Its Funny That You Should Ask

• #1

How do you understand "funny you should ask," particularly the word funny? In the following context, it does not mean "making me laugh."

Employee A: We can expect all kinds of problems.
Employee B: What can I do to help?
Employee A: Funny you should ask. The boss wants you and me to....

• #4

Don't think so. But I sure appreciate the comment.

• #11

Gabbi is creating unnecessary complications here.

In most cases where this phrase is used, it suggests surprise that the question should have been asked because the speaker was about to say something that would in fact answer the question asked.

OK, so it may also be used sarcastically, but let's not assume that everyone descends to sarcasm.

• #13

Gabbi said:

The inherent sarcasm lies in the relationship between Employee A's first utterance and his/her second utterance (as reaction to Employee B)

You would need to explain more clearly.
I don't see any need to imply sarcasm in this situation. True, it could be there, but it could also be a very normal, amicable comment.

We should not suggest that sarcasm is an essential element of the usage. It is possible, but exceptional.

• #14

Hi,

I appreciate all the comments. Personally, I will go with the idea of "coincidence."

Thanks again.

• #16

My guess is the same as Ada's: it is funny that you asked, since you should already know it.
Is it wrong? Or it can be an alternative, depending on the tone or the following reply?
If it means "coincident", why doesn't say "Funny you asked!"?

• #18

I think it all boils down to two main definitions of funny... I remember hearing someone ask - "Do you mean funny 'ha-ha' or funny 'weird'?" I think it's from an old t.v. show...

Here's a similar idiom - "the funny thing is" (from Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms):
what I am about to say is really strange. But the funny thing is, I still love my job...
And the funny thing is, the guy spending the least money on TV ads is the one who's ahead in the opinion polls.

I think in the original context, 'funny' means what a strange coincidence almost laughable. Meaning, pretty soon, you won't be laughing, because I'm about to put you to work!

• #21

timpeac said:

Having been schooled pretty much in Romance grammar I think of this as our kind of "subjunctive". Actually, so is "ask" in "funny you ask", I'd say, since otherwise you should say "funny you have asked".

I'm afraid I don't know the rules of when you add (or can add) a "should" to a verb to make in subjunctive in English.

"Funny you should ask" is a setup line in turn-of-the-20th-century vaudeville, and it was used by comics to create a segue (usually a very clumsy one) from whatever was said, to the pretext for telling a joke or funny story.

It's usually a fairly long story, or a "shaggy dog" joke as such endless and ultimately pointless narratives were called.

So how is your Aunt Sadie?
Funny you should ask.
[and here follows a long involved story about gall bladder surgery, woven around a running gag involving some peculiarity of Aunt Sadie's.

Why "should?"

Because vaudevillian skits of this type come from the era of late 19th-century mass immigration, and have their roots in the Yiddish-language culture-- which was thriving, with newspapers and book publishers, songwriters and theater both serious and popular/comic.

"So you bought a piano? Since when do you need a piano?"
"I'm hoping to make a parlor out of Shlomo's room when he gets that place of his own." (Shlomo is my wife's older unmarried brother).
"When he what? You should live so long!"

Because of its vaudeville/burlesque origins, the set-up phrase "Funny you should ask" is indeed tinged with irony-- at the very least it arouses anticipation that something wry or facetious is coming.

I agree this irony is not inherent in the expression as used. But to anyone familiar with its history, an ironic undertone is at least latent.
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Source: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/funny-you-should-ask.164214/

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