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Title: HUMOR THEORIES: FEATURES VS. FUNCTIONS VS. SUBJECTS


1
HUMOR THEORIES FEATURES VS. FUNCTIONS VS.
SUBJECTS
  • by Don L. F. Nilsen
  • and Alleen Pace Nilsen

2
HUMOR THEORIES
  • THE EVOLUTION THEORIES as proposed by Charles
    Darwin, and by the I. A. H. B.
  • THE HUMOR-IS-GOOD-FOR-YOU THEORIES as proposed by
    Norman Cousins, et. al.
  • THE SUPERIORITY THEORIES as proposed by
    Aristotle, Plato, Thomas Hobbes, Henri Bergson,
    and Charles Gruner
  • THE INCONGRUITY THEORIES as proposed by Immanuel
    Kant, Arthur Shopenhauer, Paul McGhee and John
    Morreall
  • THE SURPRISE THEORIES as proposed by René
    Descartes

3
  • THE AMBIVALENCE THEORIES (FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS)
    as proposed by Socrates
  • THE CONFIGURATIONAL THEORIES (GESTALT RECOGNITION
    AND SUDDEN INSIGHT) as proposed by G. W. F. Hegel
  • THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES as proposed by
    Sigmund Freud
  • THE RELEASE AND RELIEF THEORIES as proposed by
    Harvey Mindess and William Fry

4
A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT HUMOR THEORIES
  • FEATURES
  • FUNCTIONS
  • SUBJECTS

5
FEATURES OF HUMOR INCONGRUITY AND INCONGRUITY
RESULUTION
Unresolved Resolved
6
FEATURES OF HUMORSURPRISE AND TENSION
  • Surprise
  • Garden Path
  • Epiphany
  • Tension and Relief

7
ALLEEN NILSENS FEATURES OF HUMOR
  • Ambiguity
  • Exaggeration
  • Understatement
  • Hostility
  • Incongruity or Irony
  • Situation-Insight
  • Sudden Insight
  • Superiority
  • Surprise or Shock
  • A Trick or Twist
  • Word Play
  • (A. Nilsen Living Language 202-203)

8
EXPLAIN THE FEATURES IN THE FOLLOWING JOKES
  • David Lettermans first job in broadcasting was
    at Ball State Universitys classical music radio
    station, WBST. He was a constant trial to Tom
    Watson, the manager, who in exasperation fired
    him after he introduced the song Clair de Lune
    with You know the de Lune sisters there was
    Claire there was Mabel.
  • Word Play
  • (A. Nilsen Living Language 204)

9
  • Left to our own devices, we Wobegonians go
    straight for the small potatoes.
  • Majestic doesnt appeal to us we like the Grand
    Canyon better with Clarence and Arlene parked in
    front of it smiling.
  • (Nilsen Nilsen Encyclopedia 301)

10
  • Will Rogers solemnly declared, They have an
    unwritten law in the Senate that a new member is
    not allowed to say anything when he first gets
    in, and another unwritten law that whatever he
    says afterward is not to amount to anything.
  • Superiority
  • (Nilsen Living Language 205)

11
  • A good man dies and goes to heaven. When St.
    Peter asks him if theres anything he can do for
    him, the man explains that he would love to talk
    to Mary, the mother of Jesus. St. Peter is happy
    to set up such a meeting. After a few polite
    formalities, the man tells Mary the purpose of
    his request. He has always wanted to ask her
    something.
  • When she encourages him to go ahead, he says,
    Ive wondered why in all your pictures you look
    so sad. Please tell me what it is. Mary sighs
    and then with a little wistful smile confesses,
    I always wanted a daughter.
  • Incongruity and Surprise
  • (Nilsen Living Languag 205)

12
  • In one of her routines, eleven-year-old Claire
    Friedman told about a classmate she calls
    Tiffany During lunch, Tiffany was staring at
    her carton of orange juice. I asked why. She
    said, The box says concentrate.
  • Claire said, Tiffany is so dumb shed get fired
    from an MM factory for throwing away all the Ws.
  • Superiority, Hostility, Wordplay
  • (A. Nilsen Living Language 204)

