Do you get it? | Assessment Resource Banks

This task is about understanding idioms and humour in a text.

PARROT JOKE

A man bought a talking parrot and found it talked too much, and he didn't like what it said. The parrot was always swearing at him and abusing him. He tried covering its cage, but the parrot just went on swearing and making rude personal remarks. At his wits' end, the man thought he would try putting it in the deep-freeze, just for a few seconds, to see if that would "cool it down". So he opened the deep-freeze, put in the parrot, and shut the door.
After a few seconds, there was silence. "Oh, no!" the man thought. "I hope I haven't killed it!"
He opened the door and took the parrot out. "Sir," said the parrot, "I would like to apologise for all the rude things I have said to you and the bad language I have used. I promise it won't happen again. Just tell me one thing."
"What is it?" asked the man.
"Well," said the parrot, "what did that chicken do?"


Read the story and answer the questions that follow.
a)	What does "at his wits' end" mean? ____________________________________________________________________________________________
b)	What are two ways you can interpret "cool it down"?
	i) ii)	___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________
c)	Write down the punch line of this story. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
d)	Explain the humour in the punch line. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________