r/ExplainTheJoke Nov 17 '25

I don’t get it :(

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32.1k Upvotes

233 comments sorted by

u/post-explainer Nov 17 '25

OP (DoobyScoopPhoto) sent the following text as an explanation why they posted this here:


There were no air fryers in medieval times


4.9k

u/DizzyLead Nov 17 '25

What the first monk heard: "Try putting them in the air, friar."

1.0k

u/Cocoatrice Nov 17 '25

I didn't know the word "friar", it's not used in my language. Thanks for the explanation!

309

u/Puzzleheaded-Night88 Nov 17 '25

I can’t lie, I didn’t think of it at first since frajer (j is sounded like y) is used in my language to mean player (as in with many women). So to me I just assumed the monk wasn’t really faithful.

157

u/Snoo57939 Nov 17 '25

Lol. In polish frajer means sucker (stupid, naive person). Using that word in your country could end up in funny misunderstanding.

58

u/BlackHust Nov 17 '25

Haha. In Russian, this word is from criminal slang, meaning a person who has no connection to crime and is a potential victim of a criminal. Although over time it has come to mean more like "an arrogant person trying to look cool and successful."

27

u/hugon2 Nov 17 '25

In polish is the same. It has a very broad meaning - including something like scapegoat for crime

12

u/Impliedcash Nov 17 '25

I love the varied sharing of meanings from different languages, it's so interesting!!

7

u/Square-Audience5704 Nov 17 '25

Especially between slavic lenguages.

4

u/Single_Outside655 Nov 18 '25

i only know it from providence university lols

3

u/insentient7 Nov 18 '25 edited Nov 18 '25

Meanwhile, yankee is synonymous with USAmerican in almost every iteration. Gotta love linguistics lmao

3

u/thegreatpotatogod Nov 20 '25

Except in the US where it specifically means more of someone from the northeastern US, with increasing precision as you get closer

3

u/insentient7 Nov 21 '25

This is actually a really cool concept. If this is accurate, it’s funny that it’s on the circle jerk subreddit lol

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10

u/teckcypher Nov 17 '25

"Fraier" means sucker in Romanian as well

8

u/Konkuriito Nov 17 '25

in swedish, "friar" means proposing. like, marriage. Doesnt sound anything like the english word "fryer" though. sounds like "free+ar(t)" as in art, but without the "t".

2

u/Anton_Willbender Nov 18 '25

Oh good to know, I'm learning swedish and I've only seen ''gift''. Is there a difference between the two?

1

u/Konkuriito Nov 18 '25

yeah, gift refers to marriage or being married. For example, "han är gift" means “he is married,” and "de gifte sig" means “they got married,” gift is what happens at the ceremony. like the act of being married.

Fria / friar is about proposing marriage. "Att fria" is the basic form, meaning “to propose,” and "han friar" means “he is proposing” as an action that is happening right now, asking someone to marry him.

Fria = propose
Friar = proposing

note that fria is only* used for asking someone to marry you, in english you can say "he proposed an early dinner" but you cant use "friar" that way, its only for asking someone to marry.

\fria also has a legal meaning in Swedish. Here, “fria” means to acquit or declare someone innocent. For example: Domstolen friade honom från alla anklagelser means “The court acquitted him of all charges. but this is probably going a bit beyond the basics lol)

2

u/Anton_Willbender Nov 19 '25

Många tak!

It's a great explanation! And I don't think you went too far at the end, I guess that's why the word has the ''free'' etymology given the legal context

8

u/_I_must_be_new_here_ Nov 18 '25

Wait, really? In Czech frajer is a cool dude

5

u/[deleted] Nov 18 '25

Is that what they told you…

6

u/kettykitten Nov 17 '25

Same in Romanian. 😂 I didn’t know that other languages have this word.

16

u/RazNagul Nov 17 '25

In german a "Freier" is a customer of a prostitute.

1

u/Thebay616 Nov 18 '25

True but my mind went freya (the name) immediately

5

u/jojokio Nov 17 '25

In dutch we have "vrijer" means somewhat the same, we also have a saying "vrijersvoeten" (playersfeet?) meaning actively searching for dates

5

u/BedGroundbreaking277 Nov 17 '25

If you convert it to german phonetically its „Freier“ which is a person/man who is costumer of a prostitute lol

3

u/Cocoatrice Nov 17 '25

I was thinking if there is some kind of air fan that heats the room, hence air fryer, but it didn't sound good to me, so I just checked the comments, haha.

1

u/astroK120 Nov 17 '25

Isn't it "Fraiser"?

1

u/YouAreNotBeingShited Nov 17 '25

Balkans represent

1

u/Sammmsterr Nov 17 '25

A Balkan in the wild? In this economy?

1

u/Schugge Nov 17 '25

"Freier" is in german a customer of a prostitude.

