Why is it funny?
Some phrases are not funny because of what they mean. They are funny because of who they make you think of. Say "come on, man" and everyone hears Joe Biden; sign off "SAD!" in capitals and everyone hears Donald Trump — without you naming a soul. The joke is the recognition. If you know, you know.
The one this whole site is named after
If you know, you know.
It is the inside joke about inside jokes. It announces that a joke exists, declines to tell you what it is, and sorts everyone reading into those who get it and those who do not — all in four words. Saying it is funny precisely because it withholds.
Political
Catchphrases and verbal tics that channel a politician without ever naming one.
- Come on, man. Joe Biden's debate-stage exasperation — the folksy, slightly weary brush-off.
- Here's the deal. Biden's signature wind-up — the phrase that announces he is about to level with you.
- Lying dog-faced pony soldier. Biden's strangest off-the-cuff insult.
- Malarkey. An old-fashioned word for nonsense that now mostly evokes Joe Biden, who revived it.
- Many such cases. A Trump posting tic — a clipped coda implying a vast, unnamed pattern.
- SAD! Donald Trump's all-caps posting style — the one-word verdict tacked onto the end of a message.
- Thank you for your attention to this matter. Trump's social-media sign-off — the incongruously formal closing line bolted onto an all-caps post.
- We'll see what happens. Trump's all-purpose non-answer.
Internet & meme culture
Lines from online life — the joke is being in on it.
- Do your own research. The online armchair skeptic — the person who treats a YouTube afternoon as equivalent to a degree.
- If you know, you know. Nothing in particular — and that is the point. It evokes the very idea of an in-group.
- Let him cook. Online sports and gaming culture — the call to let someone follow their plan.
- Touch grass. The chronically online — and the standard advice flung at them.
Office-speak
Meeting-room language, redeployed for comic effect.
Generic funnies
We also keep a collection of plain English idioms — phrases like "raining cats and dogs" — explained for learners and the curious. Not inside jokes, just funny. Browse them →