Humor
Humor, (Raskin, 1985) as a phenomenon, its philosophical, psychological and physiological nature, its aesthetic value, its relation to truth, ethical standards, customs and norms, its use in literature, its dependency on the society and culture, have occupied the minds of a great number of thinkers for centuries.
In everyday life, one experiences hilarious and giggling moments especially when one drops funny utterances also known as Humor. Humor, the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech, is inevitable, and in no way, escapable. It makes one’s life more bearable, exciting and worthwhile. An American poet named Criss Jami even describer humor as:
“Senses of Humor define people, as factions,
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Findings by (Segerstad, 2002) revealed that among the linguistic features seen on posts by online users, the most commonly used were capitalizations, word repetition, asterisks, and other symbols acting as substitute words and paralinguistic cues in the communication process. This is not new to everyone especially these are also maximized in the written communication. But one may find it unique to see non-conventional spellings, accent stylization, and other clippings in computer-mediated discourse for it is not widely used in both spoken and written discourse especially when speaking or writing about technical documents. Meanwhile, computer-mediated communication, which is not only used in business and formal purposes, uses these linguistic features mainly because of they find it easier to type using their keyboards, and it makes the conversations alive since the one they’re communicating with is not …show more content…
The researcher looked into the relationship of Humor, a common way of expressing ideas and emotions, and Twitter, a social media platform which also allows its users to express their own thoughts, ideas, and emotions through the so-called “tweets.” The researcher assumed that aside from conventional and structured grammars, English parody accounts on twitter also utilized certain linguistic features that can and may attract its target readers to read and interact with their humorous and satiric tweets. The study was based on “frame semantics”, a theoretical framework by (Fillmore, 1975). He defines frame semantics
Australian humour is very unique to Australia, and many other cultures find it quite unusual. It can be described as dry, anti-authoritarian, self-mocking, very ironic and as to stretch the boundaries of what is acceptable. Our humour is seen through our use of slang, print cartoons, radio sketches, comedy series’ on television, films, everyday life and in Australian literature. According to the Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus , humour means, “The quality of being funny; the ability to appreciate or express that which is humorous; situations, speech or writings that are humorous”. Due to its unique qualities, it will become apparent that Australian humour is quiet different to that of America and England and other nations. To highlight the importance of humour through the development of Australian identity, five main elements have been identified. These are, the part Australian humour plays in Australian identity, its unique qualities, its integral part in the Australian identity, the role of humour in times of great hardship and other nation’s perceptions of Australian humour. It is through these elements that it will become evident that humour is an important part of the development of the Australian identity.
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 can take many forms, including practical jokes, teasing, insults and self-deprecation. It is a staple of humanity and plays an extremely important role in our psychology as we move throughout life’s stages. In fact, famed philosopher Immanuel Kant placed laughter alongside sleeping and hope as the most beneficial means of renewing the soul. It is commonly perceived as a beneficiary tool for healing and social interaction for everyone, but few have looked at the roles humor plays in the aging process. Meika Loe set out to examine this relationship in her book, Aging Our Way by utilizing several case studies of the elderly of various backgrounds. Loe has identified key case studies to support this hypothesis in Eddie, who uses humor to
Humor is a seemingly simple, enjoyable construct in life shared and valued by many. Traditionally, humor has been viewed as trivial and lacking substance from an academic and scholarly standpoint. However, humor can be objective in analyzing and answering the same questions philosophers ask, ones that question widely accepted everyday concepts and ideals. The Incongruity Theory reveals the affinity between philosophy and comedy and rebukes the argument that humor is “hostile and irresponsible” (Morreall) in academics.
According to Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, “Humor has always played an important role in argument…” (38). Humor itself is something that activates amusement or laughter. Moreover, in popular culture satire is a tool that is used to point out things in our society. Satire opens the minds of people to philosophies they might completely deny, using humor. There are many elements of satire that identify flaws within our society. A couple of satire elements that will be discussed are irony and exaggeration. In addition, a parody is used in popular culture as a way to mock or mimic situation or person.
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.
Dictionary.com defines humor as a comic and absurd quality causing amusement. O.Henry adds amusement in the short historical fiction story, “The Ransom of Red Chief”. O.Henry adds humor to his story through the use of literary devices. O.Henry uses allusion, word play, and irony to create levity in his story. All of these create levity but one that especially creates levity is allusion.
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. As technology advances, people are adapting and becoming more reliant upon it.
Humor, as defined in the Oxford dictionary, is “the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech.” Nowadays, humor has taken a dimension that is beyond entertainment; it became a tool to convey political messages –in the form of political satire- providing a product that is smoother to understand, and getting people to think more critically in the public political sphere. In a world where global problems are still prevailing, few might suggest that humor or political satire is the solution to overcome these problems. However, Political satire is believed to have originated in Ancient Greece in the 4th century BCE, where the blending of serious political and religious topics with humor served as an effective
Humor is defined by Merriam Webster as “That quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous”. This definition is technically accurate, but only that. Humor is an adjective that applies to anything funny or amusing. Having a sense of humor is a phrase that means someone isn’t serious all of the time.
In July 2012, a blog post describing a rape joke told by stand-up comic, Daniel Tosh, went viral, spurring a debate about what should or shouldn’t be off limits in comedy. (Holpuch 2012) It is not an uncommon conversation between two competing camps, that it was just a joke or that rape is never funny. While stand-up comedy is typically approached as an art, this disagreement seems closer to a variant of two differing perspectives on language, context-based v. absolute language. I approach language contextually and under this framework Tosh could be defended for the lack of context to his punch line offered in the blog post condemning him.
3. Apte, Mahadev L. Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1985.
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.
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