Ewe betcha

Lack of ram may preclude rack of lamb What’s so funny about this? The setting for this spoonerism is a bit surreal, I’ll admit. I could have placed it in a restaurant, but then the context would have been just verbal. I preferred a more countrified setting where sheep were likely to be. But then, of course, that meant putting the diner and waiter out in the field with the sheep. That’s why the guy is asking “what’s fresh?” He must be a fan of really raw meat. Then, sadly, the waiter has to disappoint him, informing him that because they don’t have a ram available to service the ewe’s (female sheep), they don’t have any little lambs running around, so he won’t be able to get the dish he wants to order. In other countries, like England, mutton is a popular meat. But in the U.S. you almost never see it on a menu. Americans do love lamb, which is the baby sheep, but not so much the adult female sheep, and never a ram, or male sheep. This spoonerism works very nicely because the absence or LACK OF RAM is so nicely spoonerized into RACK OF LAMB. This is a popular meat dish in the US, referring to the ribs of the animal. However, if you look closely in the lower right corner of the cartoon, there actually is a little ram who might be hiding from all the ladies. He might just not be up to the task of procreation. Here’s a parting thought – why is it that there appears to be so many more cows than bulls, hens than roosters and ewe’s than rams? Why and where are the males of these species hiding? - the world wants to know. And THAT’s what’s so funny! This joke was submitted by - Kap'n Klystron - Newburgh, NY #joke #pun #ESL #ELT #ELL #ELD #ESOL #EFL #TESOL #TESL #Englishlanguage #English #language #learnenglish #twinglish #wordplay #rackoflamb #ewe #ram