About jokes

Everyone loves a good joke!

Did you hear the one about the blonde who couldn't make ice because she didn’t know the recipe?
or
"My mother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She’s 97 now and we have no idea where she is."

Everyone loves a joke. Especially a funny joke. In the old days you had to have a friend tell you the latest joke or even call up Dial A Joke on your phone. Today, we have the Internet and not only can you find plenty of jokes there, but there are even entire sites where you can get big laughs, either as a visitor or as a someone sharing a personal favorite.

Laughter is truly good medicine and has proven health benefits. Perhaps that’s why we all love a good joke. But what makes a joke good and why are some jokes just not funny?

As we all know, humor is a very subjective thing. What is funny to one person isn’t necessarily funny to the next. This is even truer when it comes to jokes and humor in different cultures. For example, some people love British humor, such as Monty Python. Others can take it or leave it.
If you love a good joke, you may want to know why we think it’s funny. There are actually rules to follow in joke telling. They usually have four specific traits – timing, precision, synthesis and rhythm.

Timing is everything. You have to know when a joke is appropriate first off, and then you have to know how to deliver it. It needs to be precise as well. You want the joke to create images in the recipient’s mind, otherwise, they can’t identify with it. You also want it to be told in as few words as possible and still delivery maximum impact. This is known as synthesis. Finally, you need rhythm. Like poetry, a joke has a certain rhythm to it. It has to flow naturally.
We bet you didn’t know that a joke had so many rules, did you?

Even when all the rules are followed, a joke may not be funny at all. This could be because the reader didn’t identify with it or found it distasteful. But it can also be in how the joke is told. The whole goal of a joke is to set up a punch line. It’s the old “I didn’t see that coming!” that makes us chortle, guffaw and then roar.

Mankind has been writing jokes for centuries. It’s one of the oldest forms of communication and one of the most universal. Who hasn’t been in a crowd of strangers where a well placed and well told joke breaks the ice. Total strangers all suddenly have something in common, a funny joke. And from then on, the evening can be a laugh of minute.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be a joke writer to love or even tell jokes. There are plenty of resources out there to tickle your funny bone. All you have to do is do a quick search and find your favorite style of joke, from “You might be a redneck if…” to those time tested and always funny George Carlin one-liners, such as:

"You have to stay in shape. My mother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She’s 97 now and we have no idea where she is."

Ah, go ahead and laugh. It’s good for you!