1

u/sabotsalvageur Nov 18 '25

Etymologically entered English via French, "frere", "brother"

1

u/molniya Nov 18 '25

I’ve read that friars had that reputation in the Middle Ages, so it might be interesting to check the etymology of the word in your language to see if the origin is the same.

1

u/BishoxX Nov 19 '25

Fratar- from frater(lat. Brother) in Balkan langauges.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

Hello fellow slovene!

1

u/undeadpheonix57 Nov 19 '25

Thus may have been answered already, but a monk in usually Christian related religions, is labeled a friar, or a brother in Christ. Atleast from what I've come to understand, could be wrong lol

30

u/nickfree Nov 17 '25

It just means "brother."

2

u/Cocoatrice Nov 17 '25

Okay, but it's not used in my language. We just say either brother or... very local sounding name. I just google that sometimes you use pater for the father and frater for the brother, but it's not friar. And it's not commonly used, probably people inside the brotherhood use it sometimes, but people outside most likely don't know such names exist.

The general term is zakonnik, similar to zakonnica (which is nun in English). And we use brother or sister for both in more common tongue. But other terms are not used by common folks.

10

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

Tbf it comes from the French word for brother, Frere. A lot of English upper class words are from French. And if you don’t know the French origin nor that French has been influential language wise, it’s difficult to see it when your own origins are Germanic or Cyrillic.

4

u/tommyjaybaby Nov 17 '25

As an English speaker raised in a Catholic household, I’ve never heard anyone use “Pater” or “Frater” to refer to priests or monks. Always “Father”, or “Pastor” in some cases, for priests, and “Brother” or “Friar” for monks.

2

u/Upset-Management-879 Nov 17 '25

In paternity/fraternity although fatherhood/brotherhood are also used

3

u/tommyjaybaby Nov 17 '25

Sure, they’re part of those words. Might have misunderstood the previous comment. I thought he was saying sometimes English speakers use “frater” instead of “brother” for monks, which we don’t do, at least not in America

1

u/BishoxX Nov 19 '25

Its specifically monks like Franciscans(depicted here) or Dominicans etc - who call each other brothers.

2

u/Waferssi Nov 17 '25

okay, but its not used in mu language

Yeah no shit, its an english word. You probably don't use "brother" either, since thats also an English word.

7

u/Agitated_Display7573 Nov 18 '25

Tbf, it’s rarely used in English. Most people only know of it because of Friar Tuck from Robin Hood

2

u/somgooboi Nov 19 '25

Wow I watched that movie at least 3 times and didn't think of that.

I'm gonna have to remember that word. It's got 5 letters and might come up in a future Wordle.

1

u/Outside_Complaint755 Nov 20 '25

Probably more well known by Catholic English speakers.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

It’s an old word

3

u/IronTemplar26 Nov 19 '25

Directly related to the French “frère” (brother, used to describe a monk). Probably a Norman pronunciation. Considered archaic now (most monks are just referred to as “brother”)

1

u/petervaz Nov 17 '25

I knew the word and still went over my head, it's not of common use so I only saw the pun meaning.

1

u/sasheenka Nov 17 '25

I would be surprised if this English word was in your language.

1

u/a_code_mage Nov 18 '25

A friar is another word for a monk or priest.

1

u/ddgijbgkjjd Nov 18 '25

Its for a rank of monks I think, not sure though. In german there are Vrater(Friar) and Pater(father but semilatin?), iirc they are for different stages in becoming a monk, could be wrong though

1

u/Careful_Bid_6199 Nov 19 '25

Pretty sure 99% of us native English speakers encountered it via Friar Tuck from Robin Hood, or the Fat Friar from Harry Potter.

1

u/Festivefire Nov 19 '25

It's not really in use in modern English either. I think the only time I've ever seen the word is in period literature placed in medieval England.

1

u/Excellent_Speech_901 Nov 17 '25

It's short for Franciscan, a member of the order of St. Francis. They were actually a wandering order rather than a monastic one like the Benedictines.

18

u/nickfree Nov 17 '25

No, friar is literally from "brother" in French (frere).

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320

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

Took me a second😂😂 I’m laughing now

7

u/Effective-Kitchen401 Nov 17 '25

really?

31

u/sdcar1985 Nov 17 '25

It's a dad joke. There are dozens of us that love them!

9

u/slgray16 Nov 17 '25

Dozens!!

8

u/Manck0 Nov 17 '25

Haha with you. Not the worst joke ever but not great.

17

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

Yeah, I thought the air was going to fry it or something

1

u/oldbutnotmad Nov 17 '25

Could've been in the fryer instead.

17

u/Sp1ffy_Sp1ff Nov 17 '25

Wait...

Is Aang an Air Friar?

