A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. These jokes will normally have a punch line that will end the sentence to make it humorous. A joke can also be a single phrase or statement that employs sarcasm. The word joke can also be used as a slang term for a person or thing which is not taken seriously by others in general or is known as being a failure. A practical joke or prank differs from a spoken one in that the major component of the humour is physical rather than verbal (for example placing salt in the sugar bowl). For other uses, see Humour (disambiguation). ... Sarcasm is the sneering, sly, jesting, or mocking of a person, situation or thing. ...

Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired response is generally laughter; when this does not happen the joke is said to have "fallen flat". For other uses, see Laughter (disambiguation). ...

Anthropology of jokes

In 1975 anthropologist Mary Douglas noted that "Joking as one mode of expression has yet to be interpreted in its total relation to other modes of expression";^[1] scholar Seth Graham remarked that 30 years later this statement remains largely valid.^[2][3] See Anthropology. ... Dame Mary Douglas, DBE, (born March 25, 1921 - died 16 May 2007) was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism. ... A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. ...

Psychology of jokes

Why we laugh has been the subject of serious academic study, examples being:

• Immanuel Kant, in Critique of Judgement (1790) states that "Laughter is an effect that arises if a tense expectation is transformed into nothing." Here is Kant's 217-year old joke and his analysis:

"An Englishman at an Indian's table in Surat saw a bottle of ale being opened, and all the beer, turned to froth, rushed out. The Indian, by repeated exclamations, showed his great amazement. - Well, what's so amazing in that? asked the Englishman. - Oh, but I'm not amazed at its coming out, replied the Indian, but how you managed to get it all in. - This makes us laugh, and it gives us a hearty pleasure. This is not because, say, we think we are smarter than this ignorant man, nor are we laughing at anything else here that it is our liking and that we noticed through our understanding. It is rather that we had a tense expectation that suddenly vanished..." Kant redirects here. ...

• Henri Bergson, in his book Le rire (Laughter, 1901), suggests that laughter evolved to make social life possible for human beings.
• Sigmund Freud's "Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious". (Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten).
• Arthur Koestler, in The Act of Creation (1964), analyses humour and compares it to other creative activities, such as literature and science.
• Marvin Minsky in Society of Mind (1986).

Marvin Minsky suggests that laughter has a specific function related to the human brain. In his opinion jokes and laughter are mechanisms for the brain to learn nonsense. For that reason, he argues, jokes are usually not as funny when you hear them repeatedly.

• Edward de Bono in "The Mechanism of the Mind" (1969) and "I am Right, You are Wrong" (1990).

Edward de Bono suggests that the mind is a pattern-matching machine, and that it works by recognizing stories and behaviour and putting them into familiar patterns. When a familiar connection is disrupted and an alternative unexpected new link is made in the brain via a different route than expected, then laughter occurs as the new connection is made. This theory explains a lot about jokes. For example:

• Why jokes are only funny the first time they are told: once they are told the pattern is already there, so there can be no new connections, and so no laughter.
• Why jokes have an elaborate and often repetitive set up: The repetition establishes the familiar pattern in the brain. A common method used in jokes is to tell almost the same story twice and then deliver the punch line the third time the story is told. The first two tellings of the story evoke a familiar pattern in the brain, thus priming the brain for the punch line.
• Why jokes often rely on stereotypes: the use of a stereotype links to familiar expected behaviour, thus saving time in the set-up.
• Why jokes are variants on well-known stories (eg the genie and a lamp and a man walks into a bar): This again saves time in the set up and establishes a familiar pattern.

