Humor - is it a quality of the mind or its indicator? In any case, Henri Bergson, the French philosopher, said that humor is an anesthesia of the heart. The latter needs an explanation, which is quite simple: in order to see the funny, one must turn off the heart, stop feeling. Is this so, we will find out today, and at the same time we will analyze the question: “What is a joke?”.
A different approach to humor
All people joke from time to time. Some with a serious face, others signal in every possible way (wink, grimace) that the words they utter are humor. We can all understand the quality of humor. True, this or that assessment depends on the level of intelligence and aesthetic ideas. For example, if we take the living M. M. Zhvanetsky and the late M. N. Zadornov, then the former has a more sublime, honest and, perhaps, sad humor. And the second preferred to tell us, Russians, about the shortcomings of the Americans, as if reflecting, first of all, our everyday ignorance. But, he said, we do have a fantastic "reason". But it seemsthis is little consolation.
In one thing, the satirists are united: they almost never allowed themselves outright vulgarity. At least compared to the current generation of comedians. The latter, it seems, also castigate vices, but they laugh at not the smartest girls, glamor, the rich - in a word, at the obvious. Nevertheless, such diversity can be taken as an answer to the question: "What is a joke."
Meaning
And now let's ask the explanatory dictionary about the subject:
- What is said or done not seriously, for the sake of entertainment, fun; untrustworthy words.
- A little comic piece.
- "Jokes!" – expression of disapproval, doubt, surprise.
The last expression is ironic. For example: “Do you want you to buy cars for yourself, drive them, enjoy life, and give me a loan? Jokes!”
I must say that the second and third values were somehow lost in the flow of time. Little comic pieces are now rare, and the expression that we gave the third one seems to be forgotten now.
When they do not want to fulfill the whims of someone else's will, they say: "No, pipes!". The expression refers to a long-standing episode, which Herodotus brought to us. The main characters are a flutist and fish. The first wanted the latter to emerge from the sea to the sound of his pipe. But the fish, of course, did not come out, and the hero pulled them out of the water using a net. And they trembled in the nets, and the flutist told them that it was too late to dance, they should have done it earlier. But let the readerthinks that we are fooling him, it all belongs to the topic “What is a joke.”
Synonyms
There are complex words for which it is not so easy to find synonyms, but our case is not like that. Probably, even without us, everything is obvious. And yet, let's make a list so that the sufferers have it at hand:
- fun;
- trick;
- pungency;
- fun;
- fun;
- tomfoolery.
Not all synonyms made it to our list, we selected the most neutral definitions and allowed ourselves to only slightly update the list with the word "fun".
Good joke parameters
When the meaning of the word "joke" is sorted out, it is worth considering the details of how to joke correctly. But since no one knows exactly what a good joke consists of, we cannot say the exact algorithm. And if they could, they would probably have already conquered the world.
Joke is creativity, art, so there is always a secret in it, a mystery, some irreducible ingredient. No one knows how a masterpiece is born. Therefore, we define a good joke in a negative way. That is, it definitely should not be:
- humiliation of the honor and dignity of people (you can not laugh at appearance);
- aggression towards the weak (do not make fun of physical defects);
- contagious premature laughter (do not show where to laugh and cackle first like a horse).
And, of course, in everything, and especially in a joke, you need to observe the measure.
Readerwill say that it is impossible to take into account all the factors and they put the comedian in a difficult situation. Yes, it is, but who said that, firstly, at least someone observes these rules, and secondly, that good jokes are common. Masterpieces in all kinds of human activity are rare. Therefore, we remain calm and strive for the ideal through practice.
Phraseologism
As we understand, there is only one untouched problem - the meaning of "to be frightened in earnest." As an answer, you can offer the reader the adverb "seriously." But the idiom itself is appropriate when the situation of the draw is out of control. For example, the company joked, had fun and played, and then one decided to scare the others and began to balance on the windowsill. We think his friends instantly came to their senses and were frightened in earnest. But the situation described above is not universal. You can survive a real attack of fear without any foolishness. It's just that at first the person did not take something seriously, and then his opinion changed.
What does this say? It is important not only to understand what a joke is, but also its appropriateness or inappropriateness in each specific situation.
