Humor. Humor has always been kind of a funny thing to me.
I like laughing, that’s for sure. I enjoy reading and hearing funny people. Then I try to be funny. That doesn’t always work so well. Maybe its that I’ve been living in the house with step-teens for the last ten years. Before that, a teen girl of my own. Somehow what I think is funny gets turned into “weird.”
An old friend used to say, “If ten people tell you you’re dead, might as well lay down and close your eyes.” I apply this to myself when I think about whether I’m funny or not!
So, I look to others for humor. I’m the deep one, I guess, just made that way.
Humor is good medicine, though. Scientific research shows great support for this assertion (click here for an example to get you started). The Bible even says so (click for Proverbs 17:22)! When we experience joy, happiness and laughter, our bodies (all the cells!) are awash in chemicals (natural chemicals, free!) that fight disease and promote health.
It would stand to reason, then, that its always a good idea to make fun. Sometimes, though, people take the ribbing a little too far. It’s kind of embarrassing when that happens! Suddenly the room gets quiet. Everyone realizes the joke is beyond funny and someone’s feelings just got smushed. Oops, party’s over. There’s a time, a place and a degree to funny. Like I said, humor is a funny thing.
I wonder if this has anything to do with why I’m a little afraid of trying to be funny. As an INFP (click here for description, see ‘paisley1’s comment), I can’t help but be aware of what others are feeling; I’m like the “empath” on the old Star Trek!
The Empath from Star Trek, episode 67, 1968
Really! Ridiculously so. However, it’s more likely because so many of my attempts at humor just fall to the floor with a ‘ba-dum-dump!’ I get teased ALOT around my house for my inane attempts at humor. So far, though, I haven’t given up. Its so good when I can get to the place where I can laugh and make light of a heavy situation. Humor is just too good of medicine to give up on. I don’t even mind if the joke is on me, I’ll laugh at myself if that’s all that’s funny.
So in that light, I applaud Jason Headley for this hilarious little clip that turns the tables a bit. Take a moment and watch it before you read more, please!
Jason Headley It’s Not About the Nail
Touché Jason!
Uh, oh, was this okay? I just joked on my own gender! You know, ever since Gloria Steinham helped forge the way for women to stand up to mistreatment, inequality and sexual harassment, it has become politically correct to make fun of men, insult them, talk over them and just generally disrespect them. Watch any sitcom, listen to a female comedian’s stand-up routine, hang out with your girlfriends, you’ll hear it! Men have taken a lot of ribbing the last 50 or 60 years. I think we women have healed from our previous oppressions enough to laugh at ourselves on this one.
It’s time we begin to listen too. It’s time we look to see the nail in our heads, right there in the frontal lobe region (responsible for executive thinking, forethought, etc.) and then also have a little appreciation for the amazing vision and insight our men friends bring! Maybe even (shudder) some R-E-S-P-E-C-T (just a little bit)?
Hmmm. Wouldn’t you know it? I had been working on this post with spare moments for a few days, and before I could finish it, draft saved right at that nasty seven letter word (Aretha’s song in my head), it happened. My dear sweet husband tried to point out and remove a nail in MY head. Oh, its happened before. We’ve gotten past it, to the point of making fun of ourselves. But when it happens, its no fun. . . for either of us! Even after talking it through (or should I say getting through points A through E–from anger to seething to reluctantly talking to ranting to quieter talking to agreeing to disagree– it was still kind of a flat day recuperating from the emotions. Then, at the end of the day, I return to my writing, and here is this draft, waiting to be finished. Right at RESPECT. I had to laugh.
Okay, honey, I will make a serious attempt to solve the problem the way you so obviously see is correct. I will. Really! Oh, and thanks for trying to make me laugh earlier even though all I would give you was an eye twinkle and half a smile.
©Joan T Warren
Joan T. Warren: Heart to Heart 
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Thanks for the pingback! Hope you get that lawn mowed, and the baby someday!
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Actually, that was funny of you! Thanks for the pingback…
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I see my comment is awaiting moderation – I’ve been misunderstood again (little yellow face with a big grin that leans slightly to the left) (how the hell do people get those smiley faces) (actually I don’t mind typing out a description instead, it’s more humorous (little yellow face with a cheeky smile and a wink))
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I have no idea how its done, it’s most likely a minor miracle, or perhaps some sort of white witchery from Internet Spirit World. I simply type in a semicolon, a dash and a right parentheses and it happens quite mysteriously! 😉
I totally get you about the animal laughter thing, really! No, really!! My dog laughs by shaking her leg uncontrollably when her tummy is tickled but other than that she doesn’t seem to think much outside of “throw it, throw it, throw it, throw it!”
Scientists actually spend time doing double-blind random studies to convince us that laughter is good medicine. So, as a health professional I can feel totally at ease with the whole thing. Shew, good thing there’s science behind it! Otherwise we might never laugh, right?
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There was no delay intended on moderating your comment, it must have been stuck in some intergalactic interference, as it just showed up in my inbox today!
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it’s ok, I only wrote it today…. I was just trying to be humorous..
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Try, try again! 🙂 you were, I just had this strange little blip in my brain where I thought it was the 28th of July.
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Hi Joan, another excellent post. As you probably suspected from visiting my blog; I like to try and be humorous now and again, whether I succeed or not is a matter of opinion, but I consider humour to be a very important aspect of life. In fact I do think about it quite a lot, I find it fascinating in terms of the universe because in evolution it would appear to be totally unnecessary and merely a bonus that comes with intelligence. One of the many questions I ponder now and again is do animals have any sense of humour at all and although various research suggests that some animals do laugh it seems that they have no concept of humour as such. Rats laugh allegedly, but it seems to be more of a social interaction and not based on finding something funny, although when they laugh it has the same chemical effect on their bodies and brains as occurs when us humans laugh, so perhaps laughter serves a purpose in some senses. When I asked some random person in an internet chat room if animals had a sense of humour they replied by saying, “my cat thinks its hilarious to shit everywhere”
I love humour and I love making people laugh but also like you were saying, sometimes I think people misunderstand it. But you can’t please everyone, perhaps I use the humour card too much but I’d rather that than not enough. I go to some peoples blogs and it’s just so serious, it’s worrying. I left a lovely message on someones blog saying how good it was, and then I said “If blogs were insects, yours would be a wasp” because it was yellow and black…. she was less than pleased and told me so in no uncertain terms. I was only trying to be funny, but it was like I had painted her cat blue and red….. hang on that’s another time when I did paint someones cat blue and red… Humour gets misinterpreted sometimes and therefore has the exact opposite effect of what was originally intended, but ultimately I’d rather keep trying because when it is successful the benefits are immense. So I applaud you in your steadfast determination to continue to try and be humorous. Take care for now, all the best, Mark.
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