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The English We Speak. Hello and welcome to the English We Speak from BBC Learning English.

I'm Helen.

With me today is quite a frustrated looking Neil now.

Now what are you doing to that mobile phone?

I can't get it to make a phone call.

Oh it does everything else. It takes photos, it connects to the internet,

it even irons my shirt, but it won't make a call.

Your mother has phone irons your shirts?

Not really, but honestly, it does everything apart from the one thing I want it to do.

Make a phone call. It's a joke. A joke? But you're not laughing. It can't be a very funny joke.

Well if you say something is a joke in English it can also mean that it's not very good or not worthy of respect.

Ah, yes, joke has a second meaning.

The investigation into police corruption was a complete joke.

Everyone knows the officers were taking money, but they were let off.

The weather forecast was a total joke.

It said it would be warm and sunny, but it's freezing and raining.

As you heard there in the example, the person described an investigation into police corruption as a joke.

This doesn't mean it was funny. into police corruption as a joke.

This doesn't mean it was funny.

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