• In 2002, Richard Wiseman conducted a study intended to discover the world's funniest joke [1].
• Humour and Jokes have also been concluded to be logic that is completely random or vice versa.^{[citation needed]}

Laughter, the intended human reaction to jokes, is healthy in moderation, uses the stomach muscles, and releases endorphins, natural "feel good" chemicals, into the brain. Henri-Louis Bergson (October 18, 1859–January 4, 1941) was a major French philosopher, influential in the first half of the 20th century. ... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Arthur Koestler (September 5, 1905, Budapest – March 3, 1983, London) was a Hungarian polymath who became a naturalized British subject. ... For other uses, see Literature (disambiguation). ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Marvin Lee Minsky (born August 9, 1927), sometimes affectionately known as Old Man Minsky, is an American cognitive scientist in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), co-founder of MITs AI laboratory, and author of several texts on AI and philosophy. ... The Society of Mind is the book and theory of natural intelligence as written and developed by Marvin Minsky. ... For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Nonsense (disambiguation). ... Edward de Bono (born May 19, 1933) is a Maltese psychologist and physician. ... Uhm!? ... This article is about research on the relative humour in different jokes and cultures. ... For other uses, see Laughter (disambiguation). ... In anatomy, the stomach is a bean-shaped hollow muscular organ of the gastrointestinal tract involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication. ... For other uses of Muscles, see Muscles (disambiguation). ... Endorphins are endogenous opioid biochemical compounds. ...

Rules

The rules of humour are analogous to those of poetry. These common rules are mainly precision, synthesis and rhythm. French philosopher Henri Bergson has said in an essay: "In every wit there is something of a poet."^[4] In this essay Bergson views the essence of humour as the encrustation of the mechanical upon the living. He used as an instance a book by an English humourist, in which an elderly woman who desired a reputation as a philanthropist provided "homes within easy hail of her mansion for the conversion of atheists who have been specially manufactured for her, so to speak, and for a number of honest folk who have been made into drunkards so that she may cure them of their failing, etc." This idea seems funny because a genuine impulse of charity as a living, vital impulse has become encrusted by a mechanical conception of how it should manifest itself. This article is about the art form. ... In Wikipedia, precision has the following meanings: In engineering, science, industry and statistics, precision characterises the degree of mutual agreement among a series of individual measurements, values, or results - see accuracy and precision. ... Synthesis (from the ancient Greek σύν (with) and θεσις (placing), is commonly understood to be an integration of two or more pre-existing elements which results in a new creation. ... For the popular Tamil film, see Rhythm (film). ... Henri-Louis Bergson (October 18, 1859–January 4, 1941) was a major French philosopher, influential in the first half of the 20th century. ...

Precision

To reach precision, the comedian must choose the words in order to provide a vivid, in focus image, and to avoid being generic as to confuse the audience, and provide no laughter. To properly arrange the words in the sentence is also crucial to get precision. An example by Woody Allen (from Side Effects, "A Giant Step for Mankind" story [2]): An image that is partially in focus, but mostly out of focus in varying degrees. ... Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian and playwright. ... A side-effect is any effect other than an intended primary effect. ...

Synthesis

As Shakespeare said in Hamlet, "Brevity is the soul of wit".^[5] Meaning that a joke is best when it expresses the maximum level of humour with a minimal number of words; this is today considered one of the key technical elements of a joke. An example from Woody Allen: Shakespeare redirects here. ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ...

Though, the familiarity of the pattern of "brevity" has led to numerous examples of jokes where the very length is itself the pattern breaking "punchline". Numerous examples from Monty Python exist, for instance, the song "I Like Traffic Lights", and more modernly, Family Guy contains numerous such examples, most notably, in the episode Wasted Talent, Peter Griffin bangs his shin, a classic slapstick routine, and tenderly nurses it whilst inhaling and exhaling to quiet the pain. This goes on for considerably longer than expected. Certain versions of the popular vaudevillian joke The Aristocrats can go on for several minutes, and it is considered an anti-joke, as the humor is more in the set-up than the punchline. For other uses, see War and Peace (disambiguation). ... Monty Python, or The Pythons,[2][3] is the collective name of the creators of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. ... Family Guy is an Emmy Award-winning American animated television series about a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. ... “Wasted Talent” is an episode from the second season of the FOX animated television series Family Guy, guest starring Adam Carolla as Death. ... Peter Löwenbräu Griffin is the protagonist in the American animated television series Family Guy. ... The Aristocrats (also known as The Debonaires or The Sophisticates in some tellings) is an exceptionally transgressive dirty joke that has been told by numerous stand-up comedians since the vaudeville era. ... Anti-jokes subvert audience/reader/listener expectations of well-worn punchlines. ...

