This is a Korean-language pun I saw online (mastodon). Unfortunately, because my Korean isn’t that good, mostly Korean puns go right over my head. I don’t even recognize them. This one I recognized as a pun, and I decided to try to figure it out. I have fond memories of classes with my Korean middle school students where they would try to explain, in English, some Korean pun or joke that had gone over my head. I always thought it made for a great intrinsic motivation for English learning and practice.
Q: 스님이 차에서 내리지 않는 이유는 뭘까요?
A: 차에 기도하기 때문이에요!
Q: Why couldn’t the monk get out of his car?
A: Because he was about to pray.
I think the pun is in the word(s) 차에 [cha.e], which in the question means “in the car” but in the answer means “about to”. So there’s some ambiguity in the answer, between “Because he was about to pray” vs “Because he was praying in the car”. To be clear – maybe I didn’t understand the joke. I welcome corrections by those more knowledgeable, and I’ll post them as updates if that happens.