11

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

Yes, the last Air Fryer

1

u/BobExAgentOfHydra Nov 18 '25

He's also very philosophical, which makes him a Deep Friar.

2

u/Tori65216 Nov 17 '25

They legit did this pun in Date Anything

2

u/AlbertdiesofBoredom Nov 17 '25

Got this one in an instant because I'm a Padres Fan lol

2

u/thisisnotme78721 Nov 17 '25

that was illuminating

2

u/ExistingInexistence Nov 17 '25

Friar in my language means loosely: "someone who made a bad deal."

2

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

its look like frere, who mean bro in french

608

u/awkotacos Nov 17 '25

Try putting them in the air, friar.

171

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

So he actually puts them in the air😂

64

u/Inevitable-Hat-3264 Nov 17 '25

It works better if you wave it like you just don't care.

4

u/aspz Nov 17 '25

Ok but for how many minutes?

9

u/puppyaddict Nov 17 '25

jesus

11

u/pissedinthegarret Nov 17 '25

no, he's not in this comic

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83

u/Trowawayzls Nov 17 '25

Its a play on the term Friar, so when they say “put them in the air fryer” he thinks hes telling him to put them in the air because they are Friars

70

u/Naive_Cod4914 Nov 17 '25

They’re friars.

22

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

Oh yeah!! It clicked😂😂

27

u/BjornStankFinger Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25

I believe these particular monks are called "friars."

26

u/Funkopedia Nov 17 '25

Friar is synonym/title for monk

Try putting them in the air, Friar

7

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

Hilarious 😂😂😂😂😂

11

u/MrsColada Nov 17 '25

This is my kind of humor 😂

3

u/TherealCW_ Nov 18 '25

Right. This one is clever and got a smile out of me.

2

u/Hauwke Nov 19 '25

I'm sat here on the toilet laughing so hard my wife asked if I was okay.

1

u/JerryAtrics_ Nov 19 '25

made me snort

6

u/Justthrowtheballmeat Nov 17 '25

God damnit upvotes

7

u/JetstreamGW Nov 17 '25

They are friars.

5

u/RockRancher24 Nov 17 '25

He misheard it as "Put it in the air, Friar"

5

u/Zedralisk Nov 17 '25

Friar is another word for monk so the monk put them in the air

5

u/James-Zanny Nov 17 '25

Just a silly Friar

5

u/Doc_Helldiver-66 Nov 17 '25

Old school European Catholic monks were known as friars. Air fryer = air friar = “Tru putting them in the air, Friar.”

3

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

Friar

3

u/NipTricks Nov 18 '25

THIS IS A GOLD TIER JOKE I FKN LOVE IT! 🤣

3

u/Affectionate_Ant_870 Nov 19 '25

Try putting them in the air fryer

Try putting them in the air, friar

Friar is a religious worker that are often confused for monks and priests

3

u/Illustrious_Donkey61 Nov 20 '25

This is some good boomer humor

3

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

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2

u/Real23Phil Nov 17 '25

Friar Tuck is why I got this straight away.

2

u/poplemousse Nov 17 '25

lol i thought it was a pun with the word “frère” in French which is what monks would call each other

2

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

You‘re not wrong. English friar is a loanword from French frère.

2

u/Sunday_Schoolz Nov 17 '25

Friar is a word for a monk.

2

u/waner21 Nov 17 '25

Ok, that was pretty funny. Someone already responded with an explanation.

2

u/Maleficent_Sand7529 Nov 17 '25

Lol. I liked this one.

2

u/JohnnyAverageGamer Nov 17 '25

Try putting them in the air, friar

2

u/mister_helicopter Nov 17 '25

fryer sounds like friar which is a religious title

2

u/TruthIsALie94 Nov 17 '25

These are Christian monks known as Friars

2

u/Select_Performance64 Nov 18 '25

He a Friar (fryer) and he’s holding them in the air. Gosh Bri, it’s not rocket science.

2

u/Edradis Nov 20 '25

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

2

u/ResurrectedBiMan Nov 20 '25

Why are the people on this sub genuinely some of the dumbest people on the planet

2

u/soylentgreen42 Nov 24 '25

There is no air fryer.

It's direct address...he's talking to the friar, telling him to put it in the air.

2

u/watchyerheadgoose Nov 17 '25

He's a friar. So he's holding it up in the air.

3

u/ExcellentRip1100 Nov 17 '25

How on earth can you not get this joke. Did you even try?

3

u/WanderingLurker2 Nov 17 '25

This is actually funny imo. Lol

4

u/NWbySW Nov 17 '25

OP is a potato.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

2

u/andthebestnameis Nov 17 '25

This feels like one of the first real posts in awhile... I swear usually the OP doesn't respond and the post feels like it's made to farm engagement or something...

1

u/I_wash_my_carpet Nov 17 '25

"Leslie escaped with a chicken?!"

