Funny Thing
Humour is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness that some things are really important,
others not; and that the two kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.
- Christopher Morley
Animals Laugh, Too - when rats are playfully tickled, they chirp and bond socially with their human tickler. And they seem to like it, seeking to
be tickled more... |
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You Think That's Funny? - What is laughter? According to Darwin’s treatise “On the Expression of Emotion in Men and Animals”, it is a
civilised form of a primitive lethal instinct, a sublimation of the ancient urge to kill. According to Jonathan Miller, a doctor and comedian, it is a respiratory
convulsion over which we have little control. |
That's a Laugh - Different societies find different things funny. So do
different generations within a society. There's a fine line between comedy and tragedy, the funny and the sad, between
what makes us laugh and what makes us cry, between pleasure and pain... |
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Spoon Feeding - "...I looked around the room and all the waiters and busboys had spoons in their pockets..." |
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Tickets Please - "God, please help me: I've lost my business and if I don't get some money, I'm going to lose my house as well. Please let
me win the Lotto..." |
You're Joking! - What you laugh at reveals something very personal about you... |
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Pressing My Buttons - "This may be the only chance you'll get to catch your breath during this hectic day. Press 1 to keep holding."... |
Memo to EMS Units - Emergency Medical Service narratives have taken a decidedly creative direction: HAZMAT teams are highly-trained
professionals, not "glow worms"... |
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Sport Utility Boxes - Some peopke are turning ugly utility boxes on public streets into works of art. Find those people and
thank them... |
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Pretty Good Jokes - "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about
you?"... |
End to End - "Sometimes I feel that I have the worst job in the world!"... |
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Creative Thinking - "Bob, I didn't realise you pushed the envelope, raised the bar, and thought outside the box"... |
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Email from Hell - In addition to ongoing investigations, reports have been filed with the FBI and other law enforcement
agencies. Unfortunately, your e-mail address and related mail are being archived automatically in files for possible use in the investigations to apprehend the criminal
offenders... |
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Life's Little Instruction Book Excerpts - Leave change where a child can find it. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve
immortality. When travelling the back roads, stop whenever you see a sign that reads "Honey for Sale"... |
Open the Window - You know what they call Windows 95, don'tcha?; also a photo of Microsoft employees - in 1978... |
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The Best Advice I Ever Received - When I was 13, my father took me aside and told me that all a girl needed to know to get by in
life was written on the top of a mayonnaise jar... |
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You Need It When?! - This is a special calendar which has been developed for handling rush jobs... |
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What Do They Look Like? - ...In the early morning calm, a rustle of wings suddenly erupts near the medicine boats. "A sonological
pattern consistent with the aerial movement of ducks!" shouts the chief resident... |
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