taking humor se r i o u s l y

7/28/2019 Taking Humor SE R I O U S L Y

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Taking Humor

S E R I O U S L Y

"Humor must not professedly teach and it

must not professedly preach, but it must

do both if it would live forever."

Mark Twain

I see humor as the higher capability and disposition ofIntelligence, 1 which enables persons who develop this organ tocomprehend Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Humor is a part of thephilosopher's armamentarium with which he seeks wisdom. It is notthe mere ability to laugh at ribald buffoonery or mindless inanity--asis now supposed. It is a definite organ of comprehension which

requires disciplined practice and a finely honed sensibility.

Humor is a fundamental power of the human soul and anobjective criterion by which we distinguish between the good andthe bad, the true and the false, the genuine and the counterfeit, andthe mature and the immature. If most people no longer possess thishigher capability--do not even know of its existence--this does notmean that this organ is not presently active in those who apprehendand exercise it.

True humor has been employed by sages from the beginning ofrecorded history. We see Socrates' subtle humor in Plato's Ion inwhich the pomposity and self-deception of the self-appointedHomer-expert is made embarassingly apparent. As with allPerennialist sages, Socrates fought against the degradingtendencies and institutions of his day with the higher powers ofhumor. Plato attacked the excesses of the sophists who trainedyoung men in nothing other than propaganda and pompous oratory,by revealing their vain pedantry and pomposity in his dialogues.
http://www.hermes-press.com/humorb.htm#1http://www.hermes-press.com/humorb.htm#1


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In his Encomium Moraie (In Praise ofFolly) Erasmus [1466-1536] introducedthe Medieval literary form, which wasused most successfully by many othersas well, to combat dogmatic and literal

religious faith and pedantic andpretentious clerics. In this work, Erasmussatirizes the officious scholar who canexplain everything as though he wereprivy to the eternal secrets of theuniverse. Throughout the entireRenaissance period, humor played amajor role in freeing humankind from the

degredation and ignorance of the Dark Ages.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Modern-Guru-ebook/dp/B008Y65HQ4/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345102075&sr=1-10&keywords=Norman+LIvergoodhttp://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Modern-Guru-ebook/dp/B008Y65HQ4/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345102075&sr=1-10&keywords=Norman+LIvergood


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"Along with all the other fundamental powers of the intellect towhich it gave new form, theRenaissance also endowed thecomic with new force and newmeaning. Our conception of the

Renaissance would remainfragmentary and incomplete, if wewere to forget this aspect of thecomic. . . It was first in the realmof the comic that this spirit

celebrated its highest triumphs and won its decisive victories. Thesetypes of the comic are most diverse; they are nationally colouredand conditioned in the extreme. But in all its variations the comicperforms, nevertheless, a certain similar intellectual task. . .Everywhere it is striving towards one principal goal, the goal ofliberation. Renaissance emancipation from all the forces that were

binding it to the past, to tradition and to authority, is really achievedonly when it succeeds in reflecting these forces in the comic mirror.


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In this mirror Boccaccio in the Decameron views monasticism, andCervantes chivalry. The Renaissance power of comic representationthus belongs inseparably and essentially to its power of action, to itsvital and creative energies. Yet, if the comic thus became thestrongest aggressive weapon of modern times, its effect was, on the

other hand, to take away the violence and bitterness of thatstruggle out of which the modern era arose. For the comic spiritcontains also an element of balance and reconciliation. It does notentertain feelings of hatred towards the world which its free play isdestroying, which it cannot but negate; on the contrary, the comicspirit forms rather the last glorification of this decadent world. . .Thus in this power of the comic lives the power of love which willand can understand even that form of the world which the intellectmust abandon and surmount. Love cannot check the process ofdestruction, but it retains in the image that which must perish inreality."

