White House sources are now claiming that this threat — remember, the U. S. has in fact invaded Mexico in the past, and the Mexicans have not forgotten — was a lighthearted joke.

白宫的信息源现在声称这种威胁是个漫不经心的玩笑——要知道，美国过去事实上侵略过墨西哥，而墨西哥人并没有忘记。

youdao

" It was Shadowday (Saturday)! That's some joke,eh,Boss!" Chico also played the piano in a funny way.

VOA: special.2009.07.19

That seems like a bad joke,but if the body theory is right, it's not a joke at all.

又是一个冷笑话，但如果肉体主义者是对的，这就不是开玩笑了。

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So, by the way, I don't mean this as a joke, in some sense there's always a third candidate and that comes from the problem we had earlier, because not voting is always an option.

顺便说一句,我不认为某种程度上说,是有三个选举人是一个笑话,这是由于一些由来已久的问题造成的,因为不投票也是一种选择

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"I am sorry, but that's a joke, " he said.

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But it's not that great a joke, especially when it gets repeated for the third or fourth -- or fifth or sixth -- time.

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"It's a joke that has dramatically turned on them, " he said.

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