Tax Information And Guide

What's so funny?

Date 4/10/2003 12:00 AM | Topic: Features

April, tax month, the mark of another quarter-year gone, also marks the start of National Humor Month. And yet, despite its universality, the science of laughing is one of the least understood of all human behaviors. This is not to say that there has been no serious intellectual pursuit into the psychology, physiology and anthropology behind why we giggle, chuckle and laugh so hard that we cry.

The humor gap is why some of us are entertained with guys in jacked up pick-ups while others hear a joke involving the slandering of a politician's name and laugh to the extreme. What we laugh at is determined by many factors including age, sex and culture.

As birthdays accumulate, so does the nature of what we laugh at. Evidence of this is shown in our progression from Lamb Chops to Saturday Night Live to the Golden Girls. People appreciate different types of humor at different stages in their lives. Peter Pleva ('04) appreciates a certain type of humor that he believes most would not find amusing and does not anticipate that to change any time soon.

"All jokes, on some level, have to be inappropriate; otherwise, we'd be stuck in knock-knock jokes forever," said Pleva. "If you can't laugh about something, I don't know, is it really worth saying?"

Not all types of humor appeal to both sexes. The humor gap between men and women has been studied by Patrice Oppliger, a professor of communications at LaSalle University in Philadelphia.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Oppliger says that women tell stories as a way to validate their experiences, sometimes exposing their own foibles. In the company of men, Oppliger said it is rare for a women to transform from validating storyteller to alpha dog and be willing to go toe-to-toe with male counterparts, punch-line for punch-line, putdown for putdown. "Men tend to tell jokes as a form of competition--who can get the biggest laughs and also a way of putting each other down," she said.

In a related informal study of The Three Stooges, Oppliger found that women seem to prefer Shemp to Curly, the favorite among men. "If I'd have to guess why. I think it's because Shemp is slightly smarter than Curly," Oppliger said.

Many Luther males agree. Tyler Hesseltine ('04) followed gender lines and went with Curly. "Curly's the best actor," said Hesseltine without hesitation. "The other two are just riding on his coattails."

However, not all agree. Breaking out of the box, Jeff Miller chose a lesser-known Stooge. "I like Moe," said Miller. "He's stupid--he has ridiculous antics.

Some jokes cross cultural lines while others are contained to specific groups. A Wartburg joke would never fly at Princeton, and likewise, a humorous reference to the village president of Pigeon Lake, Canada would have no meaning to the majority of the students at Luther. However, there are jokes that cross borders and cultures, testing the lung capacity of Europeans, Africans, and yes, even Canadians alike. Referred to as the funniest joke in the world, it has been speculated for years after its introduction to popular culture through the Monty Python sketch where the English Army develops a joke so powerful that people die of laughter. But, alas, it's just a funny little skit. or is it?

On the website laughlab.co.uk, researchers from England's University of Heretfordshire filtered through over 40,000 jokes and 2 million results to find the funniest joke in the world. A 31-year-old psychiatrist from Manchester, England submitted the winning entry. It goes like this:

A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing; his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"

Gurpal Gosall, the man who submitted the joke, told LaughLab, "I like the joke as it makes people feel better, because it reminds them that there is always someone out there who is doing something more stupid than themselves."

Luther students, in general, responded to the joke well. Many had reactions like that of Justin Pieper ('04). "(Chuckles). I don't know if that's the funniest joke in the world," Pieper said referring to the hunter scenario, "But it's pretty funny."

Even though this joke didn't appeal to all, Dr. Richard Wiseman, the psychologist behind the LaughLab project, explained why it received the most votes.

"This joke is interesting because it works across many different countries, appeals to men and women, and young and old alike. Many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people, but this one had real universal appeal. Also, we find jokes funny for lots of different reasons - they sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking events or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contains all three elements - we feel superior to the stupid hunter, realize the incongruity of him misunderstanding the operator and the joke helps us to laugh about our concerns about our own mortality."

Whether you appreciate Jeff Foxworthy's "you know you're a redneck if.." or Mark Russell's political piano antics on The Laughter of Politics, keep National Humor Month in mind the next few weeks. Laugh, cackle, hoot, even snort if you have to, but don't take anything too seriously.

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Gretchen Springer
Features Editor

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