Rhythm

Main articles: Timing (linguistics) and Comic timing

The joke's content (meaning) is not what provokes the laugh, it just makes the salience of the joke and provokes a smile. What makes us laugh is the joke mechanism. Milton Berle demonstrated this with a classic theater experiment in the 1950s: if during a series of jokes you insert phrases that are not jokes, but with the same rhythm, the audience laughs anyway. A classic is the ternary rhythm, with three beats: introduction, premise, antithesis (with the antithesis being the punch line). In linguistics, the timing in a language comprises the rhythmic qualities of speech, in particular how syllables are distributed across time. ... Comic timing is use of rhythm and tempo to enhance comedy and humor. ... Laughing Child Laughter is the biological reaction of humans to moments or occasions of humor: an outward expression of amusement. ... Because too much data can cause “cognitive clutter”, individuals need a system to enable them to rank available data in terms of its immediate importance. ... For other uses, see Smile (disambiguation). ... Milton Berle (July 12, 1908 - March 27, 2002) was an Emmy-winning American comedian who was born Milton Berlinger. ... For the popular Tamil film, see Rhythm (film). ... In poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. ... In music, the introduction is a passage or section which opens a movement or a separate piece. ... The premise of a film or screenplay is the fundamental concept that drives the plot. ... Look up Antithesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A punch line is the final part of a joke, usually the word, sentence or exchange of sentences which is intended to be funny and to provoke laughter from listeners. ...

In regards to the Milton Berle experiment, they can be taken to demonstrate the concept of "breaking context" or "breaking the pattern". It is not necessarily the rhythm that caused the audience to laugh, but the disparity between the expectation of a "joke" and being instead given a non-sequitur "normal phrase." This normal phrase is, itself, unexpected, and a type of punchline.

Conclusions

When a technically good joke is referred changing it with paraphrasing, it is not laughable any more; this is because the paraphrase, changing some term or moving it within the sentence, breaks the joke mechanism (its vividness, brevity and rhythm), and its power and effectiveness are lost. Douglas Adams described sentences where the joke word is the final word as "comically weighted." This saves the "payoff" until the last possible moment, allowing the expectation for surprise to reach its highest point, while the mind is more firmly rooted in the pattern established by the rest of the sentence.^{[citation needed]} Paraphrasing is the act in which a statement or remark is explained in other words or another way, as to clarify the meaning. ... Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. ...

Comic

In the comic field plays the 'economy of ideative expenditure'; in other words excessive energy is wasted or action-essential energy is saved. The profound meaning of a comic gag or a comic joke is "I'm a child"; the comic deals with the clumsy body of the child. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Laurel and Hardy are a classic example. An individual laughs because he recognizes the child that is in himself. In clowns stumbling is a childish tempo. In the comic, the visual gags may be translated into a joke. For example in Side Effects (By Destiny Denied story) by Woody Allen: Laurel and Hardy, in a promotional still from their 1937 feature film Way Out West. ... Clowning redirects here. ... For other uses, see Tempo (disambiguation). ... A side-effect is any effect other than an intended primary effect. ...

The typical comic technique is the disproportion.

Wit

In the wit field plays the "economy of censorship expenditure"^[6](Freud literally calls it "the economy of psychic expenditure".); usually censorship prevents some 'dangerous ideas' from reaching the conscious mind, or helps us avoid saying everything that comes to mind; adversely, the wit circumvents the censorship and brings up those ideas. Different wit techniques allow one to express them in a funny way. The profound meaning behind a wit joke is "I have dangerous ideas". An example from Woody Allen:

Or, when a bagpipe player was asked "how do you play that thing," his answer was:

Wit is a branch of rhetoric, and there are about 200 techniques (technically they are called tropes, a particular kind of figure of speech) that can be used to make jokes.^[7] Rhetoric (from Greek , rhêtôr, orator, teacher) is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral, visual, or written language; however, this definition of rhetoric has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities. ... In linguistics, trope is a rhetorical figure of speech that consists of a play on words, i. ... A figure of speech, sometimes termed a rhetoric, or locution, is a word or phrase that departs from straightforward, literal language. ...

