11-24-2004, 06:01 AM | #3 (permalink) |
Mjollnir Incarnate
Location: Lost in thought
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Maybe... it's some primitive instinct saying Yes! It's our chance to get ahead! Quick, while he's down! Or not...
I still have no idea why we laugh, except that it's good exercise and healthy for the mind (releases some chemical in the brain that's good for us). |
11-24-2004, 07:18 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Mad Philosopher
Location: Washington, DC
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Humor is essentially a means for bringing together a community; that's why the 'inside joke' is always one of the funniest. But in a sense, all jokes are 'inside jokes'; the famous 'Didja ever notice...' routine creates us as an in-group ("Yeah, we did notice..."), and presumes an out-group of people less smart than us, who did not notice. We laugh at prat-falls because 'we' are far more adroit than this guy.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht." "The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm." -- Friedrich Nietzsche |
11-25-2004, 01:18 AM | #10 (permalink) |
Crazy
Location: UK
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It's not only someone else's misfortunes though. How many times have you done something utterly idiotic (and perhaps painful) and laughed at yourself because of it?
I tend to find that timing is everything. Without a well-timed punch-line, a joke isn't so great. Same thing goes for physical slip-ups too. There's also the believability factor. The more incredible a mishap, the funnier it is, correct? I mean, how many people fall down drains every day? It can't happen too often, can it? So when it does, it's very funny indeed.
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Furry is the leader of his own cult, the "Furballs of Doom". They sit about chanting "Doom, Doom, Doom". (From a random shot in the dark by SirLance) |
11-25-2004, 01:42 AM | #12 (permalink) | |
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11-26-2004, 11:38 AM | #13 (permalink) |
Banned
Location: The Cosmos
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Meh, who's to say dogs don't laugh? It's not as if it would sound like our laugh.
I think laughing is a defense mechanism against tension and stress, we've simply learned to laugh at some things that would have normally caused us stress. It's a way to seperate ourselves from misfortune, which is good. It just happens some people have turned laughing into other more dubious experiences. |
11-28-2004, 10:59 AM | #14 (permalink) | |
Junkie
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The most important thing in this world is love. |
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11-28-2004, 02:23 PM | #16 (permalink) | |
Insane
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0PtIcAl |
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11-30-2004, 12:55 PM | #17 (permalink) | |
You're going to have to trust me!
Location: Massachusetts
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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. ---Aristotle Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me. ---John Fletcher |
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12-04-2004, 10:52 PM | #20 (permalink) |
Oh dear God he breeded
Location: Arizona
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To paraphrase R.A. Hienlien from Stranger in a Strange Land,
We laugh because we have to make the pain stop. If we didn't we, would would break down and cry from all the misfortune we see every day. Be it at ourselfs, or at another. It keeps the grief from everyday life overcomeing us.
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Bad spellers of the world untie!!! I am the one you warned me of I seem to have misplaced the bullet with your name on it, but I have a whole box addressed to occupant. |
12-14-2004, 11:03 AM | #21 (permalink) |
Insane
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We laugh because its one of the only free pleasures in this world. It releases endorphines (i think) well some chemical into the blood.
Has anyone else noticed that when someone is under a lot of stress they can suddenly burst out with hysterical laughter to the point of tears at something that just isnt as funny to anyone else - quite freaky when it reaches hysteria but I think its a way of your body getting it all out. if you were an alien watching someone laugh, it may even be quite scary to watch the sudden movement and loud outbursts, all that shaking etc, and women (but not men due to our owning a prostate gland) women can actually piss themselves with laughter. how about that one? methinks i'll start a thread about women pissing with laughter.
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'Everything that can be invented has been invented.- - 1899, Charles Duell, U.S. Office of Patents. 'There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.' - Ken Olson, 1977, Digital Equipment Corporation |
12-31-2004, 01:30 AM | #22 (permalink) |
Junkie
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Hmm... Heinlein once said that the main difference between other animals and humans is that we laugh. Twain said the main difference is that humans are the only ones who feel shame. Methinks Twain is wrong.
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The most important thing in this world is love. |
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