Science cracks secret of world’s funniest joke

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I’ve read the following article in The Times of last Friday. It demonstrates that science can actually be interesting. Take some time to read it, it gives you a whole new perspective about humor.

Science cracks secret of world’s funniest joke

By Mark Henderson Science Correspondent

The best joke on Earth?
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 cell 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?"

or the worst?
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Boo."
"Boo who?"
"Don't cry!"

The world's funniest joke, and the world's lamest attempt at humour, have been revealed by the largest participatory scientific experiment in history. The final results of the Laugh Lab project, which has won a place in The Guinness Book of Records after telling 30,000 jokes to almost two million people, says that a gag by a Manchester psychiatrist is the best in the world.

But professional comedians have little to fear from the winner, Gurpal Gosall, 31, who first heard the joke at medical school. It scored an approval rating of 65 per cent, according to the study, which asked internet users to submit their best jokes and rate five others from a database of previous entries. All the jokes were in English, and about 10,000 entries were rejected for being smutty, in poor taste or libellous.

The winning joke scored so well because of a similar appeal to both sexes, to all ages, and to many different national senses of humor, according to Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at Hertfordshire University, who led the research. "Many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people, but this one had universal appeal," he said. "Also, we find jokes funny for lots of different reasons: they sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking situations, or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contains all three elements: we feel superior to the stupid hunter, realise the incongruity of him misunderstanding the operator and the joke helps us to laugh about our concerns about our own mortality."

The worst joke submitted, also British, had none of these elements. Only marginally more amusing was:
"What does pride come before?" "Of lions."

The yearlong study, which was run in conjunction with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, also revealed marked national and regional differences. People from Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand preferred puns and word-play, while many European countries, particularly France, Denmark and Belgium, liked Surrealism. Americans and Canadians went for jokes told at someone's expense. An American favorite was:
Texan: "Where are you from? "
Harvard graduate: "I come from a place where we do not end our sentences with prepositions. "
Texan: "OK, where are you from, jackass?"

The striking exception to this rule was found in Germany, where almost anything raised a laugh. Germans were more likely than any nationality to judge jokes as "very funny", often when they were nothing of the kind. "We don't really know if that shows that Germans have a better sense of humor, or whether it's so poor that they will find anything funny," Dr Wiseman said. "The effect was definitely real, though. When we went to Berlin for field-work, they found the jokes hilarious, even ones that I didn't think were funny at all."

Of the 70 nations from which responses were received, the oddest sense of humor came from Japan. "We really struggled there," Dr Wiseman said. "They just don't have a culture of telling jokes like we do. Their humor seems to be much more visual. They just didn't find things funny."

In the UK, the Welsh were the most easily amused, followed by the English and Northern Irish. Scots lived up to their dour reputation and were least likely to laugh.

Many of the jokes were about animals, allowing Dr Wiseman's team to establish that ducks are officially the funniest creatures.

Researchers also scanned the brain of a volunteer while reading the winning entry, confirming that the pre-frontal cortex, a region involved in processing ambiguities, is heavily responsible for our understanding of humour.

Dr Wiseman does not intend repeating the project. "It’s been a fascinating year, but if I hear one more joke, I think I'll punch someone," he said. "I've had enough of it."

Humor round the globe
Canada
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, under water, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300C. The Russians used a pencil.

Scotland
I want to die peacefully
in my sleep like my
grandfather. Not screaming
in terror like his passengers.

Belgium
Why do ducks have webbed feet?
To stamp out fires.
Why do elephants have flat feet?
To stamp out burning ducks.

Germany (no, really)
A general noticed one of his soldiers behaving oddly. The soldier would pick up any piece of paper he found, frown and say: "That's not it" and put it down again. This went on for some time, until the general arranged to have the soldier psychologically tested. The psychologist concluded that the soldier was deranged, and wrote out his discharge from the army. The soldier picked it up, smiled and said: "That's it."

France
An alsatian went to a telegram office, took out a blank form and wrote: "Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof." The clerk examined the paper and politely told the dog: "There are only nine words here. You could send another 'Woof’ for the same price." "But," the dog replied, "that would make no sense at all."

England
Two weasels are sitting on a barstool.
One starts to insult the other one.
He screams: “I slept with your mother!"
The bar gets quiet as everyone listens to see what the other weasel will do.
The first again yells: "I SLEPT WITH YOUR MOTHER!"
The other says, "Go home Dad, you're drunk."

The United States
A man and a friend are playing golf one day at their local course. One of the guys is about to chip on to the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the fairway. He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer. His friend says: "Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You truly are a kind man." The man replies: "Yeah, well we were married 35 years."

[ October 08, 2002, 21:47: Message edited by: Silverblade ]

 

Damn man, if that is the world's funniest joke, I wouldn't want to hear the others... But the one with the dog cracked me up bigtime...

 

What ever happened to
"Why did the chicken cross the road ??
To see his flat mate"



And why on earth isn`t Australia`s most loved joke in there ?? I feel left out..

[ October 10, 2002, 23:43: Message edited by: MagusWizardo ]

 

I liked the one from England and the one from Canada, in that order...guess I don't think as American as I thought I did

 

I like the one from Scotland, but I am a severly morbid person... mommy said I was "warped."

 

My favourite joke is:
A sausage and an egg were in a frying pan the sausage says "Cor! Its hot in here!" and the egg says "Wow!! A talking sausage!!"

 

I loved the beligum one hehe i got such a great mental image of a burning daffy duck being flattened by dumbo

 

Burning Ducks

I like the Canadian one ... that's so true. Americans constantly throw technology at issues.

Burning Ducks ... I'm still giggling!

 

Burning ducks? I thought that wasn't funny at all.

I like the Scottish, Canadian and the American jokes. But I laughed the most from the "best" joke.