Calling something "a joke" feels meaner than calling something "a bad joke"
Maybe it's just because the latter evokes that speech from the Heath Ledger joker, making it less serious.
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This post is a joke.
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A bad joke.
"Life is a joke."
"Life is a bad joke."
Something being a joke means it's [insert negative attribute] enough to be laughable, but it being a bad joke mean it's [insert negative attribute] but not enough to be funny.
A bad joke doesn't necessarily imply [negative attribute], though.
Could just be ironic or surprising amount of [neutral attribute].
So it's poorly executed but earnest
I think a joke is something you can't take seriously. Could be good, bad, ugly, absurd, weird, stupid or something else. Either way, it's harmless, and makes you laugh.
If something is called a bad joke, it has some of those properties, but it isn't funny. It's actually quite serious, but in a bad way.