What's So Funny? Making Sense of Humor
" Readers will enjoy the jokes and cartoon sketches presented as well as the facts about animals and their sense of humor, the sounds of laughter . . . and the interpretation of laughter in the different cultures around the world. "
- Ingram Library Services
What's So Funny?
Making Sense of Humor
Illustrated by Ted Stearn
(Viking, June 2011)
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A pie in the face.
A slip of the tongue.
A burrrp at the dinner table.
Humor. We all know it when we see it—and when we hear it. But people of all ages and cultures define it differently. That's because humor is highly personal. "We're all born with a sense of humor," says Dr. William Fry, a pioneer in humor studies. But it develops differently for everyone, based in part on our life experiences.
Experts say having a sense of humor—the ability to recognize and appreciate the lighter side of life—and expressing that appreciation through laughter, improves almost every aspect of our lives.
"Children with a well-developed sense of humor are happier and more optimistic, have higher self-esteem, and can handle differences (their own and others') well," say researchers at the Nemours Foundation. "Kids who can appreciate and share humor are better liked by their peers and more able to handle the adversities of childhood."
But what makes us laugh, and why do we usually need others around to enjoy it? How do we "get" a joke, and what does our sense of humor reveal about us? Social scientists are only beginning to explore these questions, and they're turning up some surprising answers.
What's So Funny? Making Sense of Humor examines the art and science of silly. Using fun facts, anecdotes, and plenty of puns, the book explores topics such as why our brains think something is funny, why we can tickle a friend, but not ourselves, and how to tell a joke like a professional comedian.
Read an excerpt below from the book, and discover more about the curious sounds of laughter and WHAT'S SO FUNNY!
Snickers to Snorts
LISTEN CLOSELY the next time you're in a crowd. You may hear bird chirps, pig snorts, or frog croaks. Echoes of nature? Maybe. But more than likely they're the odd, sometimes animal-like noises people make when laughing. While we tend to classify laughs as hearty ha-ha-has, giggly tee-hee-hees, or creepy heh-heh-hehs, they actually come in a variety of shapes and sizes—including a few that resemble chimpanzees panting.
"People have a rich repertoire of laugh sounds," says Jo-Anne Bachorowski of Vanderbilt University, a vocal communications researcher who has collected more than thirty thousand laughs. These sounds vary in length and complexity—some wildly pitching up and down—but they can be grouped into three broad categories:
1. Songlike laughs that are "voiced" and vibrate the vocal cords, giving them a vowel-like quality, such as ha-ha-ha
2. Snortlike laughs that project sounds primarily through the nose
3. Gruntlike laughs that project sounds primarily through the mouth, as in a pant or cackle
Songlike laughs have a catchy rhythm that is most apt to "grab a listener's attention or to make them feel good," says Bachorowski. "They're very acoustically pleasing." About half of women's laughs and a third of men's laughs are songlike. The rest fall into the snort- or gruntlike groupings and generally either annoy people or draw no particular reaction.
Many laughs combine features from several categories. Some laughs, for example, start out with a wheezing sound called a "glottal whistle" before expanding to a songlike laugh. Since the wheeze always occurs at the beginning of a laugh, researchers think it's a way of grabbing people's attention and saying, "Hey, look at me, I'm about to laugh."
Much like the smile, says Bachorowski, laughter is often a way of making others feel happy so that they act more positively toward us. The blissful sounds can endear you to everyone from family and friends to strangers and authority figures. That includes teachers.
Now isn't that music to your ears?
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