Why did the chicken cross the road?

Why did the chicken cross the road?

By Belinda Kemp

Two fish were in a tank. One said 'you man the guns, I'll drive!' haha everyone loves a joke, no matter how silly it may be. But why is it funny? What is it about the joke that makes us as human beings recognise it as being humorous? Have you ever heard a joke and thought, 'what in the world was that all about?'. How about the chicken crossing the road joke? That's not funny, its common sense?!? And why is it that most jokes that we hear nowadays contain racial, sexist or homophobic content that we still find humorous? Well, that's just me going on a bit of a rant but to get to my point, why is it funny?

There are many theories as to why we need humour. The first being the superiority theory which claims that all humour involves a feeling of superiority. Feeling better than someone else, so if you're out with your friend and their crush is walking past just as they trip and fall on their face, this would be humorous because you wouldn't be the one looking like a twat in the floor! Basically laughing at other peoples misfortunes...

Then there's the famous relief theory which claims that it is a tension release model, for example the relief of a fear, like when being tickled the laughs are because you hate being tickled! It's not funny... it's horrible and people hate being tickled it's just funny after because your relieved it's over!

Finally we come across the incongruity theory. This theory claims that it's the idea of feeling smart. That you have uncovered the truth, you understand the joke, you've realised the resolution, so it's humorous because you feel like a smart arse, you're pretty pleased with yourself! (To find out more about the theories go to Theories of humor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

But why are things funny? Well... things are funny when their expected, like the traditional banana skin on the floor and man walking towards it carrying a large box, unaware if what's in front of him. We all know what's going to happen. But what if it was unexpected humour, you see the man walking towards it but he stops, were waiting for him to slip but he turns around and walks away, he then bumps into a trolley and drops the box on his foot! That would be hilarious because no one expected it. Or what if it's familiar humour, you're trying to overtake someone on a pathway, but as you overtake you trip on the kurb and look like an utter idiot. We all recognise how embarrassing that is, we've all done it, that's what makes it so funny!

But to get down to the juicy stuff, the linguistics used in jokes:

-          Playing with graphology

'What do you get if you cross a tall green monster with a fountain pen?... the ink-credible hulk.

-          Sound play

'What's the difference between a doormat and a bottle of beer?... ones taken up and shaken and the others shaken up and take'

These are just a few but to find out more go to Power Through Humour