I know I'm learning English well when I understand the jokes. But this time I couldn't understand.

"Shiver me timbers" is a classic pirate phrase. The joke is that if it's so well-known and so often repeated, someone must have said it first—and their crew must have liked it enough for it to catch on. (Whether pirates actually said that doesn't matter for the joke, just that we think they did)

There’s not much ‘joke’ there to be honest. It seems to be just that OP thinks pirates would have been surprised, the first time they heard another pirate say an idiomatic phrase that is regarded as stereotypically pirate-y.

its a really dumb joke. i bet the first time a pirate said "stereotypical pirate phrase" the whole boat had an over exaggerated reaction because they loved the phrase so much

"Shiver me timbers" is a well known and cliche thing for a pirate to say. The joke is that everyone on the boat, since they are a pirate they're presumably on a boat, got very excited by the first use of the phrase and that's why it spread to be so well known.

r/ExplainTheJoke is good for these types of questions! Lots of jokes are incredibly nuanced and native English speakers don’t always get them either.

i don't get it either. here for the explanations that someone will (hopefully) give.

It's not really a joke so much as just saying Oh shiver me timbers (which is a cliche phrase used to make people think of pirates)... When someone first came up with it, I bet pirates thought it was really cool.

There is a set of cliches and expressions associated with the pirate subculture as depicted in literature, movies and cartoons. This phrase, first appearing in print in the late eighteenth century) is an example: “Shiver me timbers” - an expression of amazement or surprise. Derived from the idea of an impact on a ship, either from rough seas, collision or cannon fire, causing the timbers to “shiver.” Compare the concept of being figuratively “shaken”. The poster is not so much making a joke as remarking humorously on the aptness of the implied metaphor, and imagining how it would have been appreciated when it was coined (thus, before it was cliche). You didn’t miss a joke, because it wasted really one- just a humorous observation.

Shiver me timbers is also used in the UK as a sarcastic response. For example when someone makes a threat or tries to scare you, but you aren't phased by it and they make you laugh.

A lot of good responses. Shiver me timbers, it's pirate talk. It approximately means "shake my pants" Scare, startle, surprise. Shake my pants

PIRATECORE: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_pHqtYhRv1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pHqtYhRv1s)

It is more of observational joke. not sure the right term it is similar to some observational jokes that Jimmy Carr do. E.g the first person to discover honey must be like ... These bees are hiding something. This one liner is better when spoken.

Basically the pirate said it the first time and all the other pirates went "damn that phrase is hard as fuck". all the pirates used it from then on because of how cool it sounds

It’s not that funny.

"Well blow me down"

Scissor me timbers is much funnier

The same could be said for any phrase really... It's not funny in my books.

The joke is more cultural/generational than it is in the language. I don't think there is really any way to explain why someone might find it funny. Or at least I certainly can't.

Shiver me Timbers! Post has already been explained, but I must represent my flair when necessary.

It's not funny.

It's a phrase heavily associated with stereotypical pirate speak, so the joke is that someone just said it one day and everyone else was so amazed by it that it spread like a wildfire.

I think it is also to do with the boat being made out of timber (wood)