Ernst Cassirer, The Platonic Renaissance in England, 1953

"Humor is not a mood but a way of looking at the world. So if it is

correct to say that humor was stamped out in Nazi Germany, that

does not mean that people were not in good spirits, or anything of

that sort, but something much deeper and more important"

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Austrian philosopher

We can gain the clearest understanding of how humor can beused to overcome the dark agencies of ignorance and tyranny, by

studying how Shakespeareused comedy to defeat thenoxious influences of his day.We must first recognize thatwith Shakespeare languageis a distinct higher realm witha literal magic of its own. Hecreates a palpable medium

with language within whichoperate his characters, hismood-tones, his ideas, andhis inimitable ways ofaffecting us as hearers andreaders. We realize that withShakespeare, words are notmere denotations of "things."

Words take on a life of their own and at times we suddenlyrecognize, unaware, that Shakespeare is playing word games or

creating a word-image or moving us to feel in most surprising ways.


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As in our present day, Shakespeare also lived in a time whenpolitical and religious forces were trying to destroy humanintelligence and sensibility. Puritanism was Shakespeare's life-longenemy, and he struggled against it brilliantly, with humor as one ofhis most potent weapons. Puritanism nursed a deadly animus

against the theatre and all dramatic art, viewing them as Satan'shotbed of temptation. Shakespeare recognized that he was in whathe called in Love's Labour's Lost, a "civil war of wits." [Act II, SceneI]

Shakespeareusedhumor toput thingsinto theirrightfulplace inthe scaleof humanvalue. He

undermines Puritanism by creating the immortal figure of Malvolio inTwelfth Knight.

In describing Malvolio, Maria expressly calls him "a kind ofpuritan." [Act II, Scene III] Malvolio brings the conspiracy of Mariaand the others on himself. We see clearly his self-righteousness andpomposity in his own behavior and words, and Sir Toby denounceshim, "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be nomore cakes and ale?" Malvolio--as the personification of Puritanism--is the sworn enemy of merriment and high spirit, so wit will have itsday.

In the character of Malvolio we see the clear visage of the spoil-sport, the over-fastidious, and the pretender to virtue. Olivia piercesthrough to his true nature: "O! you are sick of self-love, Malvolio,"she accuses him, "and taste with a distempered appetite to begenerous, guiltless, and of free disposition, is to take those thingsfor bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets. There is no slander inan allowed fool, though he do nothing but rail; nor no railing in aknown discreet man, though he do nothing but reprove." [I,V]


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With his rapier-sharp wit, Shakespeareexposes Malvolio's puritanical arrogance andpretentiousness as pomposity and grandiosity.

Yet Shakespeare's humour never stoops tomere character assassination but a levelling

out of seemingly unequal conditions. In aninteresting psychic twist, we are made to feelsomewhat ashamed at the excess to whichMalvolio's tormentors go, and he becomes inthe end merely an unfortunate dunce.

Through his creative use of humor,Shakespeare allows us to see things as theyreally are. When we discern their true images

mirrored by the elemental power of humor, we recognise theiractual importance--and unimportance. His humor helps us to realignour priorities and place things in their true perspective, tounderstand our scene in a larger drama and how to play our role asis becoming and proper in the momentary theater of history. Andthis, in the end, is our primary task: keeping clearly in mind thehigher realities in the face of evil and corruption.

"A comic character is generally comic inproportion to his ignorance of himself."

Henri Bergson. "Laughter"

"There may be said to be two

classes of people in the world;

those who constantly divide the

people of the world into two

classes and those who do not."

Robert Benchley

Not Taking Humor Seriously ByStudying Humor ScholasticallyBeginning in the late 1960s the

first "serious" studies on laughterand humor began to appear inscientific journals, usingpsychological, physiological,


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sociological and psychiatric approaches to the subject. In 1969Jacob Levine published his study, "Motivation in Humor," and in1972 Jeffrey Goldstein and Paul McGhee edited a volume on "ThePsychology of Humor." In England, Antony Chapman and Hugh Footbrought out their collection "Humour and Laughter: Theory,

Research and Applications." It was published in 1976, the same yearthat they jointly chaired the First International Conference onHumour and Laughter under the auspices of the BritishPsychological Association in Cardiff.

