Inherently funny word
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The belief that certain words are inherently funny, for reasons ranging from onomatopoeia to sexual innuendo, is widespread among people who work in humor. Opinions vary widely regarding this idea; there is no generally-agreed-upon list of funny words and some people consider it to be a meaningless or nonsensical concept.
Cultural variation
The concept of inherent humor appears to be heavily dependent on culture.
Yiddish and
German words, for example, are a staple of humor in
American English, in particular those that begin with the
/ʃ/ ("sh") sound, spelled
sch- (or sometimes
sh- in Yiddish). Take for example the derisive prefix
shm- or
schm-, as in "
Oedipus schmoedipus!" Similarly, texts in
Dutch often seem comical to English-speaking readers, perhaps because much written Dutch is partially intelligible but curiously spelled from an English-language
point of view. The Dutch, on the other hand, consider
Swedish to be a very funny language. For speakers of English, most
Slavic languages are funny, probably due to the excess of
fricative and
affricate sounds. Surprisingly enough, speakers of Slavic languages themselves find all other Slavic languages utterly
hilarious, for instance
Czech language is side-splitting for
Poles and
Belarussians, largely because many perfectly ordinary Czech words sound similar to diminutives in those languages. Czechs and Slovaks also find Polish expressions hilarious, not because
they sound like diminutives, but because they sound silly. Jokes
featuring real or faux-Polish words exist in the Slovak and Czech languages.
It has been determined using the comparative method that the Finnish language developed the sound Ö [ø] relatively recently to introduce a fronted counterpart to [o], in line with [a] - [æ] and [u] - [y]. Moreover, the new sound has found use mostly in words considered by many to be derisive or amusing. For example, the reason the vowel /ö/ was originally used for the word pöllö "owl" was to make it sound stupid, since the Finnish mythology and folklore always presents the owl as a stupid animal. Most words meaning "stupid" contain /ø/, e.g. hölmö, pöhkö, höhlä, höperö, pöpi. [link] [link] Words with front vowels, especially with [ø], are inherently funny, or derisive, e.g. älä hölise ja kälätä "don't talk nonsense and babble". In Finnic linguistics, the term "expressive" is often used. One can consider words such as jööti "gross chunk" or "törkeä" obscene, aggravated (legal). Words that contain either <ö> or <öö> and are neutral-sounding are uncommon. Notice that this doesn't apply to the diphthongs <öy> and , which have developed from earlier sounds, and are not inherently funny.
English language
Comedy
Some influential comedians have long regarded certain words in the English language as being inherently funny and have used these to enhance the humor of their comic routines.
By propagating the idea that the words used are funny, comedy routines may increase the comedy potential of the words by adding another level of comic association.
For example, the radio panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue includes an occasional round called "Straight Face", in which the panelists take turns to say a single word each. A player is eliminated from the game if anyone in the audience laughs at their word ("even the merest titter"). The winner is the last player standing. The fact that this game works, and that it is possible to predict more or less accurately which words are safe to use and which are unsafe, can be construed as evidence that the phenomenon is real.
It is part of the mythology of actors and writers that the consonant plosives (so called because they start suddenly or "explosively"); that is: p, b, t, d, k, and g are the funniest sounds in the English language - particularly when found in short words since these "create the greatest tension" (tension being a key to comedy). Example: Underpants would be funnier than underwear. Shorter words are held to "create tension" because separating words from the normal flow of speech is very difficult cognitively, and it's more difficult to discern whether a short word has ended or not.
Additionally, the meaning of the word certainly plays a factor. Duck is funny in nearly every language, presumably because ducks are seen as a silly animal, as shown by Richard Wiseman's LaughLab experiment. Additionally, when taboos are associated with certain words, that can make a word humorous. The ideal funny word, then, would have the proper linguistic characteristics, a humorous meaning, and be well fitting the context of the situation and the character of the speaker.
Unresolved questions about inherently funny words include:
- Are there any known physiological or linguistic reasons for why these words are funny?
- Are the funny sounds the same in other languages?