Irony can be seen as belonging to this field. Ironic redirects here. ...

Humour

In the comedy field, humour induces an "economized expenditure of emotion" (Freud literally calls it "economy of affect" or "economy of sympathy". Freud produced this final part of his interpretation many years later, in a paper later supplemented to the book.).^[6][8] In other words, the joke erases an emotion that should be felt about an event, making us insensitive to it.e.g: "yo momma" jokes. The profound meaning of the void feeling of a humour joke is "I'm a cynic". An example from Woody Allen: This article is about the ancient Greek school of philosophy. ...

This field of jokes is still a grey area, being mostly unexplored. Extensive use of this kind of humour can be found in the work of British satirist Chris Morris, like the sketches of the Jam television program. Robert Redford (born Charles Robert Redford, Jr. ... Gray Area n. ... Christopher Morris (born September 5, 1965 in Bristol, England) is an English satirical comedian, writer, director, producer, actor and radio DJ. Morris began his career in radio before moving into television. ... Jam is a British comedy television series created by Chris Morris. ...

Black humour and sarcasm belong to this field. Black comedy, also known as black humor, is a subgenre of comedy and satire that deals with serious subjects – death, divorce, drug abuse, et cetera in a humorous manner. ... Sarcasm is the sneering, sly, jesting, or mocking of a person, situation or thing. ...

Cycles

Folklorists, in particular (but not exclusively) those who study the folklore of the United States, collect jokes into joke cycles. A cycle is a collection of jokes with a particular theme or a particular "script". (That is, it is a literature cycle.)^[9] Folklorists have identified several such cycles: The folklore of the United States, or American folklore, is one of the folk traditions which has evolved on the North American continent since Europeans arrived in the 16th century. ... Literary cycles are groups of stories grouped around common figures, based on mythical figures or loosely on historic ones. ...

• the elephant joke cycle that began in 1962
• the Helen Keller Joke Cycle that comprises jokes about Helen Keller^[10]
• viola jokes^[11]
• the NASA, Challenger, or Space Shuttle Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster^[12][13][14]
• the Chernobyl Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Chernobyl disaster^[15]
• the Polish Pope Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to Pope John Paul II^[16]
• the Essex girl and the Stupid Irish joke cycles in the United Kingdom^[17]
• the Dead Baby Joke Cycle^[18]
• the Newfie Joke Cycle that comprises jokes made by Canadians about Newfoundlanders^[19]
• the Little Willie Joke Cycle, and the Quadriplegic Joke Cycle^[20]
• the Jew Joke Cycle and the Polack Joke Cycle^[21]
• the Rastus and Liza Joke Cycle, which Dundes describes as "the most vicious and widespread white anti-Negro joke cycle"^[22]
• the Jewish American Princess and Jewish American Mother joke cycles^[23]
• the Wind-Up Doll Joke Cycle^[24]
• Chuck Norris jokes
• Tom Swifties

