So, in Mexican Spanish
chiste can indeed mean both
joke and
knack (like in
tiene su chiste)…
BUT in the context of storytelling, it actually refers to
the point of the story.
So yeah, it translates well to:
👉
the point is (i.e., after all that… THIS is what actually matters)
💡 This one’s a classic
compression chunk; it reels a story in and gets you back to the main point.
🌵 Oh, and el chiste es que has a more Mexican vibe than
el caso es que or
total, que.
In Mexico you’ll hear it constantly in storytelling contexts, whereas in Spain it’s not used as much!