Humor is about a complex tangle of perception and interpretation, knowledge and emotion, external and internal; individual ability, attitude, emotion, or prevailing mood permeated by community values ​​and norms.

As an attitude, humor is marked by the enjoyment of contradictions that, randomly or too radically, can lead to confusion or even to horror. Controversies define much more general social themes, such as social power relations or the legitimacy of individuals. The power of humor lies in the social, moral, and political value, which people themselves ideologically load into it.

Identifying humor often relies on our knowledge of facts, culture, customs, values, etc. It arises from the the reader’s contextual knowledge and the situation, person, or thing perceived to be comic.

1. Incongruence

A surprising connection is built between two or more things.

Question: Why did the elephant paint its fingernails red?

Answer: So it could hide in the strawberry patch.

2. Breaking expectations, surprise

A surprising combination of things, a surprising punchline - the tip of a joke.

I believe in world peace and - Santa Claus.

3. Playing with words and their meanings (linguistic humor)

Illustrative metaphors, new meaning for old expression, new words, etc.

4. Confrontation, e.g. the wise is revealed as foolish, holy as lewd, great as small, living as machine.

5. Situational humor, e.g. misunderstandings or other fun situations

6. Repetition and mechanics, e.g., slavish adherence to a custom or rule in any situation.

7. Punching up

Amusement results from a sudden decrease in the value of an object and thus a sudden increase in an individual's sense of self-worth. Let's laugh at the stupidity of a president / teacher / police / doctor, for example.

8. Exaggeration, for example caricatures. 

Example 1: humour among foreigners living in Helsinki (in finnish):

https://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2000008349686.html?share=1e9825a6ba7928f63abd1f2eeb3a55f6 (paywall)

Example 2: Finnish humour and memes: https://yle.fi/a/3-10120020

Example 3: various accents by a false translator


Example 4: Britains Got Talent finalist, Malawian comedian Daliso Chaponda talks about prejudices about African countries.


Last modified: Wednesday, 17 April 2024, 1:57 PM