the cadet start living "a normal sexual life" after killing them both. Is the cadet abstaining from sex and so principled about it that he's doing what it takes for things to stay that way? Really into masturbating, but ashamed about it? Asexual and hence genuinely uninterested in both offers? And let's not get started on the fact that those three options aren't entirely mutually exclusive.

* ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'': One strip has Pig write a letter to his landlord in response to a rent hike, threatening to give him time out. Pig comments that it always worked for his mom. Stephan Pastis said in a treasury that the intended meaning of the joke was that Pig's mom often got her son to behave by threatening to put in him in time out, but some readers thought it meant she frequently got what she wanted by writing ''her'' landlord.

** When Belle calls Gaston "primeval", he earnestly thanks her. Is this because he doesn't know what "primeval" means, or because he [[InsultBackfire takes it as a compliment]] because he hates thinking?

* A joke has a cadet get standed on an uninhabited island with his loaded gun, a somewhat misogynistic gay man and a somewhat homophobic woman. When it becomes obvious help is not coming they can realistically survive for a while, each of the cadet's companions approach him separately, suggesting that he use his gun on the third person so they can spend their days having "a normal sexual life." The punchline has the cadet starts living "a normal sexual life" after killing them both. Is the cadet abstaining from sex and so principled about it that he's doing what it takes for things to stay that way? Really into masturbating, but ashamed about it? Asexual and hence genuinely uninterested in both offers? And let's not get started on the fact that those three options aren't entirely mutually exclusive.

* A joke has a cadet get standed on an uninhabited island with his loaded gun, a somewhat misogynistic gay man and a somewhat homophobic woman. When it becomes obvious help is not coming they can realistically survive for a while, each of the cadet's companions approach him separately, suggesting that he use his gun on the third person so they can spend their days having a "normal sexual life." The punchline has the cadet start living a "normal sexual life" after killing them both. Is the cadet abstaining from sex and so principled about it that he's doing what it takes for things to stay that way? Really into masturbating, but ashamed about it? Asexual and hence genuinely uninterested in both offers?

* A joke has a cadet get standed on an uninhabited island with his loaded gun, a somewhat misogynistic gay man and a somewhat homophobic woman. When it becomes obvious help is not coming they can realistically survive for a while, each of the cadet's companions approach him separately, suggesting that he use his gun on the third person so they can spend their days having a "normal sexual life." The cadets starts living a "normal sexual life" after killing them both. Is the cadet abstaining from sex and so principled about it that he's sticking even in his current circumstances?

** When Thomas sings his OverlyLongName, Duchess says that his name seems to "cover all of Europe". Is she saying that his name is so long that, if written down, it would seemingly cover the whole continent, or is she commenting on the fact that [[MultiEthnicName he has names from several European countries]]? (for instance, Giuseppe is Italian and O'Malley is Irish).