That's so funny! ...isn't it?

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humour or US humor
Noun
1. the quality of being funny
2. the ability to appreciate or express things that are humorous: a sense of humour
3. situations, speech, or writings that are humorous
4. a state of mind; mood: in astoundingly good humour
5. Archaic any of various fluids in the body: aqueous humour

Nevermind no 5. But hey, I didn't know about that, you learn something new every day. It's come to my attention that it's sometimes hard for strangers to tell when I'm joking. It's called dry humor people! When a joke is told without the face or tone of voice giving away that it is in fact a joke.

An example from the beginning of the semester before last. Picture this, 10 students, drinking coffee at a table made out of stone talking about politics. It's agreed that the heart is to the left, meaning that nine of the people around the table has said their share about the topic and Vänsterpartiet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Party_(Sweden) ) is the political party they all favor, then the 10th student says "But I find Fredrik Reinfeldt so charming and his politics are so right for Sweden in this time, so I voted for Moderaterna" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderaterna) which is at the total opposite of the political spectra. Without giving anything away the 10th student takes a sip of coffee in silence and looks out the window feeling the sceptical eyes of the nine others when the air is still. Then the 10th student smirks and says "If you could see the looks on your faces, priceless!" Now all ten students are laughing in unity.

Unity must be the goal of humor and in the example the 10th student provided just that, the relief of laughter in a tense situation before everyone knows each other. Maybe I took it a step too far being coy and letting them hang for so long, but I can't resist. These people then got to know me and would see when I was joking if something didn't go with my persona.

I also have a sarcastic trait. I don't concider sarcasm mean at all, it's a language you have to be familiar with to understand however. I will push jokes hard and say semi-mean things with the excuse that it was "only" a joke but the truth is that our prejudices show in the jokes we tell. I don't mind making a mockery of myself for the sake of a laugh. I really don't take myself seriously enough to worry about that, the politics joke could have lasted for a week or two, I could have built on it by showing up in overly snobby clothes and started arguments and acted the part of a moderat. Actually, it's a bit suprising that I didn't.

That being said, I don't understand all kinds of humor. Well, saying that I don't understand might be too much, but I don't find all kinds of humor funny. I don't care for sitcoms at all, nor sexists jokes because I firmly believe that as long as the ideas behind those jokes exist, so will the jokes. Best get rid of them. Nor do I find the chicken fighting scene in Family guy funny, it's too lengthy. Jokes that take too long with no added substance is nothing but dull. There's an unwritten rule in stand up comedy that you must make your audience laugh within 20 seconds or you've lost them. I think being funny outside of a stage is a bit different though, your "audience" isn't always aware of that they are in fact that to you.

Humor is also about emotion, so I do understand that what's concidered funny sometimes goes hand in hand with what's taboo, but for the same reason I don't like sexist jokes I don't always find that funny either. What's funny to me is the slightly ironic and complicated, the things that take some thought, so I usually produce most of my jokes in the shape of riddles.

I find puns mildly amusing even though I'm close to unable to produce a successful pun myself. I like to see humor as a bit of connect the dots, you have to pay attention to catch what's funny. Close to everything can be turned into a joke if you look at it as a cliché, the bigbottomed ladies in hiphop videos can be hillarious to me, so can the fact that it always rains when the hero and heroine first kiss in sad movies. It's oh so sad/romantic/dramatic/scary, take your pick, and there I am giggling.

I also like goofy things, like speaking for my cats in strange voices, or a fish wearing a hat. In fact, I would find it more amusing than strange to walk down the street wearing a duck costume. I laugh at myself when I trip and fall, or when I make a mess of myself by spilling coffee and I'm still laughing when it ruins my notebook so that all the pages stick together. It's just so typical.

Does this mean I have no sense of humor? I doubt it. Does this mean I sometimes make fools of others for the sake of a laugh? It's been known to happen. But when I do so, it's usually because I find the person rather funny, under the same category as I do clichés. I take a piss at those who take themselves too seriously, or try to belittle me. My defense is always humor, and at times my object bites and I can push the joke even further. Does this mean I'm a bad person? No, it means I'm a good judge of character. Do I like to ask rhetorical questions? Oh, yes I do.

I also believe we have two ears and one mouth for a reason, we should always listen more than we talk. Who knows which funnies we're missing when we're yapping away...