This joke plays on a pun between “pain” (pronounced like “pan” in French) which means bread in French, and “pain”, which is a negative sensory response to physical trauma. The humor suggests that being around French people eating baguettes makes you feel better because they are “pain killers” in a literal sense, providing comfort and enjoyment through the shared experience of eating bread.

I dunno, kinda feel like a true dad joke can’t rely on it being written. It’s a fun bit of multilingual word play, but it doesn’t work out loud, and that’s where most dad jokes are going to be deployed.

Mind you, puns aren’t inherently dad jokes to begin with. One like this that’s only going to work when written, and requires the “kid” that’s the intended target if the joke to be at least bilingual, or learning french, that’s just so damn specific seems, I dunno, just over the border of what a dad joke is.

Mind you, I don’t object to it being here at all! Things that can be used as dad jokes are totally legit imo. I’m just discussing the practicality of this specific joke in a world where you have to be on your game to get even an eye roll, much less an actual groan. Like, how is the typical dad going to deploy this? After a long discussion about bread? When debating the wisdom of taking French in school instead of other languages?

I mean, the war against teenagers and their lack of punnage is no joking matter.