To clarify, my 16-year-old self was less into laughing at misogyny and more into interpreting absolutely everything as some sort of sexual statement and laughing at that.
I think the funniness people find in "your mom" / "that's what she said" is a combination of incongruity-funniness and taboo-"funniness".
The first is a real sort of funniness, but it's a funny-once sort of funniness. Really good jokes of this sort sometimes fade into fond smiles -- I still enjoy seeing the shirt that says "Haikus are quite cool/But sometimes they don't make sense/Refrigerator", but I'd hate to be expected to laugh at it again.
The second is the basis of all potty humor by small children. It's usually most of the punch behind any discriminatory joke. It's not actually funny, but it contains words or concepts you're not supposed to say, so it's charged. This is really best exemplified by my niece's knock-knock joke ("Knock-knock." "Who's there?" "Poopy! *shriek of laughter*"). People who have gotten over the whole concept find it wearying; people who are still trying to understand the taboo at a basic level find it infinitely funny.
I hate the levels of social pressure that cause people who have grown beyond whatever taboo to respond to these sorts of jokes as if they were real jokes. I also hate how much of adult humor is this equivalent to potty humor -- can't we do something more interesting with our time?
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Date: 2010-08-23 02:55 pm (UTC)I think the funniness people find in "your mom" / "that's what she said" is a combination of incongruity-funniness and taboo-"funniness".
The first is a real sort of funniness, but it's a funny-once sort of funniness. Really good jokes of this sort sometimes fade into fond smiles -- I still enjoy seeing the shirt that says "Haikus are quite cool/But sometimes they don't make sense/Refrigerator", but I'd hate to be expected to laugh at it again.
The second is the basis of all potty humor by small children. It's usually most of the punch behind any discriminatory joke. It's not actually funny, but it contains words or concepts you're not supposed to say, so it's charged. This is really best exemplified by my niece's knock-knock joke ("Knock-knock." "Who's there?" "Poopy! *shriek of laughter*"). People who have gotten over the whole concept find it wearying; people who are still trying to understand the taboo at a basic level find it infinitely funny.
I hate the levels of social pressure that cause people who have grown beyond whatever taboo to respond to these sorts of jokes as if they were real jokes. I also hate how much of adult humor is this equivalent to potty humor -- can't we do something more interesting with our time?