"Your manuscript is both good and

original; but the part that is good is

not original, and the part that isoriginal is not good.

Samuel Johnson

All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my

hand.

42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the

spot.

I was walking down the street and all of a sudden

the prescription for my eye-glasses ran out ....

What's another word for thesaurus?

Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was

using a dotted line. He caught every other fish.

I got a new shadow. I had to get rid of the other one

-- it wasn't doing what I was doing.

Stephen Wright


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What is a Pun?

"In Italian, 'puntiglio' means 'a fine point,' hence a verbal

quibble, and is most likely the source of the English

'punctilious.' There developed in late 17th- and early 18th-century England a short-lived, fanciful word 'pundigrion,'

which indeed was a term for what we now know as a pun. Since

snappy monosyllables produced by breaking off pieces of

longer words were all the rage back then, it is widely thought

that this is how and where the word 'pun' was created.

"A pun is defined by Webster as 'the humorous use of a

word, or of words which are formed or sounded alike but have

different meanings, in such a way as to play on two or more of

the possible applications; a play on words.'

"In describing the various forms of verbal humor, The New

Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to a pun as 'two disparate

strings of thought tied together by an acoustic knot.' That

analogy strikes a very pleasant cord!

"In France, paronomasia is referred to as jeu de mots. That

has a Nice ring to it, n'est pas?

"What is paronomasia? The act or practice of punning.

And as every ecclesiastical dean knows so well, 'practice makesprefect.'"

Take my wife jokes, please.

A Tribute to Henny Youngman

How to Watch a Chess Match


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"The first problem confronting the chess spectator isto find some people who are playing. . . . At first youmay think that they are both dead, but a mirror held tothe lips of the nearest contestant will probably showmoisture (unless, of course, they really should be dead,

which would be a horrible ending for a little lark like this.I once heard of a murderer who propped his two victims up againsta chess board in sporting attitudes and was able to get as far asSeattle before his crime was discovered)."

TIME

"It's a sobering thought that by the time Mozart was my age,

he'd been dead for five years."

Tom Lehrer

"The future ain't what it used to be." Yogi Berra

The Mulla walked into a shop one day.

The owner came forward to serve him.

"First things first," said Nasrudin; "did you see me walkinto your shop?"

"Of course."

"Have you ever seen me before?"

"Never in my life."

"Then how do you know it is me?"

Idries Shah, The Sufis


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Fool, n. A person who pervades the domain of

intellectual speculation and diffuses himself

through the channels of moral activity. He is

omnific, omniform, omnipercipient, omniscient,

omnipotent. He it was who invented letters,printing, the railroad, the steamboat, the

telegraph, the platitude, and the circle of the

sciences. He created patriotism and taught

nations war--founded theology, philosophy, law,

medicine, and Chicago. He established

monarchical and republican government. He is

from everlasting to everlasting--such as

creation's dawn beheld he fooleth now. In the

morning of time he sang upon primitive hills,

and in the noonday of existence headed the

procession of being. His grandmotherly hand haswarmly tucked-in the set sun of civilization, and

in the twilight he prepares Man's evening meal

of milk-and-morality and turns down the covers

of the universal grave. And after the rest of us

shall have retired for the night of eternal

oblivion he will sit up to write a history of

human civilization.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Theories of Humor:

Superiority: laughter is an expression of a person'sfeelings of superiority over other people

Incongruity: amusement is an intellectual reactionto something that is unexpected, illogical, orinappropriate in some other way

Relief: laughter is a venting of nervous energy


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Fool:

1. One who is regarded as

deficient in judgment, sense, or

understanding.

2. One who acts unwisely on agiven occasion: I was a fool to

have refused the job.

3. One who has been tricked or

made to appear ridiculous; a

dupe: They made a fool of me

by pretending I won the

award.

