Humor

A Humor is a communication form that produces amusement through incongruity or surprise.

• AKA: Humour, Comedy, Comic Communication.
• Context:
  • It can typically trigger Laughter Responses through surprise elements.
  • It can typically employ Rhetorical Devices for comedic effects.
  • It can often serve Social Bonding Functions in group interactions.
  • It can often provide Coping Mechanisms for stress situations.
  • It can range from being a Subtle Humor to being an Overt Humor, depending on its delivery style.
  • It can range from being a Verbal Humor to being a Physical Humor, depending on its expression medium.
  • It can range from being a Light Humor to being a Dark Humor, depending on its subject matter.
  • It can range from being a Universal Humor to being a Culture-Specific Humor, depending on its cultural context.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Expression-Based Humors, such as:
    • Sarcastic Expression for oblique mockery.
    • Ironic Expression for meaning reversal.
    • Satirical Statement for social criticism.
  • Wordplay Humors, such as:
    • Pun for multiple meaning exploitation.
    • Double Entendre for dual interpretation.
  • Professional Humors, such as:
    • Engineering Humor for technical audiences.
    • Medical Humor for healthcare contexts.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • Serious Communication, which lacks comedic intent.
  • Literal Statement, which avoids ambiguity.
  • Tragic Expression, which evokes sorrow rather than amusement.
• See: Cognitive Phenomenon, Sarcastic Expression, Ironic Expression, Satirical Statement, Black Comedy-Drama, Meme, Comedy Show Host, Rhetorical Device, Social Bonding, Coping Mechanism, Humorous Expression, Satire, Irony, Laugh, Laughter, Amusement, Humorism.

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References

2018

• (Wikipedia, 2018) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour Retrieved:2018-7-21.
  • Humour (British English) or humor (American English; see spelling differences) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: humor, "body fluid"), controlled human health and emotion.

    People of all ages and cultures respond to humour. Most people are able to experience humour — be amused, smile or laugh at something funny — and thus are considered to have a sense of humour. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humour would likely find the behaviour inducing it to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person finds something humorous depends on a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context. For example, young children may favour slapstick such as Punch and Judy puppet shows or the Tom and Jerry cartoons, whose physical nature makes it accessible to them. By contrast, more sophisticated forms of humour such as satire require an understanding of its social meaning and context, and thus tend to appeal to a more mature audience.

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