Thread: What makes funny funny??

i need an opinion on this.
I think funny should basic irony, thats what i find funny, but some people think different. What do you think is funny?

some pointless forum posts are quite amusing,

Some people laugh at others misfortunes.

People laugh if they see someone fall over in the street.

Why?

I guess anything could be funny depending on your point of view. I laugh at random things but also when I am doing something exceptional dangerous. Maybe it is also a way to cope with fear, generally after I realize what I've done I laugh about it and feel much better for it. Could just be the minds way of keeping us from going over the edge sort of like an balencing tool.

I find that people who generally don't laugh alot, seem to be upset more and have difficultys at social events.

Some people laugh at others misfortunes.

People laugh if they see someone fall over in the street.

Why?

I guess it is thier way of compentsating for thier inablilty to help that person. It might also be them trying to push away the thought of themselves making the same mistake.

Of course what I said as usual could and proably is nowhere near the truth I can only go on what I have experienced and seen. And after 18 years that isn't much.

Does anyone eles laugh when they are afraid?

"Things are funny or comedic because they mix the real with the absurd." --Buzz Aldrin

we don't need people calling things what they obviously are around here

it's annoying

second, people laugh at others misfortune because...

hmmm

because

huh

i really cant come up with a good answer to that question.

we don't need people calling things what they obviously are around here

it's annoying

Do not understand. :?

second, people laugh at others misfortune because...

hmmm

because

huh

i really cant come up with a good answer to that question.

I can't either just took a stab at it.

What's life whitout risk?

Sorry if I annoyed you. I was just giving my .02 cent.

i need an opinion on this.
I think funny should basic irony, thats what i find funny, but some people think different. What do you think is funny

Behr and others,

if you look further down the forum you will see a thread concerned with the evolution of humor and laughter. It will give an anaswer (my answer) to all your questions. What do you think?

Baz

good jokes=funny
bad jokes=fu

funny is to laugh at someone's misery and look how ridicules they are.

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." -- Mel Brooks

“Humour mosty (96%) falls into two categories;


Interrupted expectations – conscious pattern-breaking. Man has baggy pants. Man acts like he's not a man, Woman expects one thing, gets another. Gun fires flowers, etc


“Shuadenfrude” - satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune. Man falls down, gets slapped, with stick.

That is pretty close to something I read recently, Vexer. A recent study concluded that humour is the external reaction to unexpected recognition of similarities between two previously unrelated patterns. This ability to compare two concepts is very important to our process of maturing. Infants start doing this shortly after birth and go through rapid improvements for the first three years. Example -recognition between shapes and colors and later recognition between symbols and language.
We laugh about so many things on a daily basis. What we are doing is exercizing our cognitive ability that is very important, although we may not see it that way at the time. The study went on to say that standup comedians are affective when they are able surprise their audience by pulling up mental images in their audience's minds that relate to what they are talking about where the audience had previously not seen a relation. It's kind of like pulling a rabbit out of a hat!

Gelotology is the study of why we laugh with regards to our survival/health etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelotology

Laughter is shown to be VERY benefical for all aspects of our health.

Meanwhile with regard to the science of laughter

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/scilaugh.html

The above source says this:

"Although we do laugh at jokes and funny movies, 80% of our laughter occurs during everyday comments in everyday social situations. Robert Provine, a neurobiologist who studies laughter, with help from three graduate students, went to places such as shopping malls and eavesdropped on more than 1200 conversations.

They noted who was speaking, who was listening, who laughed and when, and whether the speaker and listeners were female or male. They found that the person speaking laughed 46% more than the listeners and that women laughed more often than men. Furthermore, the response to the speaker depended on the speaker's gender. People, whether male or female, laughed more readily in response to a male speaker. The researchers also observed that laughter rarely interrupted speech. Instead, laughter came at the end of a phrase, much as punctuation follows a written sentence."

However the MOST intriguing fact with regards to laughter is this one:

"Babies start to laugh at about 4 months of age. Babies who are born blind and deaf can laugh, so the ability to see or hear is not required for laughter."

So laughter is innate and not a learned behaviour, it is thus VERY necessary for our success as a species and individual survival.


I find that my children make me laugh more than anyone else.
Looking at this from a survival point of view it is essential perhaps for theirs! Many stress situations are alleviated by laughter, I find their grumpy faces particularly funny. My laughter causes them to relax their features (as laughter is now proven to be contagious) and they laugh. Thus, rather than both of us being stressed, the situation is immediately alleviated via laughter a simple facial and vocal expression.