4. Informal. A person with a

talent or an enthusiasm for a

certain activity: a dancing fool;

a fool for skiing.

5. A member of a royal or noble

household who provided

entertainment, as with jokes or

antics; a jester.

6. A dessert made of stewed or

pured fruit mixed with cream

or custard and served cold.

7. Archaic. A mentally deficient

person; an idiot.

"Experiments with laboratory rats have shown that, if onepsychologist in the room laughs at something a rat does, all of theother psychologists in the room will laugh equally."

Garrison Keillor


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Tom Swifty

"Tom Swifty is a play on words that derives its humor

on a punning relationship between the way an adverb

describes a speaker, and at the same time referssignificantly to the context of the speaker's statement.

Huh? Here's an example: "Take the prisoner downstairs,"

Tom said condescendingly. The adverb 'condescendingly'

makes a double pun on the related words 'con' (prisoner)

and 'descending' (downstairs).

"The original Tom Swift was a fictional title character

in a series of childrens books written by Edward L.

Stratemeyer (1862-1930). The adventure stories depicted

young Tom as an ingenious man whose amazing inventions

took him to unusual places around the world. In thesebooks, Stratemeyer always avoided using the word 'said'

alone in describing Tom's utterances; Tom asserted,

averred, chortled, declared, expostulated, grimaced,

grinned, groaned, quipped, smiled, etc. Or if he was ever

reported to have 'said' something, Stratemeyer would add

an adverb to provide a more colorful impact.

"Eventually, someone decided to satirize the mannerism

by using punning adverbs, and the Tom Swifty was born!

A similar satirization whereby a verb supplies the pun

instead of an adverb, has been termed 'croaker' (coined byRoy Bongartz): 'I'm dying," he croaked.'"

Jester or Joker:

fool, silly fool, tomfool, madman, buffoon, clown, comic, jester,zany, merry-andrew, harlequin, entertainer, perfect fool,

complete idiot, ninny, nincompoop, ass, jackass, donkey, goose,

turkey, cuckoo, mooncalf, zombie, idiot, congenital idiot, born

fool, natural, mongol, cretin, moron, imbecile, mental

defective, half-wit, dimwit, sot, stupid, silly, silly-billy, twerp,

stooge, butt, laughingstock, madcap, desperado, addlehead,

fathead, pinhead, muddlehead, blunderer, incompetent, twit,

clot, bungler, scatterbrains, birdbrain, featherbrain, dingbat,

rattlehead, giddy-head, flibbertigibbet, trifler, sciolist, witling,

wiseacre, crackpot, eccentric, odd fellow, crank, gaffer, old

fogy, babbler, burbler, driveler, dotard, old man, humorist,


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"Every American, to the last man, lays claim to a 'sense' of humor and guards

it as his most significant spiritual trait, yet rejects humor as a contaminating

element wherever found. America is a nation of comics and comedians;

nevertheless, humor has no stature and is accepted only after the death of the

perpetrator."

E. B. White, "The Humor Paradox,"

New Yorker, 27 September, 1952

Victor Hugo: "Le calembour est la fiente de l'esprit qui vole." "Puns are

the feints of soaring wits."A reader of this article, David Herz, wrote to ask if he could use

the essay in "a comedy class which I will be teaching in a

French (yes) Engineering (yes again) school (triple yes)." David

says that "according toLe Robert Dictionnaire Historique de la

Langue Franaise fiente in French from the popular (wildly!)

12th Century Latin femita which gives us fumier (both compost

and lowlife) is animal excrement (usually birds)." So according

to David, Hugo's definition should read:

"Puns are the bird droppings of soaring wits."

Spoonerisms

"Named after Rev. W.A. Spooner (1844-1930), a

distinguised Anglican clergyman and warden of New

College, Oxford, England, a spoonerism is an

unintential interchange of sounds, usually initial

sounds, in two or more words, often with a resultantcomical effect. Examples: 'hush my brat' for 'brush

my hat' or 'scoop of boy trouts' for 'troop of boy

scouts' or 'I have a half-warmed fish in my mind' for

'I have a half-formed wish in my mind.' Spooner was

reportedly a nervous man who committed many of

these verbal witticisms, albeit unintentionally."