13
  • During the 1960s, there was talk of nominating
    Senator Margaret Chase Smith for President of the
    United States. One reporter stuck a microphone
    in her face and asked, Mrs. Smith, what would
    you do if you should wake up some morning and
    find yourself in the White House?
  • Without batting an eye she responded, I would go
    to the presidents wife, apologize, and leave
    immediately.
  • Situation, Surprise,etc.
  • (A. Nilsen Living Language 204)

14
  • A four-year-old was brought to the emergency room
    of a hospital with a bad cough.
  • The child kept up a nonstop conversation while
    the nurse was trying to assess her lung sounds.
    Finally, the nurse said, Shhh, I have to see if
    Barney is in there. The child looked at her and
    calmly stated, I have Jesus in my heart. Barney
    is on my underwear.
  • Surprise, Incongruity, etc.
  • (A. Nilsen Living Language 204)

15
  • At the opening of a new play, George Bernard Shaw
    sent two tickets to Winston Churchill. Shaw
    wrote on the letter, Here is a ticket for you
    and your friendif you have one.
  • Churchill sent back the tickets with a message
    for Shaw. I cant attend on the opening night,
    but I would love to go to the second
    performanceif you have one.
  • Hostility, Exaggeration, Word Play, etc.
  • (A. Nilsen Living Language 204)

16
  • In Alice in Wonderland, the Mock Turtle explains
    to Alice that he only took the regular course.
    What was that? inquired Alice. Reeling and
    Writhing, of course, to begin with, and then the
    different branches of ArithmeticAmbition,
    Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.
  • Word Play, etc.
  • (A. Nilsen Living Language 205)

17
PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF HUMOR
  • Arousal
  • Social Control
  • Establishment of Superiority
  • Relief, and Release
  • Ego Defense, Coping, and Saving Face
  • Gaining Status
  • Healing
  • Testing Limits

18
SELF-DISPARAGEMENT
  • Self-disparagement humor is actually intended to
    empower the user. Here are some effective ads
    using self-disparagement
  • Terminix Pest Control When you think of pests,
    think of us.
  • Twist Lemon-Menthol Cigarettes Our new menthol
    is a lemon.

19
  • Champion International Trend Carpet Eight
    million people walked all over us. And they
    dont even know our name.
  • Quaker Oats as a diet food Quaker Oats
    Breakfast of losers.
  • Simmons bunk beds Simmons beds are a lot of
    bunk.
  • (Nilsen Nilsen 273)

20
EDUCATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF HUMOR
  • Teaching and Learning
  • Arguing and Persuading

21
SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF HUMOR
  • In-Bonding and Out-Bonding
  • Promoting Social Stability and Control
  • Promoting Social Change

22
SUPERIORITY VS. INCONGRUITY
  • In Reflections upon Laughter, Frances Hutcheson
    argued against Thomas Hobbess century-old
    superiority theory.
  • He pointed out that people dont go to asylums to
    laugh at the inferior beings, nor do we laugh
    at animals unless they resemble human beings.
  • We laugh at someone who slips on a banana peel
    not because we feel superior, but because of the
    incongruity between our expectations and the
    sudden insight.
  • (Nilsen Nilsen 163)

23
!SUBJECTS OF HUMOR
  • Ethnic Identification
  • Politics
  • Sexual Roles and Scatology
  • Occupations
  • Religion and Belief Systems

24
  • !!OLD TABOOS AND CENSORSHIP
  • These are the taboo areas in American English.
    Theyre the subjects that we cant talk about,
    but we must talk about.
  • But these taboos are changing. Most of our
    censorship used to come from the right, but now
    our censorship is coming from both the right and
    the left. Censorship from the left is called
    political correctness.