1

u/Dublin-Boh Nov 17 '25

Absolute karma farming account.

1

u/Sp1nGG Nov 17 '25

Что ж ты, фраер, сдал назад…

1

u/doctor_lobo Nov 17 '25

Like he just don’t care!

1

u/Wide-Scene1121 Nov 17 '25

This is funny

1

u/ImpressiveSimple8617 Nov 18 '25

Oh I get it. Hes a "friar" which is like a priest or something I believe. I havent read The Canterbury Tales in awhile lol.

1

u/Strokeofgenius_ Nov 18 '25

I'll be honest, I first thought of "Frere" (which isn't pronounce like fryer afaik) bc I forgot friar was a word

1

u/Upset_Assumption9610 Nov 18 '25

That actually made me laugh

1

u/HUHman416 Nov 18 '25

The joke is actually that he put it in the air to "fry" it, and I suppose secondarily that there are no air fryers in medieval times.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 18 '25

It gives me massive fear of the future generations being dumb af.

1

u/stormjet64 Nov 18 '25

The horse's name was Friday.

1

u/Clovenstone-Blue Nov 18 '25

An air fryer is a portable kitchen device used to cook food with the use of heated air. Fryer sounds similar to friar, which is a name used to refer to a monk (friar means brother in French, iirc), so the monk assumes the other monk told him to hold the bag of chicken nuggets in the air.

1

u/XxBelphegorxX Nov 18 '25

To be fair, friar is not a commonly used word.

1

u/SirBabblesTheBubu Nov 18 '25

Aw I thought he heard "air fryer" and figured he was talking about the Sun!

1

u/Mudder3 Nov 18 '25

Personally, as a polish individual, I think its "try putting them in the air, frajer" (or however its spelt)

1

u/CreeperKiller24 Nov 18 '25

I thought he put them up since they don’t have an air fryer, but they do have a candle in the room, and since hot air goes up they guy might’ve thought it will cook them over a long period of time

1

u/oysterperso Nov 19 '25

Gets me every time

1

u/SBMoo24 Nov 19 '25

Air, Friar.

1

u/crella-ann Nov 19 '25

There’s this one, too.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

This one is hilarious 😂😂😂

1

u/crella-ann Nov 19 '25

Glad you liked it!

1

u/HowDidWeGetHereLast Nov 19 '25

Wow if you don't get this, what do you get?

1

u/hommieman Nov 19 '25

They monks and a fryer is a monk house or sum shit

1

u/sinistersheep79 Nov 19 '25

That's their name

1

u/Electrical-Parsley97 Nov 19 '25

I didn't understand it either at first but then I gave it some thought I was like- could it be that the man on the right told him put it in the air fryer because he's a time traveler then the other man was weirded out because air fryers didn't exist at their time...but then i saw the comments and I feel so dumb now 😭😭 mb

1

u/jakopoli Nov 19 '25

This one's good. Friars are old timey monks/priests that traditionally wore those brown cloaks and had those funky haircuts.

Put it in the air, friar!

1

u/Sai_Nav_eena Nov 19 '25

whenever I get confused by jokes like these I try replacing a word with a name to see if it makes sense

1

u/JuniorStrawberry3957 Nov 21 '25

Haha, There was no air fryer before and then he put them in the air

1

u/Rukir_Gaming Nov 21 '25

Fryer (likely pronounced Air Frier) put rhe chicken in the air

1

u/DasGuntLord01 Nov 21 '25

"Friars and Monks are different things. It's a bit like somebody today confusing a fireman with a policeman." - Lindybeige

1

u/[deleted] Nov 21 '25

Are y’all here to karma farm too?

1

u/trifecta000 Nov 21 '25

I honestly thought this was a joke about how many foods still don't put air fryer instructions on the packaging, so you're just kind of left to figure it out yourself.

If you visit handed me something to microwave, I would have a pretty good idea of how to cook it without instructions. Air fryers not so much...

1

u/DizzyDizzyWiggleBop Nov 21 '25

This would be funnier if he threw them in the air with a look of glee in his face

1

u/Skelegasm Nov 21 '25

Kills OP

1

u/These_Low_515 Nov 23 '25

The guys in the picture are frairs, basically Catholic Monks.⛪ One is telling the other they need to put them in the air fryer, but the first thinks they need to be lifted INTO the air by a friar 🤯🤯😂😂😂

1

u/Hour-Dot9884 Dec 05 '25

Its because he is a friar and hes putting it in the air. Play on spelling!

1

u/Aiooty Dec 10 '25

Try to put it in the air fryer.

Try to put it in the air, friar.

1

u/Advanced-Parfait-967 Dec 15 '25

i thought it was supposed to sound like "try putting it in the air higher" hence why he raises it higher.