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Humor in 60 seconds
15 May 2006 | Dr. Xanax

Posted on 05/15/2006 11:18:41 AM PDT by Dr. Xanax

What is the purpose of Humor or Laughter ?
It is very difficult to define humour or how it functions. First of all you need wit (cognitive experience) for good humour, then amusement/irony (emotional experience) and laughter (physiological experience). Laughter is often linked to humor, however, you will find that nervousness, tickling etc. does not have much to do with humor. The opposite holds also true where you have an instance of Humor without laughter. This may be because of social context or just the mood the “receiver” can be in. An example of such an instance can be when a person is experiencing stress, tension or fatigue with a sense of hopelessness – it is difficult to experience these feelings together with humor.

The act of laughter is also a very complex phenomenon. Laughter differs from standard speech in many ways. Laughter consists of a very wide variety of anatomical sources, more so than average speech. Laughter also occurs at a much higher pitch than everyday speech, where men often laughs within the vocal range of a female soprano singer! This is not always the case as laughter can also be expressed in grunts, giggles, chuckles and song-like sounds.

Humor can help us in many ways, it can replace distressing emotions with pleasurable feelings, soften the meaning so that the event is not that powerful and reduce stress by facilitating a shift in perspective. As the old saying goes - Laughter is the best medicine!


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Humor; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: comedy; funny; giggle; grunt; humor; laugh; laughter; pimpethmybloggeth; silly
What is the purpose of Humor or Laughter ?
1 posted on 05/15/2006 11:18:43 AM PDT by Dr. Xanax
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To: Dr. Xanax

BUMP!


2 posted on 05/15/2006 11:22:42 AM PDT by Publius6961 (Multiculturalism is the white flag of a dying country)
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To: Dr. Xanax

Welcome to Free Republic.


3 posted on 05/15/2006 11:27:17 AM PDT by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
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To: Dr. Xanax

That is some funny stuff!!!


4 posted on 05/15/2006 11:29:23 AM PDT by jdm
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To: Dr. Xanax
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
5 posted on 05/15/2006 11:29:43 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Slings and Arrows; martin_fierro; EveningStar; Xenalyte; BJClinton
Welcome to Coffee Talk I'm your host Linda Richman. On this show we talk about coffee, New York, dawters, dawgs, you know no big whoop just Coffee Talk.

There I go again I'm all verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you two--yes boobalas--TWO topics: The Partridge Family were neither Partridges nor a family and What is the purpose of humor or laughter? -- Discuss!


I'll give you time to contact the ping lists and talk amongst yourselves. There I feel better. Thank you.
6 posted on 05/15/2006 11:32:54 AM PDT by sully777 (wWBBD: What would Brian Boitano do?)
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To: martin_fierro
Hey, now, his blog is actually pretty funny!
7 posted on 05/15/2006 11:33:05 AM PDT by jdm
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To: Dr. Xanax

Welcome to FR.

8 posted on 05/15/2006 12:33:04 PM PDT by RedBeaconNY (If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at the people He gave it to.)
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To: Dr. Xanax

If you close your eyes and listen to some one crying or laughing, the sounds are quite similar.


9 posted on 05/15/2006 4:09:41 PM PDT by llevrok (When they come to take my guns, I will give them the lead first....)
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To: jdm

Thanks for the compliment!
Dr. Xanax
http://laughmesilly.blogspot.com


10 posted on 05/17/2006 11:13:23 AM PDT by Dr. Xanax
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To: llevrok

Yes, laughter and crying is the same emotion just on different ends of the spectrum.


11 posted on 05/17/2006 11:17:02 AM PDT by eastforker (Under Cover FReeper going dark(too much 24))
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To: Dr. Xanax; Cagey; Larry Lucido

That first one was pretty darn funny.


12 posted on 05/20/2006 6:15:49 PM PDT by MotleyGirl70 (Cooler than the other side of the pillow.)
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To: MotleyGirl70; Dr. Xanax

13 posted on 05/21/2006 2:05:20 PM PDT by Cagey
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