to say things that are funny or that you do not really mean in English:

It's no joke.

A cracker contains a small toy, a paper hat and a piece of paper with a joke.

In the same way, a Russian might fail to see anything amusing in a joke which would make an Englishman laugh to tears.

You're probably going to think this is a joke, but I was a punk rocker when I was a kid.

The joke about the chicken crossing the road to get to the other side is an example of "anti-humor": meant to be funny because, on the surface, it is not.

What kind of jokes should be forbidden?

Whether we find a joke funny or not largely depends on where we have been brought up.

In fact, there is a joke about passport photos: If you really look like the picture in your passport, you certainly need a vacation!

An Englishman, a Belgian and a Dutchman enter a pub and sit down at the counter. Says the barkeeper, "Wait a minute, is this a joke or what?"

Of course he thought it was a joke and let it slide with a "hm?" but he was seriously annoyed. I mean, just don't say things like that even as a joke!

Christopher Columbus once used the same joke 256 times in one day... thereby causing his entire crew to die of laughter.

You could read Kant by yourself, if you wanted; but you must share a joke with someone else.

If you repeat a joke two hundred fifty six times, it will set everybody's teeth on edge.