25
  • !!!NEW TABOOS AND CENSORSHIP
  • TABOO AND CENSORSHIP FROM THE RIGHT INCLUDES
  • Sex, Religion, Body Parts, Swear Words,
    Obscenities and Vulgarities
  • TABOO AND CENSORSHIP FROM THE LEFT (POLITICAL
    CORRECTNESS) INCLUDES
  • Women, Gays, Disabled People, Ethnic Minorities
    and Old People

26
!HUMOR WEB SITES I
  • AMERICAN COMEDY ARCHIVES (JENNI MATZ)
  • www.emerson.edu/comedy
  • ART GLINER HUMOR CENTER (LARRY MINTZ)
  • www.humorcenter.umd.edu
  • COMEDY ARCHIVES (JENNI MATZ)
  • http//www.greaterboston.tv/features/gb_20060509_c
    omedy.html

27
  • !!COMEDY USA (BARRY WEINTRAUB)
  • www.comedyusa.com
  • THE HUMOR COLLECTION (RUTH HAMILTON)
  • www.thehumorcollection.org
  • HUMOR MATTERS (STEVE SULTANOFF)
  • http//www.humormatters.com
  • THE HUMOR PROJECT (JOEL GOODMAN)
  • www.HumorProject.com

28
  • !!! HUMOR STUDIES AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
  • http//researchmag.asu.edu/stories/humor.html
  • LAUGHING JAPAN (TILL WEINGAERTNER)
  • http//www.tillchan.typepad.com/laughing
  • MIRTH HUMOR AND LAUGHTER IN TEACHING (RON BERK)
  • www.mirthium.com
  • PARENTING HUMOR (TIM BETE)
  • http//www.TimBete.com
  • A PLAYFUL PATH TO WHOLENESS (BERNIE DEKOVEN)
  • http//www.deepfun.com

29
  • References 1
  • Berger, Arthur Asa. An Anatomy of Humor. New
    Brunswick, NJ Transaction Publishers, 1993.
  • Berger, Arthur Asa. Blind Men and Elephants
    Perspectives on Humor. New Brunswick, NJ
    Transaction Publishers, 1995.
  • Boskin, Joseph. Humor and Social Change in 20th
    Century America. Boston, MA Boston Public
    Library, 1979.
  • Boskin, Joeph, ed. The Humor Prism in
    20th-Century America. Detroit, MI Wayne State
    University Press, 1997.
  • Doloff, Steven. Racism and the Risks of Ethnic
    Humor (Eschholz 273-275).

30
  • References 2
  • Eschholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.
    The Power of the Mass Media. Language
    Awareness Readings for College Writers, Ninth
    Edition. Boston, MA Bedford/St. Martins, 2005,
    349-420.
  • Fry, William F. Sweet Madness A Study of Humor.
    Palo Alto, CA Pacific Books, 1963.
  • Fry, William F., and Waleed Salameh, eds.
    Advances in Humor and Psychotherapy. Sarasota,
    FL Professional Resource Press, 1993.
  • Fry, William F., and Waleed Salameh. Handbook of
    Humor and Psychotherapy. Sarasota, FL
    Professional Resources Exchange, 1987.
  • McGhee, Paul E., and Jeffrey Goldstein, eds.
    Handbook of Humor Research. New York, NY
    Springer-Verlag, 1983.

31
  • References 5
  • Martin, Rod A. The Psychology of Humor An
    Integrative Approach. London, England Elsevier,
    2007.
  • Nilsen, Alleen Pace. Living Language. Boston, MA
    Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
  • Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Encyclopedia
    of 20th Century American Humor. Phoenix, AZ
    Oryx, 2000.
  • Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen.
    Humor. The New Dictionary of the History of
    Ideas Volume 3. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz.
    New York, NY Charles Scribners Sons, 2005,
    1061-1064.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor Scholarship A Research
    Bibliography. Westport, CT Greenwood, 1993,
    175-185.

32
  • References 6
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in British Literature
    from the Middle Ages to the Restoration A
    Reference Guide. Westport, CT Greenwood, 1997.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. "Humor in the Earliest English
    Literature." Kansas English 79-1 (1993) 36-47.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Eighteenth- and
    Nineteenth-Century British Literature A
    Reference Guide. Westport, CT Greenwood, 1998.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F., and Alleen Pace Nilsen.
    Language Play. Rowley, MA Newbury House, 1978.
  • Raskin, Victor. Semantic Mechanisms of Humor.
    Dordrecht, Netherlands D. Reidel, 1985.
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