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Cruel Jokes
Cruel jokes is a joke cycle dealing with cruelty and macabre topics.''Encyclopedia of Humor Studies''Section "Cruel" Jokes, p. 415/ref> They belong to the category of sick humor. Typical examples: :- Mommy, why is daddy still sleeping? :- Shut up and keep digging. :- Mommy, why is daddy swimming so fast? :- Shut up and reload. In American culture jokes of this kind were recorded as early as in 1930s as the Little Audrey jokes, with a larger cycle reported during 1950s, many with the "Shut up..." punch line. Sutton-Smith remarks that the macabre of these jokes may also be compared with even earlier 19th century Little Willie rhymes: "Little Willie with his thirst for gore / Nailed his mommy's baby to the door". The origin of Little Willie poetry and other sick humour is attributed to the 1899 book ''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes'' by a minor poet Harry Graham. In 1960 Brian Sutton-Smith classified the 155 collected "cruel" jokes into categories of murder of friend or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joke Cycle
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, and ends in a punch line, whereby the humorous element of the story is revealed; this can be done using a pun or other type of word play, irony or sarcasm, logical incompatibility, hyperbole, or other means. Linguist Robert Hetzron offers the definition: It is generally held that jokes benefit from brevity, containing no more detail than is needed to set the scene for the punchline at the end. In the case of riddle jokes or one-liners, the setting is implicitly understood, leaving only the dialogue and punchline to be verbalised. However, subverting these and other common guidelines can also be a source of humour—the shaggy dog story is an example of an anti-humor, anti-joke; although presented as a joke, it contains a long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of books or individual stories in the public domain. All files can be accessed for free under an open format layout, available on almost any computer. , Project Gutenberg had reached 50,000 items in its collection of free eBooks. The releases are available in Text file, plain text as well as other formats, such as HTML, PDF, EPUB, Mobipocket, MOBI, and Plucker wherever possible. Most releases are in the English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that provide additional content, including region- and language-specific works. Project Gutenberg is closely affiliated with Distributed Proofreaders, an Inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joke Cycles
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, and ends in a punch line, whereby the humorous element of the story is revealed; this can be done using a pun or other type of word play, irony or sarcasm, logical incompatibility, hyperbole, or other means. Linguist Robert Hetzron offers the definition: It is generally held that jokes benefit from brevity, containing no more detail than is needed to set the scene for the punchline at the end. In the case of riddle jokes or one-liners, the setting is implicitly understood, leaving only the dialogue and punchline to be verbalised. However, subverting these and other common guidelines can also be a source of humour—the shaggy dog story is an example of an anti-joke; although presented as a joke, it contains a long drawn-out narrative o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvatore Attardo
Salvatore Attardo is a full professor at Texas A&M University–Commerce and the editor-in-chief of ''Humor'', the journal for the International Society of Humor Research. He studied at Purdue University under Victor Raskin and extended Raskin's script-based semantic theory of humor (SSTH) into the general theory of verbal humor ( GTVH). He publishes in the field of humor in literature and is considered to be one of the top authorities in the area. He was born March 14, 1962, in Anderlecht, Belgium, to an Italian State Railways employee and a Belgian mother, living thereafter in Como, Italy, until adulthood. He has been a permanent resident of the United States since 1991. He has one daughter, Gaia, born in 1994. Attardo is a native speaker of Italian and French. He has served on the thesis and dissertation committees for other humor scholars, including Christian F. Hempelmann and Katrina Triezenberg. Education * Ph.D., 1991. Major: Linguistics/English. Purdue University, West La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction, for example, the term ''black comedy'' can also refer to a genre in which dark humor is a core component. Popular themes of the genre include death, crime, poverty, suicide, war, violence, terrorism, discrimination, disease, racism, sexism, and human sexuality. Black comedy differs from both blue comedy—which focuses more on crude topics such as nudity, sex, and Body fluids—and from straightforward obscenity. Whereas the term ''black comedy'' is a relatively broad term covering humor relating to many serious subjects, ''gallows humor'' tends to be used more specifical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dead Baby Jokes