Gruner discusses several "sick joke" cycles that occurred upon events surrounding Gary Hart, Natalie Wood, Vic Morrow, Jim Bakker, Richard Pryor, and Michael Jackson, noting how several jokes were recycled from one cycle to the next. For example: A joke about Vic Morrow ("We now know that Vic Morrow had dandruff: they found his head and shoulders in the bushes") was subsequently recycled about Admiral Mountbatten after his murder by Irish Republican terrorists in 1980, and again applied to the crew of the Challenger space shuttle ("How do we know that Christa McAuliffe had dandruff? They found her head and shoulders on the beach.").^[25] An elephant joke is a joke, almost always an absurd riddle or conundrum and often a sequence of such, that involves an elephant. ... Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was a deafblind American author, activist and lecturer. ... For further information about Challengers mission and crew, see STS-51-L. The iconic image of Space Shuttle Challengers smoke plume after its breakup 73 seconds after launch. ... Chernobyl reactor number four after the disaster, showing the extensive damage to the main reactor hall (image center) and turbine building (image lower left) The Chernobyl disaster, reactor accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, or simply Chernobyl, was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history and the only... Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: , Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan PaweÅ‚ II) born   []; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) reigned as the 264th Pope of... Ace lace: a mini in broderie anglaise. ... Scene from an outport (small fishing village) in Newfoundland Newfie is a colloquial, and generally pejorative, term used in Canada for someone who is from Newfoundland. ... This article is about the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... Jewish American Princess or JAP (not to be confused with the ethnic slur related to people of Japanese nationality) is a pop-culture term used mainly by children and teenagers to refer to a wealthy person of Jewish-American descent. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Chuck Norris Facts in Rolling Stone. ... A Tom Swifty (or Tom Swiftie) is a phrase in which a quoted sentence is linked by a pun to the manner in which it is represented as having been said. ... For other persons named Gary Hart, see Gary Hart (disambiguation). ... Natalie Wood (July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was a three time Academy Award nominated American film actress. ... Victor Vic Morrow (February 14, 1929 - July 23, 1982) born Bronx, New York was a Jewish-American actor. ... James Orsen Bakker (born January 2, 1939, in Muskegon, Michigan) is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister, and a former host (with his then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker) of The PTL Club, a popular evangelical Christian television program. ... Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American comedian, actor, and writer. ... Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958), commonly known as MJ as well as the King of Pop, is an American musician, entertainer, and pop icon whose successful career and controversial personal life have been a part of pop culture for the last three decades. ... Victor Vic Morrow (February 14, 1929 - July 23, 1982) born Bronx, New York was a Jewish-American actor. ... Head & Shoulders is a famous brand of anti-dandruff shampoo produced by Procter & Gamble. ...

Berger asserts that "whenever there is a popular joke cycle, there generally is some widespread kind of social and cultural anxiety, lingering below the surface, that the joke cycle helps people deal with".^[26]

Types of jokes

Jokes often depend on the humour of the unexpected, the mildly taboo (which can include the distasteful or socially improper), or playing off stereotypes and other cultural beliefs. Many jokes fit into more than one category. This article is about cultural prohibitions in general, for other uses, see Taboo (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Stereotype (disambiguation). ...

Subjects

Political jokes are usually a form of satire. They generally concern politicians and heads of state, but may also cover the absurdities of a country's political situation. A prominent example of political jokes would be political cartoons. Two large categories of this type of jokes exist. The first one makes fun of a negative attitude to political opponents or to politicians in general. The second one makes fun of political clichés, mottos, catch phrases or simply blunders of politicians. Some, especially the you have two cows genre, derive humour from comparing different political systems. 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ... You have two cows is the beginning phrase for a series of political joke definitions. ...

Professional humour includes caricatured portrayals of certain professions such as lawyers, and in-jokes told by professionals to each other. Both outside and within a profession such as law there are jokes which serve to poke fun at the absurdities of the profession. ...

Mathematical jokes are a form of in-joke, generally designed to be understandable only by insiders. This equation uses mathematical symbols to write Sex is fun. A mathematical joke is a form of humor which relies on aspects of mathematics or a stereotype of mathematicians to derive humor. ... An in joke is a joke whose humour is clear only to those people who are in a group that has some prior knowledge (not known by the whole population) that makes the joke humorous. ...

Ethnic jokes exploit ethnic stereotypes. They are often racist and frequently considered offensive. A joke is a short story or short series of words spoken or communicated with the intent of being laughed at or found humorous by the listener or reader. ... A 19th century childrens book informs its readers that the Dutch are a very industrious race, and that Chinese children are very obedient to their parents. ... This box:      Racism has many definitions, the most common and widely accepted is that members of one race are intrinsically superior or inferior to members of other races. ...

For example, the British tell jokes starting "An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman..." which exploit the supposed parsimony of the Scot, stupidity of the Irish, or some combination. Such jokes exist among numerous peoples. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Racially offensive humour is increasingly unacceptable, but there are similar jokes based on other stereotypes such as blonde jokes. A joke is a short story or short series of words spoken or communicated with the intent of being laughed at or found humorous by the listener or reader. ...

