I came across this joke on the internet:
A three-legged dog walks into a bar and says to the bartender, 'I'm looking for the man who shot my paw'
It is meant to be a "dad joke" but I don't understand it. What does it mean?
Idioms – Explanation for Joke About a Three-Legged Dog Walking Into a Bar
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Related Solutions
This is indeed a pun.
To make someone something can mean "to create something for someone", as in, I made her a sandwich. But it can also mean "to change someone into some thing or state", as in, I made her angry; Zeus made her (into) a cow.
To be one with something is a spiritual expression meaning...something spiritual. When people say they are one with the universe, they mean they experience some sort of supernatural bond with the entire universe. Don't ask me how it works. Here everything is equivalent to the universe. This is known as nondualism. The Dalai Lama is known for his spirituality.
But one can also stand for one pizza, as in can you make me one [pizza] with [all available toppings]: everything means "every topping/ingredient you have that you can put on a pizza".
Sure, we can say that.
Stop making so much noise out there! I'm trying to take a nap. Let me rest in peace.
Of course, rest in peace is an idiom often applied to the deceased, so such a request may be met with a few giggles. However, there's nothing grammatically or semantically wrong with that request, and its meaning seems clear from the context.
As to how to avoid conjuring up the dead (pun intended), a common idiom is do not disturb, which is how many hotels opt to word it.
So, one alternative might be:
Stop making so much noise out there! I'm trying to take a nap – please don't disturb me.
Or, the peacefully part can simply be inferred from context:
Stop making so much noise out there! I'm trying to take a nap. Please stay quiet, so I can rest.
After all, how else would we want to rest?
Best Answer
The meaning of "paw" is an animal's foot, it sounds like "pa" (an informal word for dad/father).
In cowboy movies, back in the 1940s-50s, there was always the good guy and the bad guy. The bad guy would nearly always be an outlaw, a bandit, a notorious gunfighter or a corrupt sheriff. The movie audience would know him by his black cowboy hat. The good guy, would often be a person who had suffered a wrong in the past.
At the beginning of the movie, the bad guy would burst into the saloon and announce dramatically to the patrons of said bar: I'm looking for a man named McCallister. Does anyone know where he is? Cue scrambling of tables, chairs scraping and crashing onto the ground as people fled from the inevitable gunfight.
The pun plays on this well-known trope and on the stereotypical American drawl; the vowel in "pa" and "paw" would be drawn out, i.e. /pa:/ and /pɔ/, the latter of which is only similar to the British English pronunciation /pɔː/ but close enough so that everyone gets the joke.