The whole joke in 17 sentences. Listen, repeat, and get ready to tell it yourself! Then: tell the whole joke →
How to work: click ▶, listen, then repeat the sentence aloud. The horses are proud and a bit arrogant: “That's nothing!”, “I've done better than any of you!” The dog sounds modest (“I don't want to brag…”) but he isn't! Be careful with the numbers: fifteen / fifty, eighteen / eighty, and the contractions: I've been, I haven't lost.
1Set the scene
There were four racehorses in a stable one day.
It was raining, and they were bored, so they started talking about their track records.
2The first two horses
One of them boasted:
“I've been in eight races so far this year, and I've won five of them.”
“That's nothing!” interrupted the second racehorse. “I've run in twelve races since the beginning of this year, and I've won seven of them.”
3The third and fourth horses
The third racehorse broke in: “Well,
I've taken part in fifteen races this year, and I've won ten of them.”
“I've done better than any of you,”
claimed the fourth racehorse. “So far this year, I've been in eighteen races, and I've only lost four of them.”
4The greyhound
At this point, they noticed that a small greyhound dog was sitting and listening to their conversation, wagging his tail.
5The greyhound's record
“I don't want to brag,” he said,
“but I've been in forty-five races this year, up till now,
and I haven't lost any of them!”
6The punchline
The horses were absolutely amazed.
“That's just incredible!
I've never heard anything like it!” said one of them, after an impressed silence.