Religious jokes fall into several categories:

• Jokes based on stereotypes associated with people of religion (e.g. nun jokes, priest jokes, or rabbi jokes)
• Jokes on classical religious subjects: crucifixion, Adam and Eve, St. Peter at The Gates, etc.
• Jokes that collide different religious denominations: "A rabbi, a medicine man, and a pastor went fishing..."
• Letters and addresses to God.

Self-deprecating or self-effacing humour is superficially similar to racial and stereotype jokes, but involves the targets laughing at themselves. It is said to maintain a sense of perspective and to be powerful in defusing confrontations. Probably the best-known and most common example is Jewish humour. The egalitarian tradition was strong among the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe in which the powerful were often mocked subtly. Prominent members of the community were kidded during social gatherings, part a good-natured tradition of humour as a leveling device. A similar situation exists in the Scandinavian "Ole and Lena" joke. For other uses, see Crucifixion (disambiguation). ... Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ... According to tradition, Peter was crucified upside-down, as shown in this painting by Caravaggio. ... For the town in Italy, see Rabbi, Italy. ... Medicine man is an English term used to describe Native American religious figures; such individuals are analogous to shamans. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      A pastor is an... Self-deprecation is a form of humour in which a comedian makes jokes about himself, his shortcomings, or his culture. ... Jewish humor is the long tradition of humor in Judaism dating back to the Torah and the Midrash, but generally refers to the more recent stream of verbal, self-deprecating and often anecdotal humor originating in Eastern Europe and which took root in the United States over the last hundred... Ole and Lena are characters persistent in jokes by Scandinavian-Americans, dominantly in the Upper Midwest region of the U.S., particularly in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota where Lutherans are common. ...

Self-deprecating humour has also been used by politicians, who recognize its ability to acknowledge controversial issues and steal the punch of criticism - for example, when Abraham Lincoln was accused of being two-faced he replied, "If I had two faces, do you think this is the one I’d be wearing?". For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation). ...

Dirty jokes are based on taboo, often sexual, content or vocabulary. This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... This article is about cultural prohibitions in general, for other uses, see Taboo (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Other taboos are challenged by sick jokes and gallows humour; to joke about disability is considered in this group. Gallows Humor is comedy that makes light of death, or other very serious matters. ... Look up disability in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Surrealist or minimalist jokes exploit semantic inconsistency, for example: Q: What's red and invisible? A: No tomatoes..

Anti-jokes are jokes that are not funny in regular sense, and often can be decidedly unfunny, but rely on the let-down from the expected joke to be funny in itself.^{[citation needed]} Anti-jokes subvert audience/reader/listener expectations of well-worn punchlines. ...

An elephant joke is a joke, almost always a riddle or conundrum and often a sequence of connected riddles, that involves an elephant. An elephant joke is a joke, almost always an absurd riddle or conundrum and often a sequence of such, that involves an elephant. ... A riddle is a statement or question having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. ... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas antiquus † Elephas beyeri † Elephas celebensis † Elephas cypriotes † Elephas ekorensis † Elephas falconeri † Elephas iolensis † Elephas planifrons † Elephas platycephalus † Elephas recki † Stegodon † Mammuthus † Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of pachyderm, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea...

Jokes involving non-sequitur humour, with parts of the joke being unrelated to each other; e.g. "My uncle once punched a man so hard his legs became trombones", from the Mighty Boosh TV series. Non sequitur (IPA: ) is Latin for it does not follow, third person singular of the present indicative active of the deponent verb sequor. ... The Mighty Boosh is a British cult comedy set in Bob Fossils Funworld (later the Zooniverse), a very strange zoo indeed. The Mighty Boosh stars Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) and Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) who play slightly hapless zookeepers working under the ever-watchful eye of bad-tempered zoo...

