I can't understand this:
How do you catch a tame rabbit?
The tame way
I found that tame means:
not dangerous or frightened of people; domesticated.
But how does this fit into the joke?
English Language Learners Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityI suspect this joke is intended to follow one about catching a wild rabbit. Therefore, it's a wordplay based on lisping "the same way [as you catch a wild rabbit]" as "the tame way".
It's not really all that funny, so don't worry about it.
Half the joke is missing:
Q: How do you catch a wild rabbit?
A: Dress in orange and make a noise like a carrot.
It is "funny" because carrots don't make noise, and it results in a goofy mental image.
Now follow up with the joke in the question:
Q: How do you catch a tame rabbit?
A: The tame way.
It is "funny" because the listener is expecting an answer like the answer to the first joke — some sort of goofy visual imagery. Instead, they are given a little bit of wordplay, as described in other answers. The resulting cognitive dissonance provides hours of entertainment. (The unexpected answer is funny.)
I suspect the joke assumes knowledge of the Looney Tunes character Tweety Bird, and maybe Bugs Bunny. Tweety pronounces 's' sounds as 't', so if you asked Tweety how to catch a tame rabbit (vs catching Bugs Bunny, maybe), he would say 'The same way,' and it would sound like 'The tame way.'
Or maybe I'm reaching too hard. As Nathan Tuggy said, not all that funny.
This joke is based on the way that tame and same sound or more specifally the fact that they sound similar.
This joke is not actually a joke but more of a play on words.
Q. How do you catch a rabbit?
A. You sneak up on itQ. How do you catch a unique rabbit?
A. Unique up on itQ. How do you catch a tame rabbit?
A. The tame way, unique up on it.
I tend to regard the joke as a form of anti-humor. There's a little bit of word play going on, using homonyms to create something that is nonsense but sounds like something meaningful, and therein lies the amusement. It's along the same lines as a more famous type of anti-joke:
Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?
A. To get to the other sideQ. Why did the chicken cross the playground?
A. To get to the other slideQ. Why did the chicken cross the ocean?
A. To get to the other tide
And there are many more of these kinds of jokes. Sometimes they take on a cultural value where people entertain each other by taking turns reciting them. They were all quite popular at my preschool.
It's actually part of a joke progression.. "How do you catch a unique rabbit? Unique up on it..". "How do you catch a tame rabbit? The tame way... "