Funny numbers
Some comedians even maintain that certain numbers are funnier than others, although they tend to rely on context to set up an expectation of size or exactitude. Numbers that are oddly exact (such as the Car Talk standard prize of a gift certificate for 26 dollars) or of an order of magnitude different from what is expected (such as Dr. Evil's ransom demand for one million dollars to avert nuclear destruction in ) can be amusing. The idea that the answer to the "ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything" is 42 is funny, according to author Douglas Adams, because it is an "ordinary, smallish" number, whereas numbers relating to space tend to be extremely large or extremely small and exact to many decimal places.
Additionally, there is a concept in comedy of the "rule of three,"[link] which suggests that things in threes are funnier or more satisfying than other numbers of things. Specifically, maximum humor can be attained by creating a structure in which a joke is set up, the set up is reinforced, and the punchline breaks the pattern.
Examples of references to the concept
- The BBC Radio Four panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue occasionally plays a game in which the contestants have to say random words that do not provoke the (easily provoked) audience to laugh. The words theodolite and plinth almost always produce laughter.
- In Neil Simon's play The Sunshine Boys, a character says: "Words with a k in it are funny. Alka-Seltzer is funny. Chicken is funny. Pickle is funny. All with a k. Ls are not funny. Ms are not funny."
- An episode of King of the Hill has Bobby recounting the above quote to his father, Hank.
- In an article in the New Yorker published in 1948, H. L. Mencken argues that "k words" are funny: "K, for some occult reason, has always appealed to the oafish risibles of the American plain people, and its presence in the names of many ... places has helped to make them joke towns ... for example, Kankakee, Kalamazoo, Hoboken, Hohokus, Yonkers, Squeedunk, Stinktown (the original name of Chicago), and Brooklyn."
- The episode "The Outrageous Okona" features Joe Piscopo as a comedian who, in attempting to teach the android Data the concept of humor, refers to words ending in a k as funny.
- In Monty Python sketches:
- * Monty Python's "Woody and Tinny Words" sketch finds humor in the pure sounds of English words and their inherent "woodiness" (good) or "tinniness" (bad).
- * Another Monty Python sketch, "Are You Embarrassed Easily?", includes a humorous list of words: shoe, megaphone, grunties, Wankel rotary engine.
- * The sketch Election Night Special relays the results of elections involving the Sensible Party, Silly Party, Slightly Silly Party, and Very Silly Party. One candidate running for the Silly Party is named Jethro Q. Walrustitty.
- * The comedy movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail features a band of knights - the Knights who say Ni, who are said to be feared for the manner in which they utter the word "Ni" (pronounced [niː]). The knights protect the word along with "Peng" and "Neee-whom", and hearing these words being spoken, is supposed to be horrifying to the listener. The knights later become the Knights of an odd string of syllables (which could be spelt Ecky-ecky-ecky-ecky-p'tang-zoo-boing-goodem-zu-owly-zhiv). Because of the challenging pronunciation, King Arthur, the lead character of the movie, simply refers to them as "The Knights who until recently said Ni".
- *Llama is another word portrayed as inherently funny. In one skit a group of Spanish musicians enters a room adorned with llama pictures and tells the audience facts about the llama. In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the opening credits claim the film to be produced by various groups of llamas and directed by Larry the Wonder Llama.
- Dave Barry's 1991 book Dave Barry Talks Back reprints a column on linguistic humor. He contrasts the phrases "Richard Nixon wearing a necktie" with "Richard Nixon wearing a neck weasel", and "Scientists have discovered a 23rd moon orbiting Jupiter" with "Scientists have discovered a giant weasel orbiting Jupiter." He concludes that weasel is a very funny word - "You can improve the humor value of almost any situation by injecting a weasel into it."
- In a similar vein, an old Internet phenomenon involved taking lines from the Star Wars movies and replacing one word from the line with the word "pants", with comedic effect. [link] This suggests that "pants" may be an inherently funny word.
- In The Simpsons:
- * In the episode "Homie the Clown", Krusty the Clown tells Homer during a lesson at his clown college: "Memorize these funny place names: Walla Walla, Keokuk, Cucamonga, Seattle."
- * In another episode, Krusty the Clown paralyzes his vocal cords when he tries to cram in too many "Comedy K's".
- Comedian George Carlin talks about kumquats, succotash and guacamole in his older routines.
- In the December 21, 1989 Dilbert comic strip, Dilbert uses his computer to determine the funniest words in the world, coming up with chainsaw, weasel, prune, and any reference to Gilligan's Island.