Styles

The question / answer joke, sometimes posed as a common riddle, has a supposedly straight question and an answer which is twisted for humorous effect; puns are often employed. Of this type are knock-knock joke, light bulb joke, the many variations on "why did the chicken cross the road?", and the class of "What's the difference between..." joke, where the punch line is often a pun or a spoonerism linking two apparently entirely unconnected concepts. A riddle is a statement or question having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. ... For other uses, see Pun (disambiguation). ... This article or section seems to contain too many examples (or of a poor quality) for an encyclopedia entry. ... A light bulb The lightbulb joke is an example of an endless-variations joke and has possibly thousands of versions covering every imaginable culture, belief, occupation and special-interest group. ... Why did the chicken cross the road? is one of the oldest and most famous riddles still in use in the English language. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Some jokes require a double act, where one respondent (usually the straight man) can be relied on to give the correct response to the person telling the joke. This is more common in performance than informal joke-telling. This article is about the comedy duo. ... A straight man is a role in a comedy double act where a performer works with a comedian by setting up the situations or feeding the lines that allow their partner to make a joke. ...

A shaggy dog story is an extremely long and involved joke with an intentionally weak or completely non-existent punchline. The humour lies in building up the audience's anticipation and then letting them down completely. The longer the story can continue without the audience realising it is a joke, and not a serious anecdote, the more successful it is. Shaggy jokes appear to date from the 1930s, although there are several competing variants for the "original" shaggy dog story. According to one, an advertisement is placed in a newspaper, searching for the shaggiest dog in the world. The teller of the joke then relates the story of the search for the shaggiest dog in extreme and exaggerated detail (flying around the world, climbing mountains, fending off sabre-toothed tigers, etc); a good teller will be able to stretch the story out to over half an hour. When the winning dog is finally presented, the advertiser takes a look at the dog and states: "I don't think he's so shaggy." This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

See also

Look up Joke in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Anecdote
• Comedy
• Comedy genres
• Feghoot
• Funny
• Insult
• Internet humour
• Pun
• Punch line
• Russian jokes
• Monty Python Lethal Joke
• World's funniest joke
• Joke chess problem
• Taboo

Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... An anecdote is a short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. ... A comedy is a dramatic performance of a light and amusing character, usually with a happy conclusion to its plot. ... Comedy may be divided into multiple genres based on the source of humour, the method of delivery, and the context in which it is delivered. ... A Feghoot is a short story, ending in an atrocious pun. ... This article discusses humour in terms of comedy and laughter. ... An insult is a statement or action which affronts or demeans someone. ... One of the more frequent jokes on the internet is to produce a fake or joke web counter. ... For other uses, see Pun (disambiguation). ... A punch line is the final part of a joke, usually the word, sentence or exchange of sentences which is intended to be funny and to provoke laughter from listeners. ... Russian jokes (Russian: , transcribed anekdoty), the most popular form of Russian humour, are short fictional stories or dialogues with a punch line. ... This article is about the Monty Python sketch. ... This article is about research on the relative humour in different jokes and cultures. ... The chess problem, like other creative forms, is best appreciated for serious artistic themes, such as those named for Grimshaw, Novotny, and Lacny. ... This article is about cultural prohibitions in general, for other uses, see Taboo (disambiguation). ...

Notes

Henri-Louis Bergson (October 18, 1859–January 4, 1941) was a major French philosopher, influential in the first half of the 20th century. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... Alan Dundes, (September 8, 1935 – March 30, 2005) was a folklorist at the University of California at Berkeley. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... Alan Dundes, (September 8, 1935 – March 30, 2005) was a folklorist at the University of California at Berkeley. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

References

• Mary Douglas “Jokes.” Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies. [1975] Ed. Chandra Mukerji and Michael Schudson. Berkeley: U of California P, 1991.

Dame Mary Douglas, DBE, (born March 25, 1921 - died 16 May 2007) was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism. ...

Further reading

• Cante, Richard C. (March 2008). Gay Men and the Forms of Contemporary US Culture. London: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0 7546 7230 1. Chapter 2: The AIDS Joke as Cultural Form. 

External links

• Jokes at the Open Directory Project – An active listing of links to jokes.
• Dictionary of the History of ideas: Sense of the Comic

The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz (from , its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Netscape that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. ...