The owner shows an item featuring an image of Disney cartoon character Jerry from Tom and Jerry. (Photo: GT/Chen Xia)

A viral video on Twitter showing an Arab man telling hotel reception he found "Jerry" after spotting a rat in his room has also spread on Chinese social media, with netizens discovering a similar joke had already been made at the Spring Festival gala six years ago.

The viral video was uploaded on Twitter with the caption, "This Arab guy calls the hotel reception to complain about a mouse in his room. Listen to how he describes the situation."

The man, who according to the tweet is Arab, had apparently spotted a mouse in his hotel room. To make the hotel understand what it was, he called the reception and told them "Jerry" was in his room, according to a report in India Today.

After going viral on Chinese social media, netizens were amused by the man and said jokingly that his English may be poor, but he is smart.

Some netizens found that the joke had already been used in a performance in China six years ago.

"I lived in a hotel in Thailand and found a mouse in my room. When I called the reception, I suddenly forgot how to describe a rat in English, so I said, 'You know Tom and Jerry? Jerry is here,'" the Chinese actor said at the 2014 Spring Festival gala.

The Tom and Jerry cartoons are well known in China.

Global Times