From: Valence * (valence10@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Oct 04 2002 - 19:09:33 BST
Hey Erin,
Below is an article about the study you mentioned. The "world's funniest"
joke is at the end. I've actually read an expanded wersion of the study
(which I've been unable to relocate) that actually listed more of the jokes
from the study. Personally, I thought several of the others were much
funnier than the winner... My personal fav... "I want to die peacefully in
my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror, like his
passengers." You decide for yourself.
rick
Heard the one about jokes?
October 05 2002
By Tim Radford
London
Scientists believe they have found the world's funniest joke. The search
involved travel abroad, a website, 40,000 printable jests, more than two
million giggleometer ratings from 70 countries, a year's exhaustive
breakdown of humour by age, sex and nationality, and a brain scan of someone
listening to jokes. Boom boom.
Laughlab, an epic experiment set up more than a year ago, established that
the British, Irish, New Zealanders and Au1stralians prefer a play on words;
the French, Danes and Belgians have a taste for the surreal and Freudian;
and Americans and Canadians chuckle at jokes showing one group's superiority
over another. The Germans apparently have the broadest sense of humour - if
only because they have no national preference, and therefore find almost
anything funny. "It has been a fascinating year," said Richard Wiseman, a
psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, England, and founder of
Laughlab. "But if I hear one more joke I'm going to punch someone." The
study reached a climax on Thursday when a PhD student dressed as a giant
chicken unveiled the world's funniest joke before the cameras in Covent
Garden, London.
The winning joke, the product of ruthless international selection including
ratings by website visitors, was posted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31-year-old
psychiatrist from Manchester, England. This joke, according to Dr Wiseman,
appealed to all.
It also contained three key elements of humour: a sense of superiority, the
incongruity of the response, and the rueful feeling of mortality.
Dr Gosall said: "It makes people feel better . . . reminds you there's
always someone out there doing something more stupid than you."
It was one of a series read to a volunteer having a brain scan. With each
joke, an area of his pre-frontal cortex lit up revealing the brain's "funny
bone". There was also activation in the temporal lobe, an area linked to
memory, indicating recognition of an old joke.
"It fits, because if people have damage to that part of the frontal cortex
they lose their sense of humour," Dr Wiseman said.
There were other discoveries. In a study of British regional variation, the
Welsh found jokes funniest, the Scots least funny.
People with good frontal lobe activation (those who could accurately guess
the number of words on a page) tended to like complex jokes, whereas those
who could not guess the number of words went for jokes such as: "What day of
the week do fish hate?" "Fry-day."
Dr Wiseman also read out Laughlab's candidate for worst joke."Knock knock.
Who's there? Boo. Boo who? Don't cry." It must be confessed, it made his
listeners laugh.
The funniest joke:
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls
to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in
his head. The other guy whips out his mobile phone and calls the emergency
services.
He gasps to the operator: ''My friend is dead! What can I do?'' The
operator, in a calm soothing voice says: ''Just take it easy. I can help.
First, let's make sure he's dead.''
There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the
line. He says: ''OK, now what?''
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