Aspects of Humor: What's So Funny? Quiz

Answer: In ancient times, people's moods or dispositions were considered dependent on the proportion of certain fluids in their bodies.

Ancient physiologists believed that there were four main fluids (or humors) that controlled our moods and that their proportions determined our temperaments. The first fluid was blood, which when someone had a surplus, put him in a 'sanguine', or positive/optimistic mood.

The second fluid was phlegm and an excess of this fluid put a person in a 'phlegmatic' mood, meaning the person was unexcitable and often slow. The third fluid was bile, sometimes referred to as 'choler', which put a person into an irritated mood.

Other terms for this mood are 'bilious' and 'choleric', both obviously coming from the "liquids" they were referring to. The last fluid was black bile, which in reality does not exist. The word 'melancholy' is used to best describe the mood of someone with too much black bile in their system, and in fact, the term 'melancholia' itself meant an excess of black bile.

Answer: No

Humor is certainly different in varying cultures. We can possibly reason that what is ordinary in one culture is eccentric or ridiculous in another, and so our ideas of what is funny differ.

Some genres of humor even depend on these cultural differences as bases. This can be seen in culturally- or racially-based jokes. Not all such jokes should be considered racist as many of them are based on culturally non-commonplace ideals. While some may argue that ignorance over another's culture itself may not be inherently racist, making jokes about human differences is. Others argue that making jokes about unfamiliar situations is simply a mainstay of humor.

Answer: fear and pity

Jarvis believed that humor was often a human response to keep from being fearful. An example of this can be seen in nervous laughter; fear obviously is a factor here, and in order to not completely break down, a person might resort to laughing or witty remarks.

While it might not be completely accurate to call it a defense mechanism against pity, humor plays on such situations so that we don't have to be serious at someone else's misfortunes. The banana peel is a prime example. If we see a person slip on a banana peel, we are likely to laugh. While we might pity the person we are laughing at, our outward appearances are not expressing it. Notice that if the person gets hurt, we usually stop laughing as the playful aspects have been removed from the scenario.

Answer: self-effacing

Self-effacing (or self-deprecating) humor is best used when comedians or speakers make jokes about themselves (or sometimes their cultures) thereby not offending their audiences. It highlights a speaker's weaknesses, and in doing so, engages him on a more personal level with his audience and gives him the impression of confidence. One must be careful, though, as too much self-effacing humor will make the speaker seem bitter.

Abusive comedy is typically seen as racist, sexist, etc., typically meant to put down a group that the speaker does not belong to. Caustic humor relies on witty remarks that are often considered put-downs. These remarks are sometimes aimed at individuals, groups, or occasionally to the speaker himself. Parody is the purposeful imitation of another's work or actions with slight alterations as to make it humorous. Parody is almost always meant to show disagreement against another's ideals.

Answer: all of these

While these examples may illustrate some real-life events that are contradictory, a person who might want to use form-versus content humor would likely include instances of exaggeration to get the greatest effect. Wikipedia uses the example of "NO GRAFFITI" painted on a wall with spraypaint.

Answer: satire

Satire (from the Latin 'satira', meaning "medley") is a well-established form of humor that can be utilized by authors to show their disagreement with social and political standards. Often, satire merely critiques the problems of society and government, but occasionally, it offers solutions. Satire comes in several varieties, and depends highly on what the author wishes to criticize, however, satire often employs the use of heavy sarcasm and irony.

Answer: anachronisms

An anachronism is an instance in which an author uses an item or idea out of temporal context. A computer in Ancient Rome would be an example.

A pun is a deliberate replacement of a word or sound with another that is similar, but has humorous or ridiculous implications. An example might be: "That was an 'egg'cellent omelette."

A spoonerism is an accidental or purposeful reversal of consonant or vowel sounds. Example: 'A phone call' might be said 'a cone phall'.

An oxymoron is a contradiction of two words which are typically found within a short vicinity of each other. "Deafening silence" is a good example.

Answer: meta-jokes

To start off, the prefix 'meta-' means 'of itself' or 'about'. A meta-joke would be a joke about jokes. Meta-knowledge is knowledge about knowledge. Meta-data is data about data.

We can call the classic "Why did the chicken cross the road?" a meta-joke, or a 'joke about jokes' due to the fact that it is itself making fun of jokes. The answer, "to get to the other side" is wholly anti-climactic and since we are expecting an amusing, unrealistic answer (or in other words, a good punchline), we are initially disappointed. But then we realize that the joke-teller has just made a humorous expression as we didn't expect a normal, sane answer. We are conditioned to acknowledge an abnormal event, and when we hear a normal one, we interpret the normal as abnormal. Neat, huh?

Answer: lawyer

Lawyer jokes are likely the most common form of professional jokes due to the nature of lawyers and individuals' dislike for the profession. There are several websites and even books dedicated to lawyer jokes.

In Shakespeare's "King Henry VI", we can read the famous lines, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Seth Finkelstein argues that while this is definitely a joke about lawyers, it also outlined their importance. He says that "[c]ontrary to popular belief, the proposal was not designed to restore sanity to commercial life. Rather, it was intended to eliminate those who might stand in the way of a contemplated revolution -- thus underscoring the important role that lawyers can play in society."

Answer: Who's there?

All right, I lied. I am going to analyze this joke. The use of the word 'promise' between asterisks is a tell that I probably will do the opposite of what I said. This form is known as irony.

As for the knock-knock joke, they typically employ puns, and that is also the case here. What is unusual about this knock-knock joke is that it is also a meta-joke making fun of jokes in general. Isn't humor grand?