Persian Joke: The Snake in Love (Wordplay Explained)

A Persian joke about a lovesick snake, line by line with spoken and written forms, the idiom pâ-ye kasi neshastan explained, glossary and quiz.

A Persian joke: the snake in love

In this joke someone asks a snake what it thinks about love. The snake answers with a bitter exclamation and a sad story. The punchline depends on a common Persian idiom and on what a garden hose looks like, so it is a good chance to learn both.

How to study a joke: read the Persian line by line with the pronunciation, then cover the English and retell the joke aloud in your own words. A joke is a good test of listening, because if you understand the punchline, you understood the grammar too.

The joke, line by line

Why it is funny

The key phrase is پای کسی نشستن (pâ-ye kasi neshastan), literally "to sit at someone's foot". As an idiom it means to stay faithful to someone and wait for them patiently, usually in love or marriage. The snake uses it like a heartbroken lover, but it also works literally: the snake has been lying next to its "beloved" for three years. The "neighbors' daughter" turns out to be a garden hose, شلنگ (shelang), which is long, thin and coiled, just like a snake. Three years of faithful love were wasted on a piece of rubber.

بسوزه پدر عاشقی (besuze pedar-e âsheghi) is a dramatic colloquial exclamation, similar to "to hell with love" in English. Persian has several exclamations built on بسوزه پدر …, "may the father of … burn". They are informal and half joking, so use them only with friends.

Spoken vs written forms

Grammar notes

• میگن (migan), "they say", is often used without a clear subject, like English "people say" or a passive: "the snake was asked".
• In speech, است (ast), "is", shrinks to -e after a consonant: شلنگه (shelange), "it's a hose"; چیه (chiye), "what is it".
• بسوزه is the subjunctive of سوختن (sukhtan), "to burn". The subjunctive is used for wishes and curses.

Glossary

• Laugh and Learn Persian: all jokes
• Joke 1: Memory Loss
• Joke 2: Lazy Robbers
• Joke 3: Biology Class
• Joke 5: Let's Pray

Practice

1. What does the idiom mean? پای کسی نشستن

   Show answer

   to stay faithful to someone and wait for them patiently

2. Give the written form: شلنگه

   Show answer

   shelang ast, "it is a hose" شلنگ است

3. Translate: "Yesterday I found out"

   Show answer

   diruz fahmidam دیروز فهمیدم

4. Why did the snake fall in love with a hose?

   Show answer

   Because a coiled garden hose looks like a snake.

More jokes: Laugh and Learn Persian.