Discussion
Started 31 January 2025
Explain how humor differs from country to country.
Humor in Geography and International Studies
A world-wide telephone survey was conducted and the only question asked was:
"Would you please give your honest opinion about possible solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”
The survey failed because:
In Eastern Europe there was no agreement on what "honest" meant.
In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage" meant.
In some places in Africa they didn’t know what "food" meant.
In China they didn't know what "opinion" meant.
In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" meant.
In South America they questioned what "please" meant.
In the USA they didn't know what "the rest of the world" meant.
And in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Great Britain . . . everyone hung up when they heard the foreign accent.
Similar questions and discussions
What is the significance of linguistic humor and language play in the field of TESL?
Linguistic Humor and Language Play
There are many different types of linguistic humor: phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. There are
Oxymorons (Civil War),
Metaphors (raining cats and dogs),
Slang (T’sup),
Allusions (Jiminy Cricket),
Anagrams (George Bush = He bugs Gore),
Chiasmus (Aging is a matter of mind over matter;
if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.),
Enigma (It’s been a strange day.
First, I found a hat full of money,
and then I was chased by an angry man with a guitar),
Eponymy (Gloomy Gus),
Irony (Paglacci is not a happy clown),
Nonsense (T’was brillig and the slithy toves),
Palindromes (Dammit I’m mad),
Synecdoche (“Father, he’s asked for my hand.”
Father responds, “It’s the whole thing, or nothing.”),
and Zeugma (A little song. A little dance. A little seltzer down your pants).
International Society for Humor Studies: http://www.humorstudies.org/
What is the significance of linguistic humor and language play in the field of Linguistics?
Linguistic Humor and Language Play
There are many different types of linguistic humor: phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. There are
Oxymorons (Civil War),
Metaphors (raining cats and dogs),
Slang (T’sup),
Allusions (Jiminy Cricket),
Anagrams (George Bush = He bugs Gore),
Chiasmus (Aging is a matter of mind over matter;
if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.),
Enigma (It’s been a strange day.
First, I found a hat full of money,
and then I was chased by an angry man with a guitar),
Eponymy (Gloomy Gus),
Irony (Paglacci is not a happy clown),
Nonsense (T’was brillig and the slithy toves),
Palindromes (Dammit I’m mad),
Synecdoche (“Father, he’s asked for my hand.”
Father responds, “It’s the whole thing, or nothing.”),
and Zeugma (A little song. A little dance. A little seltzer down your pants).
International Society for Humor Studies: http://www.humorstudies.org/
Would You or Your Friend Like to Participate in a Study on English Speech?
Eligibility Requirements:
- Anyone who speaks English and whose native language is Japanese, Vietnamese, Malay, or Filipino.
- As part of the screening process, you will be asked to provide a short speech sample to confirm that your voice and the recording quality meet the study’s requirements.
What to do:
As part of the study, participants will be asked to:
1. Complete a language background information survey.
2. Record themselves:
- Reading a short passage including 216 words in English.
- Giving a spontaneous English speech lasting 45 seconds to 1 minute.
Compensation:
Participants will receive a $20 Amazon gift card as a token of appreciation. To distribute the gift card, we will collect your email address during the consent process. Your email address will be linked to your survey responses solely for purposes related to this study, such as sending the gift card. Once the gift card has been sent, your email address will be permanently deleted to ensure your confidentiality.
Contact: Xiaojiao.Xue@nau.edu
To what extent is satire legally protected?
Humor in Law and Legal Issues
The Media Law Journal (April 24, 2013) stated, “it’s not that the law clearly protects humorous speech and satire. The question is a bit vexed.” “With cases involving outrageous parody and satire, the path of least resistance has been to find the ‘speech’ non-defamatory as a matter of law.” Satire is “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.” The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press states that “Satire and Parody are important forms of political commentary that rely on blurring the line between truth and outrageousness to attack, scorn and ridicule public figures.” “Although they may be offensive and intentionally injurious, these statements contain constitutionally protected ideas and opinions provided a reasonable reader would not mistake the statements as describing actual facts.”
Comedians and writers can make a living from writing original jokes, but not all jokes can be copyrighted. A joke must be original, and fixed in some tangible form to be eligible for copyright protection, so jokes that are only uttered verbally are ineligible. Videos, books, and recordings of jokes may be eligible for copyright protection because they are recorded in tangible form. Jokes must also be original.
Minor variations of other people’s jokes are not eligible for copyright protection; also generalized humorous observations might not be eligible. The “Fair-Use” exception to copyright laws allows short excerpts of copyrighted material to be used for educational use, for parody, for scholarly review and similar purposes. Normally only longer jokes, humorous essays, or collections of jokes are copyrighted because other performers could work your jokes into their routines, and claim that they were parodying your jokes.
VOLTAIRE SAID: “It is forbidden to kill; therefore, all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
HONORÉ DE BALZAC SAID: “Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.
JIMMY CARTER SAID: “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.”
What does the law say about the protection of satire, irony, parody, and jokes?
Don and Alleen Nilsen “Humor Across the Academic Disciplines” PowerPoints: https://www.public.asu.edu/~dnilsen/
How important are humor, satire, and parody in journalism and reporting?
Humor in Journalism and Reporting
Journalists often allude to children’s literature, because in our diverse culture, memories of classic children’s books are what we all have in common.
Nursery Rhymes and Folk Tales are a rich resource because they present a full array of personalities
• Chicken Little to represent alarmists
• Pinocchio to represent liars.
• The Big Bad Wolf to warn us of danger
• The Frog Prince to give hope to discouraged women
• Humpty Dumpty to point out how easy it is to fall from grace
In the Old Days, when Humpty Dumpty fell, sympathetic bystanders rushed to put him back together, but in a recent cartoon he was shunned by creatures shouting “Salmonella!”
• Cultural Icons can be either
– recognized visual symbols
– or familiar words that can be parodied.
• Editorial Cartoonists first have to help the viewers into the mindset of the original,
• Then take them in a new direction.
For efficiency, cartoonists make use of common visual symbols
• Pointing fingers or arrows
• The Trojan Horse
• Tombstones and the initials R.I.P.
• Skulls/The Grim Reaper
• The three monkeys (See no evil. Hear No evil. Speak no evil)
• The Ghost of Christmas Past
• Superman
• Railroad tracks not matching up
What are the cultural icons used by American journalists and editorial cartoonists? What about the cultural icons of other countries?
Don and Alleen Nilsen “Humor Across the Academic Disciplines” PowerPoints: https://www.public.asu.edu/~dnilsen/
Related Publications
Humor in Geography and International Studies
A world-wide telephone survey was conducted and the only question asked was:
"Would you please give your honest opinion about possible solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”
The survey failed because:
In Eastern Europe there was no agreement on what "honest" meant.
In Western E...
Jean Paul defines wit with a witticism: as a disguised priest, who joins every couple in marriage. By defining it in this manner, he not only re-elaborates the age old problem of the conceit between plenitude and emptiness, but also transposes the discussion of wit onto the level of the performative. Another image used by Jean Paul to define pun sh...