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What’s So Funny About That?

  • Symposium: Global Laughter
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Abstract

This paper argues that it is impossible to know why we laugh. There are a number of theories that attempt to explain why we laugh but they all have limitations. It is possible, however, to know what makes us laugh and 45 techniques that inform humor are listed and used to analyze a number of humorous texts. These techniques can also be used to study the humor of different nations to determine which they favor and which they neglect, thus offering insights into national character.

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Further Reading

  • Berger, A. A. (Ed.). 1987. American Behavioral Scientist issue on “Humor, The Psyche, and Society”. Thousand Oaks, A: Sage Publications.

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  • Berger, A. A. 1993. An anatomy of humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

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  • Berger, A. A. 1995. Blind men and elephants: Perspectives on humor. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

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  • Berger, A. A. 1997a. The art of comedy writing. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

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  • Berger, A. A. 1997b. The genius of the Jewish joke. New York: Jason Aronson.

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  • Davies, C. 1990. Ethnic humor around the world. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

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  • Douglas, M. 1975. Implicit meanings: Essays in anthropology. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

  • Fry, W. 1963. Sweet madness: A study of humor. Palo Alto, CA: Pacific Books.

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  • Powell, C., & Paton, G. E. C. 1988. Humor in society: Resistance and control. New York: St. Martin’s.

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  • Ziv, A. (Ed.). 1986. Jewish humor. Tel Aviv: Papyrus/Tel Aviv University.

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  • Ziv, A. (Ed.). 1988. National styles of humor. New York: Greenwood.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Broadcast & Electronic Communication Arts, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94132, USA

    Arthur A. Berger

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  1. Arthur A. Berger
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Correspondence to Arthur A. Berger.

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Berger, A.A. What’s So Funny About That?. Soc 47, 6–10 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-009-9281-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-009-9281-y

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