standing joke

Idioms and Phrases

Something that is always funny even though it is often repeated. For example, Mary's “Dennis who?” when her husband is mentioned is a standing joke around here . This idiom employs standing in the sense of “established” or “regular,” a usage dating from the mid-1500s.

Example Sentences

There was in fact an "eternal fitness" in horse and man that was not exactly a "standing joke," but a peripatetic one.

From Project Gutenberg

Then they raised a horse laugh, and the cost of that hatchet became a standing joke and a slur on my "business ability."

From Project Gutenberg

Grandmother Sanford's pension had come to be a standing joke.

From Project Gutenberg

His complete ignorance of nautical matters became a standing joke.

From Project Gutenberg

The prowess of the British charioteers became a standing joke in Rome against the soldiers of Cæsar.

From Project Gutenberg