"you didn't get my joke!" - how do you deliver your humour?

[Montresor]

I see this a lot on this site. People slip a 1-liner in somewhere that's funny to them because it's ironic or, a pun, or like whatever.

Seems like 9 "jokes" out of 10 go unacknowledged or unnoticed. It's because the presentation is so subtle that anybody who does pick up on it is puzzled about whether it was even intentional.

Of course it happens more in real life than it would on a forum like this. It happens to me.

I think eye contact helps with delivery. If these jokes are made without eye contact they go unnoticed more often. Dry humour doesn't seem to appeal to everybody so it depends on what you want to get out of people.

In writing, it helps to use short paragraphs and punctuation. Proofreading works to your advantage but you don't want to over do it. Key is to make things easy to read.

Half the time I end up wishing I didn't say anything at all.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

It's more about having someone's attention rather than eye-contact.

I deadpan a lot in person. A lot of times a person's eyes will get a little bigger and I can see if they are struggling to decide if I meant it or not. I love doing that to people. I then give a subtle tip-off that I'm joking. An eye-jesture, a quick fake smile. Something like that.

 

[Starswirl]

I would first assume that this person was using Celsius. I hope.

 

[The Introvert]

I would first assume that this person was using Celsius. I hope.

*Silently nods*

Spoiler

It really is the most versatile gesture - you can use it in damn near any situation

 

[Montresor]

deadpan! cool i learned a new word

 

[The Gopher]

I have a funny feeling this was made due to one of my posts... but in the situation the poll is about the only correct answer (if you wish to remain social) is the first or maybe the last option. Even if it wasn't intended as a joke the (as long as it isn't a full blown laugh) laugh does make sense in at least an oh that's unfortunate way. (as long as the laugh wasn't unkind) For example the text to vocal based Heh laugh is very effective if you don't know if joke or not. Because if joke it is enough of a laugh to produce a smile in the person who made the joke presuming they joked in the first place however it is also not enough of a laugh as to confuse the person who made a statement.

..... now was that a joke....

 

[Da Blob]

Basically, humor is a masochistic defense mechanism. We laugh so we do not have to cry.

Telling jokes is a mildly sadistic form of social intercourse. If one is allowed to inflict pain, that results in smiles, rather than grimaces - then one is more likely to be amongst friends, than enemies.

Friends humor each other.

As far as humor over the internet, feedback is lacking, for neither smiles or grimaces are visible.

Luckily for we INTPians, we have a range of Smilies to substitute for such
:smiley_emoticons_mr

or

 

[just george]

I like to gently remind unfunny people who (try to) make jokes that they're going to be great dads, and refer them to ebay to search for the most expensive sense of humour they can afford. And to sell a kidney, if neccessary

 

[Da Blob]

Interesting concept that - "The expense/investment of a sense of humor"

Personally, my warped and battered sense of humor, has kept me from having to experience all sorts of pain, as pain. However, I have no idea of what it has cost me, although I do suspect losing one or more potential friendships...

 

[MissQuote]

If someone said "brr it's cold. It went from zero to freezing overnight."... At least it's warming up?

 

[MissQuote]

A joke like the one given as example would really rely a lot on the context of the person giving it. So the response would be vastly different depending on who's joke (or non joke) it was.

Depending on who said it, if someone I knew said that it could mean anything from being a definite joke meant to make me or others laugh told by someone who usually uses Fahrenheit only (meaning it got warmer but is still as cold as the a yeti's balls), a definite joke told by someone who usually uses Fahrenheit but is clever enough to know Celsius making the joke completely different than in the first case (they are trying to make you double take and see if you catch it), or it could be an idiotic statement by a ditzy air head who doesn't even know the system they are taught in school here.

The way I respond to a joke generally depends on the person telling it to me, I suppose.


My sixteen year old son, who is also an INTP, recently was giving me verbal bullet point on something and he made the slip of saying:

Firstly- blah blah

And B- blah blah

And Thir...wait..

Which is when I go "Oh! Did you.. was that a joke?" raising my eyebrows.

He pauses abruptly, points at me, groans under his breath, and says "No." very firmly "No. And I caught it right when you did... thank you. carrying on."

And continued with his list.

To me, this was goddamned hilarious. After he was done with his speech, he revisited his error and found it to be utterly hilarious as well.

 

[MissQuote]

Of course that is a typical thing we have all seen in a movie or whatever at some point, so it was really his reaction that amused me most.

 

[walfin]

Huh but 0 is also freezing in Celsius.

 

[Montresor]

If someone said "brr it's cold. It went from zero to freezing overnight."... At least it's warming up?

Actually it's not indicative of a warming or cooling trend in this context.

If you want a clearer picture of the scenario: I work construction, and I would label this person ESFP based on the Se and Fi characteristics he exhibits. That and a strong preference for P.

He announces one morning, when it's about -17 C (which happens to be very near 0 F), that "it's cold out!; it went from 0 to freezing overnight!"

So he was expressing that he finds it cold out, due to the extreme cooling trend that happened overnight.

But, as we know, 0 is freezing. That was my response. Plain and simple. A shift FROM 0 TO freezing is a paradox.

I thought it was funny! He thought I was being an ass... - as if I didn't actually know what me meant...

 

[Minuend]

Sometimes, the joke isn't funny =|

On this forum, I find it kinda ruins the flow of the joke if it's responded to in a OMG LOL kinda way. I never do that.

Mostly, though, the joke just isn't funny.

 

[Montresor]

Or maybe he was a mile ahead of me and I didn't even know it.

Maybe he meant it went from freezing (0 C) to 0 F (-17.7 C) overnight ... which it did in fact. He did spend some time in the USA after all.

I would never give somebody that much credit as an afterthought.

The main difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit is the slope of the graph. If we look at the simple formula y=mx+b ...

Celsius "m" =1
Fahrenheit "m" =1.8

Celsius "b" =0
Fahrenheit "b" =32


of course you could invert this formula but this^ is much simpler.

For Celsius we have x=y
And for every degree Celsius (x) we see F = 1.8x + 32

The lines intersect in one place only (of course, because they are linear), and that happens to be when x = -40.

 

[Montresor]

Quick edit:

The x axis is freezing point and the y axis represents 0 degrees for both scales.

 

[Toviyah]

I do this loads when I can't read people well / don't want to look like an idiot:

Heh *nods*...wait...isn't 0 freezing already?! I'm so confused...OHHH! It's a joke, hahah...(subconsciously trying to show humility with this I think) then I secretly resent people's awful sense of humour.

 

[Etheri]

Perhaps he was in a high pressure field ^-^

 

[Publius]

When I am attempting to be funny around a group of people, I tend to play the 'charmingly awkward' card and act self-deprecating.