Etymology

dad joke

Today it means: A (usually deliberate) unfunny or corny joke, typically containing a pun and often in question/answer format. Full definition →

Japanese おやじギャグ
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The story

  1. Japanese · calque ofおやじギャグ
  2. English todaydad joke

Indicative of the type of bad jokes that might be told by one's father. Possible calque of Japanese おやじギャグ (oyaji gyagu, literally “dad joke”), although it is not clear which came first.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.