standing joke

standing joke

Something that continues to be considered funny, cause amusement, or result in ridicule over a long or continuous period of time. His bizarre choice of clothes became a standing joke among the students in our class. I'm so hopelessly forgetful that it's now a standing joke in our house.
See also: joke, standing
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

standing joke

a subject that regularly and over a period of time causes amusement whenever it is mentioned. Uncle Jim's driving was a standing joke. He used to drive incredibly slowly. Their mother's inability to make a decision was a standing joke in the smith family all their lives.
See also: joke, standing
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

standing joke

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.
See also: joke, standing
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • regale
  • regale (one) with (something)
  • regale with
  • laugh in (one's) face
  • laugh in face
  • laugh in somebody's face
  • laugh in someone's face
  • all tuckered out
  • make (someone, something, or oneself) a laughingstock
  • make a laughingstock of (someone, something, or oneself)
References in classic literature
She was convinced that Margaret had fixed on a person whose name she could not bear with composure to become a standing joke with Mrs.
Her loquacity was a standing joke between them, and he answered:
Language cannot describe the anxieties, experiences, and exertions which Jo underwent that morning, and the dinner she served up became a standing joke. Fearing to ask any more advice, she did her best alone, and discovered that something more than energy and good will is necessary to make a cook.
He had a notion it must have been a certain Member of Parliament of illustrious parentage and unconventional sympathies, which were the standing joke of the comic papers.
A standing joke in the two bureaus was the question whether he wore corsets, and bets depended on it.
This being one of the standing jokes between the old fellows and Tim, they all three laughed very heartily, and might have laughed much longer, but that the brothers, seeing that Mrs Nickleby was labouring to express her feelings, and was really overwhelmed by the happiness of the time, took her between them, and led her from the room under pretence of having to consult her on some most important arrangements.
Go into the Court of Chancery yonder and ask what is one of the standing jokes that brighten up their business sometimes, and they will tell you that the best joke they have is the man from Shropshire.
Our standing army risks becoming a standing joke. Next thing they'll be hiring Serco to fight Britain's wars.
Mr Clark, who was urged to check his stash by his partner and her niece, said: "It was a standing joke that I had these tickets while there was a local prize outstanding, so they were on at me to check."
"It was something of a standing joke that I had all these tickets while there was a local prize outstanding, so for weeks they were on at me to check."
"It's a bit of a standing joke in the dressing room that we're the favourites to go down all the time.
His new book, Vegetable Perfection, shows how to turn veg into a mealtime centrepiece and he says: "There's a standing joke in many kitchens that any vegetarian dish can be improved with bacon, but the reality is that it shows ignorance of the options and flavours vegetables can produce."
"We must be the most disorganised people on the planet and it actually became a standing joke between us.
He told the FA interviewer: "It's a standing joke with me, I mean a woman's place is in the home and everything so what difference does it make saying it in front of all her colleagues?
It was a standing joke with a colleague that, after impact test results from one particular consultancy project, we politely declined green hard hats on factory visits.