外國人生活中的幽默
老外們喜歡幽默，日常生活中許多英語幽默來自於對語言的巧妙運用，尤其是對雙關語的運用。老外們的幽默感通過雙關語得到了淋漓盡致地發揮。
1 句法結構雙關
例句：
--"Do you ever draw picture in the nude?"
--"No, I usually wear a jacket."
對話中，提問的人是想問“你有沒有畫過裸體畫”，而回答的人卻理解爲“你曾經光着身子畫過畫嗎？”這則幽默中雙關產生的原因是對in the nude在句中不同功能的理解，即作定語或作狀語。
2 語義雙關
語義雙關例一：一個男孩子爲了追求一個在銀行窗口工作的女孩子，便在遞交存摺的同時附上了一張小紙條。
"Dear M:
I have been SAVING this question in the hope that I might gain some INTETRST. If free Friday, would you care to DEPOST yourself beside me at a movie? I have taken into ACCOUNT that you maybe previously engaged; if so I will WITHDRAW my offer and hipe Saturday. At any RATE, your company would much enjoy, and I hope you will not ASSESS this as too forward. Check you late.
Sincerely B."
如此有創意的求愛方式，女孩子能不爲之心動麼。男孩子巧妙運用銀行術語（deposit, withdraw, account, assess, check）與日常環境的不同意思，以獨特的方式表達了自己的愛慕之情。
語義雙關例二：英語習慣用語生動形象，用在一定的語境中，可以產生一語雙關的效果。
--What weather does mice most dislike?
--When it is raining cats and dogs.
"Cats and dogs"是傾盆大雨的意思。這則幽默取其字面意思，貓狗都從天上掉下來了，老鼠自然不喜歡了。
3 語音雙關
語音雙關例一：The things my wife buy at auctions are keeping me baroque.
這是一位男士利用baroque（形式怪樣的）與broke（破產）的相近讀音來表達對妻子花錢大手大腳的不滿。
語音雙關例二：Six year old Linda returned impressed from her school first day at school. Asked how she got on, she replied:" Every morning, we all have to sit at our desk and when the teacher calls our names, we have to answer 'prisoner' !"
當老師點名時，學生應該回答"present"。而Linda利用"prisoner"與"present"的相近讀音，表達了對學校生活的不滿。
語音雙關例三：--"You're not eating your fish," the waitress asked him, "Anything wrong with it?"
--"Long time no sea," the customer replied.
"Long time no sea"魚久不見海，肯定不新鮮。而"Long time no see"是朋友見面時所用的寒暄語，相當於老朋友久別重逢時說的“好久不見”。Sea與see是同音異形異義詞，這位顧客巧妙地運用這一點，指出了魚不好吃，不新鮮。