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Two of the Marx Brothers

"Time wounds all heels."

"The natural free spirits of ingenious men, if imprisoned or

controlled, will find other ways of motion to relieve themselves in

their constraint; and whether it be burlesque, mimicry or buffoonery,

they will be glad at any rate to vent themselves, and be revenged on

their constrainers . . . 'Tis the persecuting spirit has raised the

bantering one."

Lord Shaftesbury

__________

1 I've chosen the term "Intelligence" to distinguish between:

Ordinary intelligence: the ability to learn, tounderstand, to deal with new or challengingsituations; the ability to apply knowledge to act

appropriately in one's environment
http://history.back%28%29/


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Higher intelligence: a super-sensory, extraordinaryfacility or organ which possesses the capabilitiesof ordinary intelligence, but also has the power ofdiscernment:

o to comprehend with other than the ordinarysenses or mental abilities

o to experience and understand what is notevident to the average mind

o to distinguish and select what is true orappropriate or excellent

o to penetrate beyond what is obvious orsuperficial

o to employ keen practical judgment

Links:

11/7/02: Humor Is Good For You

Nasreddin/Hodja

Nasreddin Hoca

The Pun Faqtory

Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor

Therapeutic humor is defined to be: anyintervention that promotes health andwellness by stimulating a playful discovery,expression or appreciation of the absurdityor incongruity of life's situations. Thisintervention may enhance health or be usedas a complementary treatment of illness to

facilitate healing or coping, whetherphysical, emotional, cognitive, social, orspiritual.

Humor: International Journal of Humor Research

AustralianJournal ofComedy

American Humor

StudiesAssociation
http://www.rense.com/general31/look.htmhttp://w1.871.telia.com/~u87109316/index_eng.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/erolby/hoca/http://www.irregardless.net/punster/puns.htmlhttp://www.aath.org/http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/WWW/MathNat/Ruch/Journals.htmlhttp://www.ozcomedy.com/journal/journal.htmhttp://www.ozcomedy.com/journal/journal.htmhttp://www.ozcomedy.com/journal/journal.htmhttp://www.newhaven.edu/UNH/Special/AHSA/AHSAHomePage.htmhttp://www.newhaven.edu/UNH/Special/AHSA/AHSAHomePage.htmhttp://www.newhaven.edu/UNH/Special/AHSA/AHSAHomePage.htmhttp://www.rense.com/general31/look.htmhttp://w1.871.telia.com/~u87109316/index_eng.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/erolby/hoca/http://www.irregardless.net/punster/puns.htmlhttp://www.aath.org/http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/WWW/MathNat/Ruch/Journals.htmlhttp://www.ozcomedy.com/journal/journal.htmhttp://www.ozcomedy.com/journal/journal.htmhttp://www.ozcomedy.com/journal/journal.htmhttp://www.newhaven.edu/UNH/Special/AHSA/AHSAHomePage.htmhttp://www.newhaven.edu/UNH/Special/AHSA/AHSAHomePage.htmhttp://www.newhaven.edu/UNH/Special/AHSA/AHSAHomePage.htmhttp://www.newhaven.edu/UNH/Special/AHSA/AHSAHomePage.htm


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Humor Links

Books:

o The Exploits of the Incomparable MullaNasrudin by Idries Shah

o Humor and Humanityby Stephen Leacock

o Taking Humor Seriously in Children'sLiterature by Patricia L. Roberts

o Taking Humour Seriouslyby Jerry Palmer

o Taking Laughter Seriouslyby John Morreall

http://www.hermes-press.com/humorb.htm
http://humorlinks.com/http://www.hermes-press.com/humorb.htmhttp://humorlinks.com/http://www.hermes-press.com/humorb.htm

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