- The word duck is sometimes called the funniest word in the English language. This was popularized by the Marx Brothers comedies The Cocoanuts (featuring their "Why a Duck" routine) and Duck Soup. Comedian Joe Penner's famous "Wanna buy a duck?" routine of the 1930s is another example. This effect might have more to do with the actual animal than the English word for it, as in 2002, after conducting a scientific cross-cultural joke experiment known as LaughLab, psychologist Richard Wiseman concluded that ducks are funny in all the studied countries: "If you're going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a duck." [link]
- RMS has called "gnu" the funniest word in the English language.
- "Turtle, by the way, is a very funny word." —Roger Ebert, review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Comedian Ron White, in routines such as "They Call Me 'Tater Salad'", emphasizes the c in public to draw laughter from the audience, in addition to the use of the word tater.
- On Gilmore Girls, Lorelai Gilmore posits that "oy" is the funniest word ever and poodle is also very funny, and creates what she considers a wonderful catchphrase, "Oy with the poodles, already."
- There is a Usenet newsgroup called alt.spleen, which has its own [alt.spleen FAQ], since spleen is often thought of as an inherently funny word; The Spleen is also the name of one of the comic superheroes in the film Mystery Men.
- In the comic strip Pickles by Brian Crane, the word snood was presented as an inherently funny word.
- In his DVD commentaries, Simpsons creator Matt Groening has proclaimed the word underpants to be at least 15% funnier than the word underwear. This idea is based on a theory by Futurama writer Ken Keeler. In the show Futurama, underpants is almost always used in lieu of "underwear."
- The Darkover game produced by Eon Games simulates the "psychic combat" of the Darkover novels by having the players choose a word or phrase and then repeat it over and over; the first player to laugh loses the psychic combat.
- Saturday Night Live writer Bryan Tucker has avowed that Monkey always elicits a laugh.
- In an episode of the sitcom That 70s Show entitled "Eric's Stash", the character Michael Kelso, during a round of pot-smoking, repeatedly says, "You know what’s a funny word? Pickleweasel!"
- The skit/song "Bulbous Bouffant", performed by The Vestibules and picked up by Dr. Demento, is a routine based entirely on inherently funny words like galoshes, spatula, and tuberculosis.
- David Letterman has frequently used pants as a subject of humor, from screaming out "I am not wearing pants!" over a megahorn during the Today Show to naming his production company Worldwide Pants Incorporated.
- In the Sim City family of games, there are several references to seemingly random words.
- *In Sim City 3000 the news ticker includes many humorous or absurd items frequently including the words llama and broccoli.
- *Sim City 4 also includes news bits in which llama and other words may be found inherently funny
- In Episode 18 of Sideshow, a visit to the "National Institute of What's Funny" includes a study of inherently funny words.
- In the short lived sitcom Andy Richter Controls The Universe one employee expresses distaste for eating with "sporks, fifes and knifoons"
Funny nonsense words
Sometimes words are invented with a specific purpose to make them funny.
- A classical example would be the Jabberwocky poem, whose rich set of nonce words, while evoking various emotions, has quite a few inherently funny ones.
- The radio comedy Round the Horne came up with the inherently funny word Gruntfuttock.
- Spike Milligan's Goon Show scripts often include funny nonsense words, such as spon, ploogie, plinge, lurgi and needle nardle noo.
- Rich Hall's sniglets, a regular feature on the 1980s HBO show Not Necessarily the News, are a good example. Hall defines sniglets as words that should be in the dictionary but aren't, for example "toastaphobia", the fear of sticking a metallic utensil into a toaster even if it is unplugged.
Context-dependent funny words
The notion of the "inherently funny" word should not be confused with situations when a certain
word sounds funny when unexpectedly used in an inappropriate situation. For example, the comic book, animation, and live action absurdist superhero The Tick, when required to choose a battle cry, chooses Spoon!!
References
- Barry, Dave (1991), Dave Barry Talks Back, 1st edn., New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-58546-4.
- The Power of the Plosive, Tips & Tactics, 1st Quarter 1999, The Naming Newsletter, Rivkin and Associates [link]
- H. L. Mencken, "The Podunk Mystery," The New Yorker, September 25, 1948.
See also
External links
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