Talk:ha-ha funny

RFD discussion

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funny ha ha

funny ha-ha

ha ha funny

ha-ha funny

These strike me as SoP and unnecessary. "Ha ha" is simply the interjection used to clarify a word which can be ambiguous in certain contexts. I can also picture "heat hot", "spicy hot", and "sexy hot" being used, but I wouldn't count those as inclusion-worthy set phrases, either. Astral (talk)

I seem to recall we've already discussed one of these directly, but I can't find anything except talk:done done. Anyway, delete as SOP, I think: it's just funny with a synonym added to clarify which sense is meant.​—msh210℠ (talk) 15:01, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

A lemming check: Chambers has funny ha-ha and funny peculiar. Equinox ◑ 15:04, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

It's an unusual construction, too: you would expect "ha-ha funny", or "funny as in ha-ha". Equinox ◑ 16:18, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Keep - ha-ha isn't an adjective, or even a noun. This is essentially a spoken determinative, and not really SOP, either. --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 17:20, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

I see why this was nominated, I also feel like this sort of language isn't easy to decode from the sum of its parts and would ergo pass WT:CFI#Idiomaticity. I tend towards keep. Mglovesfun (talk) 19:56, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Someone encountering "Ha-ha funny"/"funny haha" should be able to ascertain its meaning by looking up "ha ha" and "funny." The phrase itself supplies the information needed to work out which sense of "funny" is intended.

"Ha-ha" occurs as a noun:

1957, Ernie Kovacs, Zoomar, Doubleday (1957), page 28:

Ha-has from both sides of the door.

1983, Texas Monthly, March 1983, page 68:

You'll catch a few ha-has and even a golden memory or two singing along with the house piano player.

1996, Lois A. Chaber, "Sir Charles Grandison And The Human Prospect", in New Essays on Samuel Richardson (ed. Albert J. Rivero), St. Martin's Press (1996), →ISBN, page 196:

She is not rewarded until she learns to reduce her expectations, and surprises (the ha-has of this novel) are the educational tool.

2005, Sue Grafton, S Is for Silence, Berkley Books (2005), →ISBN, unnumbered page:

If Kathy had been with us, she'd have countered with a few ha-has of her own, thus guaranteeing a laugh at his expense.

2011, Melissa Coleman, This Life Is In Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone, HarperCollins (2011), →ISBN, page 9:

Scientists say my waiting self could already hear the chirp of Mama's voice, the ha-has of Papa's laughter, […]

And also as an adjective:

1973, New Society, Volume 23, page 197:

Much of this book is written in a weak ha-ha style, confirming that the oldest jokes are not the best; […]

1990, Barbara Ehrenreich, The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed, Pantheon Books (1990), →ISBN, page 67:

"I'm just not the old ha-ha person I was before," Anne explains.

1994, Fred Hoyle, Home Is Where the Wind Blows: Chapters from a Cosmologist's Life, University Science Books (1994), →ISBN, page 46:

So here was a ha-ha situation from the outset.

Astral (talk) 00:02, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Delete all, add sense to Ha-Ha, when I ask someone, "Is this funny weirdo funny or ha-ha funny?" I actually pause between ha-ha and funny, they are two separate words I am afraid and that makes this an SOP.Lucifer (talk) 06:36, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Keep: it may be transparent but it is grammatically unusual to combine an interjection with an adjective. — TAKASUGI Shinji (talk) 07:51, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Kept. No consensus to delete for many months. bd2412 T 02:14, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

American English

Apparently this is an American variation, right? --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:45, 29 October 2021 (UTC)

According to the following source:

Eric Partridge (2013) “funny ha-ha; ha-ha funny”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd edition, volumes I–II, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 943.

The phrases "funny ha-ha" and "ha-ha funny" have their origins in the UK, in the work of Ian Hay.

If you mean the specific word order variant here (ha-ha funny, as opposed to funny ha-ha), then that seems plausible based on this WordReference forum thread. I have to say that "funny ha-ha" sounds less normal to me (American); whereas the Brits in that thread reported the opposite. 70.172.194.25 19:51, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

lol no agreement then Backinstadiums (talk) 19:56, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

This source gives an earlier American use: [1], in the form funny ha-ha even. 70.172.194.25 20:04, 22 February 2022 (UTC)