Hey there, what does this joke mean?it's in English but I don't get it?

Question

Here it is:
Man has always given his wife a very unusual gift every Christmas. This past Christmas, he came in with a very tiny tree with barely any needles on it. The only thing hanging from one branch was a bullet.
He put it on the table and said "There!".
The wife said, "I give up. What is it?"
"It's a Cartridge in a bare tree."

English is not my first language but I can understand if you explain to me.

Answer 1

OK, it's a dumb joke, but the punchline (the "funny" part at the end) is: "It's a cartridge in a bare tree". This is a play on "A partridge in a pear tree", which is a line from a Christmas carol, "The 12 Days of Christmas". The "cartridge" is the bullet, and the tree is "bare" because it doesn't have any needles on it.

Answer 2

It's a play with words. The original phrase came from a song entitled Twelve Days of Christmas, where in a person talks about the gifts given to him/her by his/her true love during the 12 days of christmas. The phrase used was taken from the first day wherein the person talks about his/her love giving him/her a "Partridge on a Pear tree."

You would notice that the letter "P" was changed to letter "B" in the "gift with the riddle" that was presented by the husband to his wife. The change of letter from P to B complimented his "gift with a riddle", though not quite close) as the bullet (in a cartridge) is left hanging on a bare tree (without needles nor leaves).

Answer 3

It's a pun - that is, a play on words. There's an old nursery rhyme called The Twelve Days of Christmas - look it up in Google - and it goes 'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... a partridge in a pear tree.' Then it goes on to list the gifts given on each of the remaining twelve days. So it's playing with the original words to make a joke. The 'cartridge' is the bullet, and the 'bare tree' is bare because it doesn't have any needles (that is, leaves) on it.

By the way, the 'twelve days of Christmas' refers to the fact that in the old days the feast of Christmas lasted for twelve days from Christmas day to January 6th, and people who keep this tradition also keep their Christmas decorations, their tree, etc., until the twelve days are over.

Welcome to the complicated world of English vocabulary. I hope you do well.

Answer 4

The joke is a pun on the famous Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas". The line "a cartridge in a bare tree" sounds like the line of the carol that goes "my true love sent to me/
A partridge in a pear tree." And of course, a cartridge is ammunition in a gun. To listen to "The Twelve Days of Christmas", go to http://www.carols.org.uk/the_twelve_days_of_christmas.htm

Answer 5

It is a play on words relating to the Christmas carol which includes the words "A partridge in a pear tree." which rhymes with "A cartridge in a bare tree." It is really not very clever or funny!

Answer 6

There's a song called "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and in it the lyrics are "..my true love gave to me..." and continues to list many things that were received, one of them is "a partridge in a pear tree."

The bullet mentioned in the joke is a play on words in the line "a partridge in a pear tree."
See.. "a cartridge in a pear tree." It goes to show the childish manner the "true love" (her husband) went through to give her the gifts.. which were not HALF as romantic as mentoned in the song. It's still creative in a sense.. LOL (the dumbass).

Answer 7

It's a play on words from a popular Christmas song. The song is "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and the line is "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree." A partridge is a type of bird.

Answer 8

have you ever heard the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas?" It's a pretty well known and very obnoxious Christmas song, but, if you haven't heard it, one of the first lines in the song is "A partridge in a pear tree" which rymes with the last line in the joke. That's why it's supposed to be funny. Hope this helps!

Answer 9

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Answer 10

The tree is bare because there's nothing on it. A cartridge is another word for bullet. The joke isn't funny.