What is "funny"?

[raniali]

Seriously - this has been bugging me for awhile and I can't come up with any theory that encompasses all the reasons we laugh. Why does one laugh when someone else trips and falls - and in the same circumstance another feels concern for the victim's well being?? Why do we laugh at comedians telling stupid jokes? although I don't usually find too many stand-ups funny.

I understand people laugh to dispel situation/social unease. But that doesn't seem to cover all the reasons. For instance, you read something on the internet that just makes you cackle uncontrollably often resulting in protein shakes to be spit out (as many of you often describe). WHY?!?!?!? Why is it funny?

Someone help me (and don't laugh) but this is causing me consternation.

[Reinier]

There are a lot of things we do and nobody knows why.

[raniali]

but i MUST know. it is my nature.
plus it keeps me from sleeping my normal 10 hrs and we can't have that.

[rpffly]

Whenever I see /pwned it cracks me up to no end. I have no idea how it started, but every time man...............

[APE.]

Originally posted by raniali
but i MUST know. it is my nature.
plus it keeps me from sleeping my normal 10 hrs and we can't have that.

Now thats odd;preventing you from getting sleep.

I kinda think of it like an emotional release;just as some ppl can't help but cry;some can't help but laugh about certain things.

[Saint Patrick]

I laugh at the misfortune of others.

[raniali]

Originally posted by APE.


Now thats odd;preventing you from getting sleep.

I kinda think of it like an emotional release;just as some ppl can't help but cry;some can't help but laugh about certain things.

things i ponder roll around in my mind and i end up thinking about them in lieu of sleeping like the dead horse i usually mimic at night.

yes - i agree that laughing is an emotional release ...but what emotions is one releasing??

the closest i have come to defining this is that something funny usually has some sort of PERSONAL emotional appeal. i mean, he who laughs at others misfortunes may project his own discomfort or embarrassment onto the other and laughs to compensate for that weakness within himself. for me, i wouldn't laugh if someone fell but then again, i wouldn't be that embarrassed myself.

[Tru]

Definitely not TV, definitely not most people.

Has anyone seen comedy central lately? Damn that is sad. Especially the manshow, I could write a better show than that by myself. American's just keep getting more and more unoriginal.

[Hatred]

Raniali...
Your query has caught my attention and started the wheels a-turnin. I have no Idea why things are funny. I watched someone plow into another's vehicle lastnight attempting to back into what they thought was an empty spot. I laughted hysterically.
I believe things that are so absurd, or things that you believe you are too smart to do cause the reaction. When I find things hilarious the image plays over and over again in an endless cycle until normal thought takes over.
When someone hurts themselves in a manner that I have and have survived and is not serious I usually explode into a fit of laughter. I too laugh at the misfortune of others. In all this mindless drivel I have managed to answer nothing. Dammit.
The things that I find most funny are the events I watch from the very unfolding stages to conclusion. These are usually things that are not the norm and occur at a different speed than normal life.
example:
I was going to the bank, it was raining. I was heading down a 35 mph residential road. there was a ford escort coming the opposite direction immediately followed by a ford Expedition. Now this is where the alternate speed thing comes in. Form a side street I saw the oddest thing. A 13 yr old kid with no shirt Flying like a bat out of hell for the intersection. I slowed down to a crawl as he squirted out into the street directly behind the escort and DIRECTLY in front of the Expedition. He hit it so hard that he flew out of his shoes, and hit the ground directly in front of the truck and rolled into my lane. He got up and ran around in little circles holding his ass which prompted me to begin laughing instantly and to drive around him and leave. I was probably the best witness there and should have stayed. See now it wasn't funny til I knew he was alright, which spawned memories of all of the times I busted my ass in a bloody heap on my bike and got laughed at, but it did not permanently alter my life (cept for a few scars )so even in retrospect my own experiences are funny.
I believe funniness is the transition from a negative or mundane thought to a positive one in a rapid period of time and that is the reaction we have to it.

So if you don't like it go milk a squirrel.




and have fun catching it.sicko.

[Budiak]

Fart jokes are pretty funny.

