I am not funny. If you were to ask my friends, they would inform you that I am only funny when I am not trying to be, as in the times when I trip and fall (which happens more often than I would like) or perform some other unintentional folly. If you were to ask someone else who doesn’t know me well, I am certain that “awkward” or “quiet” would be the words chosen to describe me far more often than “hilarious”. When I do try to be funny, I am generally aware that my jokes are bad; I rely on corniness and silly mannerisms rather than wit to elicit laughter. Due to my own shortcomings in the comedy department, I am genuinely curious about humor. What makes something funny and what purpose does humor serve? The longer that I have been aware of my own inability for intentional comedy, the more attentive I have become to how humor and laughter are intertwined with nearly all social interactions. Based on my own observations, people seem more inclined to like others who they find funny and dislike those who do not amuse them. I certainly befriend other people who have senses of humor similar to my own, because they are the people who I enjoy spending time with the most. Humor not only affects friendships, but also nearly every social situation, from bonding with a person while waiting in line to reacting to relief. Any scenario has the potential to seem humorous and produce laughter. For thousands of years, philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and other interested parties have been discussing humor. Many notable minds, from Aristotle to Freud have weighed in with their opinions. Yet, despite the extensive deliberations on the topic, no consensus about what makes something funny has been reached. Certainly, you can look in a diction... ... middle of paper ... ...ry of Humor." Thomas Veatch's personal website. N.p., 15 July 1999. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. . Veatch is a former Stanford professor in the Department of Linguistics. A shortened version of this paper was published in Humor, the International Journal of Humor Research in May of 1998. Warner, Joel. "One Professor's Attempt to Explain Every Joke Ever." Wired May 2011: 39 pars. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. Wired is a monthly magazine that has been publishing articles since 1993. Ziv, Avner. "The Social Function of Humor in Interpersonal Relationships." Society 47.1 Jan. (2010): 11-18. EBSCOhost. Web. 3 Nov. 2011. Ziv has published numerous books and articles on humor and has become very well known in the field of humor research. He is currently an editorial board member for the International Society for Humor Studies' journal, HUMOR.
“Everyone has a sense of humor. If you don't laugh at jokes, you probably laugh at opinions.” Once said an American poet, essayist, and existentialist philosopher Criss Jami, Killosophy. I also believe that humor and laugh play a big role in our lives. However, there are two types of people’s personality; people who understand humor and more open minded, and those who just cannot get it, and that, in my opinion, just makes their live harder. The article, “That’s Not Funny” by Caitlin Flanagan, is talking about college students that are not allowed to joke because of comedians restrictiveness in what they are talking
“The practical disengagement of humor…helps explain the opposition between amusement and negative emotions.” (530) There are three effects of humor; irresponsibility, blocking compassion, and promoting prejudice. Humor can take away what we are/should be doing in life and sometimes there isn’t anything wrong with that. Sometimes when we hear a hateful thing we just laugh it off as if it was no big deal when it really was. “An
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
Humor: Tactic that plays on social group bias. When we laugh at something, we join with people who are of like minds to laugh at the other—the distorted, the unusual, or the exaggerated.
Raskin (1985) introduces his approach as being concerned with ‘verbal humor’, but his analyses are based on all types of humor conveyed in language, that is, our ‘verbally expressed’ humor. The widely-cited general theory of verbal humor (Attardo, 1994), which we have not space to discuss here, is about humor expressed in language, not merely humor dependent on specific language devices. To complicate matters further, Norick (2004) uses non-verbal to describe jokes which cannot be effectively conveyed in written language, since they are dependent on audible material (e.g. tone of voice) or on non-linguistic devices such as gestures; ‘verbal’ jokes would then be those which can be expressed successfully in writing. In this chapter, we will stay with the terms outlined earlier: anything conveyed in language is ‘verbally expressed humor’; ‘verbal humor’ is dependent on language-specific devices, ‘referential humor’ is based solely on meaning.
According to Aristotle, “Comedy can be any colloquy or performance generally intended to amuse or stimulate laughter”. In modern times, comedy can be found in different forms, such as television, movies, theatres and stand-up comedy.
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
In Alain de Botton’s book, Status Anxiety, he argues that the aim of humorists is not solely entertainment, but also to convey a message that isn’t always okay to state directly. There are many places where his argument can apply. Even with humor, some topics are still too controversial to joke about; However, in most cases, humor can lighten things up and make it easier to discuss topics that otherwise would not be as easy to talk about without heavy arguments. There are many cases that would make his argument true. There are many examples that support his argument, and that help to show the importance of humor in arguing, including cartoons, comics, works of literature, and also when thinking of hosts of television programs.
Humour allows other's to understand a difficult situation without feeling the need to feel uncomfortable about it.
Humor is more than just amusing entertainment to pass the time. Though jokes and witty banter can be shallow, humor can go deeper than surface level to convey messages to audiences who would otherwise be close-minded about certain ideas. Humor is a great tool to get audiences to change the way they think, feel, and act. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” Alexander Weinstein uses humor to criticize some of society’s faults such as the way it has become heavily reliant on technology, racially insensitive, and judgmental.
...ve power over others/situations, or bringing unexpected circumstances your way. Maybe it’s just one, or maybe it’s a combination of the three. Nevertheless, the humor we find in things is what enables us to understand why we think things are funny. The humorous aspects that we can identify from the three categories, is what can be considered the comedy of the situation. Next time you find something funny, think about what humor is used, and why it is funny for you. It may just be in one of the categories after taking a deeper look.
3. Apte, Mahadev L. Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1985.
Humor is an essential part of my daily life. Causing someone to laugh and feel amused varies from person to person. What I find funny may not be funny to others. My sense of humor may vary, from watching comedy movies, to late night comedy talk shows. What I find mostly funny are Internet memes or funny Internet videos, because they have both been modified into distinct funny phrases or modified into funny videos that cause humor and they are always new ones being created, you can also share them to give someone else laughter. My sense of humor comes from my dad, growing up we would watch Spanish comedy on television together, though not all humor can be funny, because I believe there is a line that should not be crossed when using humor.
Humor is the tendency to look at things from the mirthful or incongruous side. It is the quality that makes something laughable or amusing. Humor is the ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is amusing or comical. It is the source of laughter and the catalyst of smiles. Humor is the spark that lights our eyes as well as the cause of tears that never grows old. Humor is a state of mind.
If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and