re: What’s a funnier line, A or B

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While not overly funny B has the elements of a joke while A lacks the same.

B has conciseness...."brevity is the soul of wit" Willaim Shakespear. It does not have anything unecessary, it gets to the point.

Mis-direction - one assumes the speaker will explain why the restaurant is no longer popular....which leads to the punchline....it's too crowded...not what one would have expected, if no one is going it can't be crowded. Again, not overly funny but the elements are there.

A is far from concise...it works better as "I hate British movies....they don't speak English". The misdirection and punchline are sort of there but its long winded..."I can't understand them" is superfluous, its implied. It works in a manner but it requires the listener to listen longer the way it is. It might work somewhat better with a slight pause between "they don't speak English...." and "I can't understand them....." but that is still pushing the boundary of brevity.

Its also superfluous to include "know how to".....that sort of kills the misdirection element, it explains why they don't speak English, they do not know how to, which in turn explains why the speaker did not understand the British movie. "I hate British movies....they don't speak English" is a superior humorous point, not overly funny but contains the elements of a joke, conciseness, misdirection and the punch line.

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