[buffzilla]

It's merley a reality check we use to keep things in perspective. We find the absurd amusing, and humour is usually a community thing (Certain cultures find certain things funny).
Its a non violent form of social conditioning, allowing the maintanence of a collective common sense.

[raniali]

do u laugh to mask your farting insecurities, budiak?

and - i will have to give your conclusion some thought, nevermind. thx for playing.

[raniali]

Originally posted by buffzilla
It's merley a reality check we use to keep things in perspective. We find the absurd amusing, and humour is usually a community thing (Certain cultures find certain things funny).
Its a non violent form of social conditioning, allowing the maintanence of a collective common sense.

but the people who laugh or instigate laughter are NOT those who are trying to control the populace in any matter of social conditioning. for instance, back in your school days, the teacher would be turned around at the board and someone would pull out a squirt gun and spray someone across the room and the entire class would bust out laughing. the teacher would turn around confused. who was doing the social conditioning here? and WHY was that funny?

[Big o Boy]

Originally posted by raniali
Someone help me (and don't laugh) but this is causing me constipation.

LOL.... sorry, that made me laugh.

btw, wtf is /pwned?

[Rock]

a friend of mine and I once took the subway, he had with a megaphone for a school project, I was farting like a sour buffalo that day and he said on the subway, oh yeah listen to this, and he actually farted in the megaphone, the whole subway wagon got quiet, and then everybody started to laugh, grown ups too, but still why do we laugh

[Reinier]

Originally posted by Rock
a friend of mine and I once took the subway, he had with a megaphone for a school project, I was farting like a sour buffalo that day and he said on the subway, oh yeah listen to this, and he actually farted in the megaphone, the whole subway wagon got quiet, and then everybody started to laugh, grown ups too, but still why do we laugh

LMAO

[Dedicated]

It depends on your current environment whether something will be funny or not. But basically...
Funny = Offbeat

[Hatred]

Jaialai....neverMORE never MORE think edgar allen poe...

[-TIM-]

I'll tell you what's NOT funny. I spent 15 minutes going through member pics and haven't found a single one of Raniali. What's with that?!?!

[-TIM-]

...and no I'm not a perv

[buffzilla]

but the people who laugh or instigate laughter are NOT those who are trying to control the populace in any matter of social conditioning. for instance, back in your school days, the teacher would be turned around at the board and someone would pull out a squirt gun and spray someone across the room and the entire class would bust out laughing. the teacher would turn around confused. who was doing the social conditioning here? and WHY was that funny?

Such things are still group based. The childern form their own conditioned society hostile to outsiders (The teacher). It works on many different levels.

[aidano]

We laugh at imperfections in ourselves and others: stupidity, ignorance, clumsiness, lack of self-control...I think most of what we laugh at comes down to one of those things in the end.

[raniali]

Originally posted by buffzilla


Such things are still group based. The childern form their own conditioned society hostile to outsiders (The teacher). It works on many different levels.

HUMOR is cultural. LAUGHTER is not. laughter is found in all cultures by all people, just not animals. what one laughs about, though, is based on cultural ideas.


nevermorte - i decided that people can have negative/mundane thoughts which quickly turn positive WITHOUT laughing. such as, i am now thinking of death and destruction then (at this moment) i imagine a beautiful delicate flower and red balloons. i don't think that's funny. do you?

[MrWebb78]

Originally posted by Tim Nissen
I'll tell you what's NOT funny. I spent 15 minutes going through member pics and haven't found a single one of Raniali. What's with that?!?!

shes constantly emailing me new ones of herself...along with love notes.


i think we should ask why dont we laugh more.

[WiNgS]

back in high school there was this guy taking a dump in one of the cubicles but the cubicles were like 5ft tall and had no locks so a big group of my friends dragged his school bag under the cubicle door along with his trousers and then got wet toilet paper and threw it at his face....the fact that he was so embarassed and the fact that we caught someone actually doing that was what i found hilarious, i was laughing at his misfortune...i was also laughing for the next hour as he couldnt do "sh*t" about it....excuse the pun