Page 14 - The Language of Humour

Unit one
‘Just for a laugh?’

What is humour?
One definition of humour is: ‘something that makes a person laugh or
smile’. Like all straightforward definitions, exceptions can be found.
It’s possible to claim that something is humorous, even though no one
laughed at the time—and it can often happen that people laugh, but
someone can claim, ‘That’s not funny’. Smiling and laughter can also
be a sign of fear or embarrassment. Despite these objections, the
response is an important factor in counting something as humour.
Examining the language can then help to explain why people laugh.

When does laughter occur?

People laugh in company. Research has shown that when people are
alone they rarely laugh, even though the same example of humour
makes them do so in a room full of people. There is a strong social
aspect to the way people respond to humour. If you watch your
favourite comedy in the presence of people who remain straight-faced,
it can stop you finding it so funny. Because it’s important to sense other
people responding to humour, ‘canned laughter’ is used for television or
radio comedy. The same joke can work brilliantly in one context and die
in another, as stand-up comedians find, travelling from one venue
to another. Like other aspects of language, humour is a way in which
people show their allegiance to a group. If someone signals their
intention to say something humorous, the listeners are immediately
ready to laugh. People often laugh when given this sort of cue,
regardless of whether they even got the joke.
The opposite happens if the listeners want to distance themselves
from the speaker. Once you feel that someone is old-fashioned, silly or