I am not suggesting you go around laughing at angry people, as an ingenuous laugh will likely have the opposite effect. I did find as a child, that joking around and making bullies laugh saved me from a few scraps.

Most comedians will tell you this is how they started out, being the class joker to avoid bullying.

The MOST successful business people in the world who started with nothing have great smiles and can woo pretty much anyone. Consider Richard Bransons wild permanent smile, and Donals Trump is often seen laughing during interviews.

If you want to be a success in life, develop your laugh and smile.

Originally Posted by Vexer

“Shuadenfrude”

I try not to nitpick, but come on, when you're going to use a word that you're obviously going to misspell, just take the two seconds to look up the correct spelling.

Also, you're the first person on the net to come up with that particular spelling of Schadenfreude. Congrats.

Ich bin der Meinung, dass Vexer kein Deutsch spricht.

Originally Posted by JaneBennet

Ich bin der Meinung, dass Vexer kein Deutsch spricht.

translation - Just in case anyone thought this comment was a contribution to the thread topic...which it is not.

' I am of the opinion that Vexer no German speaks'.

Originally Posted by Theoryofrelativity

Just in case anyone thought this comment was a contribution to the thread topic...which it is not.

Well, so long as the contribution police are in town, your post about laughter, although insightful, is irrelevant to the thread, as the thread is about what people find funny, not why they laugh.

Originally Posted by theoryofrelativity

I find that my children make me laugh more than anyone else.
.

Does the ommittion of the word funny cause confusion?

Is the difference between what people find funny and what people laugh at too subtle?

Originally Posted by serpicojr

Is the difference between what people find funny and what people laugh at too subtle?

for you clearly

Now that's funny!

christian7west, yeah. I said that,


Theoryofrelativity….one of the ‘causes’ of ‘humour’ I didn’t mention was the ‘nervous laugh’, or (as I think of if,) the teenage giggle. Smiling and laughing are threat-reduction behaviours in humans. But that's not really 'humour'.

This extends from primate ‘pre pain, pain display’ (to avoid pain).


Serpicojr.'.(sigh) yes, you’re right.

But,
1) I always think faster than I can type, and

2) “Language is my servant, not my master”

(double post. Somehow)

Originally Posted by Vexer

Serpicojr.'.(sigh) yes, you’re right.

But,
1) I always think faster than I can type, and

2) “Language is my servant, not my master”

Sorry, I was being a cock for no reason the day I wrote that.

Well Serpicojr The OP was “What do you think is funny?”

I replied with what everyone thought was funny. So, yes, you’ve been nitpicking, incorrectly.


Thanks Theoryofrelativity, for the translation. I found that whole thing amusing. (Actually, German’s my best language).

(Interrupted expectations, you see?)



What do you call a Jamican proctologist?

"Pokemon".

Well, when I see someone fall i can not stop myself to laugh. well,if i fall then i feel lil' bit embarrass but try to give smile on my face.

Yeah, what is it that is hilarious about seeing someone fall over? I do it all the time, or if they bash or bang themselves. I am curious to know why that is exactly. :?

Well, 425…., the “shaudenfraude” I mentioned earlier is “taking pleasure in others misfortune”, including simple things like (other) people getting a pie in face, falling over, etc.

This is a manifestation of relatively straight-forward primate aggression-submission behavior. The more another person is humiliated/suffers, the more “dominant” this makes you feel - which is a “good thing” from your primal perspective. In general.

Basically, one enjoys feeling superior to other people, and bad things that happen to them, but not to you, makes one feels this way. In general.

“You fell over - and I didn’t – har har”.

I read somewhere recently that laughter is a result of a state of confusion directly followed by well being

Funny is relative....laughter is just a way to release tension or another bursting emotion. When you trip and fall, I laugh.....why? Maybe because I'm relieved that it wasn't me, and in that light, it seems "funny". But when I trip and fall, I understand the magnitude of the situation and the hurt, embarrassment, and humiliation involved in the process. Laughter can show cynicism, true happiness, tension, relief, or sometimes embarrassment. "funny" is merely defined by how YOU define that laughter, and how people around you react to the situation.

"funny" is most definitely an abstract and relative characteristic of an event or incident.