Dead baby jokes are a joke cycle reflecting dark comedy. The joke is presented in riddle form, beginning with a what question and concluded with a grotesque punch line answer. History According to the folklorist scholar Alan Dundes, the dead baby joke cycle likely began in the early 1960s. Dundes theorizes that the origin of the dead baby joke lies in the rise of second-wave feminism in the U.S. during that decade and its rejection of the traditional societal role for women, which included support for legalized abortion and contraceptives. It has also been suggested that the jokes emerged in response to images of graphic violence, often involving infants, from the Vietnam War. Examples What's the difference between a truckload of dead babies and a truckload of bowling balls? ''With bowling balls you can't use pitchforks''. What's more fun than nailing a baby to a post? ''Ripping it off again''. What's bright blue, pink, and sizzles? ''A baby breastfeeding on an electrical ou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''.Taboo. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Retrieved 21 Mar. 2012 Such prohibitions are present in virtually all societies. Taboos may be prohibited explicitly, for example within a legal system or religion, or implicitly, for example by social norms or conventions followed by a particular culture or organization. Taboos are often meant to protect the individual, but there are other reasons for their development. An ecological or medical background is apparent in many, including some that are seen as religious or spiritual in origin. Taboos can help use a resource more efficiently, but when applied to only a subsection of the community they can also serve to suppress said subsection of the community. A taboo acknowledged by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Boskin
Joseph Boskin is professor emeritus of history and ethnic and urban studies at Boston University. His interests include American social history, popular culture, ethnicity, conflict and violence, and humor research. Education and work *B.A., State University of New York at Oswego, 1947-1951 *M.A., New York University, 1951-1952 *Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1954-1959 He has been with Boston University since 1969. Other professional associations include Director, Institute on Law and Urban Studies, Los Angeles, 1970-1971 and Editorial board of the International Journal of Humor Research. April Fools Day history Associated Press were fooled in 1983 when Boskin provided an "explanation" for the origins of April Fools' Day. After being pressed by a reporter, he invented the story that the practice originated in Emperor Constantine's period, when a group of court jesters jocularly told the emperor that jesters could do a better job of running the empire, and the amused emperor nomi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cruelty
Cruelty is the pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve violence, but affirmative violence is not necessary for an act to be cruel. For example, if a person is drowning and begging for help and another person is able to help with no cost or risk, but is merely watching with disinterest or perhaps mischievous amusement, that person is being cruel—rather than violent. George Eliot stated that "cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside itself; it only requires opportunity." Bertrand Russell stated that "the infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell." Gilbert K. Chesterton stated that "cruelty is, perhaps, the worst kind of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty." The word has metaphorical uses, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marc Abrahams
Marc Abrahams is the editor and co-founder of '' Annals of Improbable Research'', and the originator and master of ceremonies of the annual Ig Nobel Prize celebration. He was formerly editor of the ''Journal of Irreproducible Results''. Abrahams is married to Robin Abrahams, also known as "Miss Conduct", a columnist for the ''Boston Globe''. He graduated from Harvard College with a degree in applied mathematics. Bibliography Books written or edited by Abrahams include: * ''This Is Improbable'' () * ''The Ig Nobel Prizes'' () * ''Why Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans'' () * ''Sex As a Heap of Malfunctioning Rubble'' () * ''The Best of "Annals of Improbable Research"'' () * ''The Man Who Tried to Clone Himself'' () References External links Annals of Improbable Research(Abrahams' own account of JIR and AIR), ''The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Graham (poet)
Jocelyn Henry Clive 'Harry' Graham (23 December 1874 – 30 October 1936) was an English writer. He was a successful journalist and later, after distinguished military service, a leading lyricist for operettas and musical comedies, but he is now best remembered as a writer of humorous verse in a style of grotesquerie and black humour. Life Family and education Graham was the second son of Sir Henry Graham, KCBBlack, A & C"Graham, Captain Harry J. C." ''Who Was Who'' 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007, Retrieved 19 November 2008 (1842–1930), Clerk of the Parliaments, and his first wife, Lady Edith Elizabeth Gathorne-Hardy,Hogg, Jame"Graham, Jocelyn Henry Clive (1874–1936)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2006, Retrieved 19 November 2008 who died two weeks after Harry's birth. Graham's elder brother Ronald Graham entered the diplomatic service, becoming Ambassador to Italy (1921 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
