Joke Stand 😂
All jokes deliver an impact because they bring laughter, joy, and happiness.
It’s always helpful to know where things come from. A bit of history can give us more insight into how to use our knowledge. Here is a bit more information about jokes and humor and how culture plays a role:
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🤣 Haha History
Humor casts an unexpected light on life throughout periods of time. We can learn much about the social and cultural history of people by examining what made people laugh.
“The joke is sometimes said to have been invented by Palamedes, the hero of Greek legend who outwitted Odysseus on the eve of the Trojan War. But since this proverbially ingenious fellow is also credited with inventing numbers, the alphabet, lighthouses, dice, and the practice of eating meals at regular intervals, the claim should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.” (1)
(1) This quote is reprinted from - Stop Me if You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes, by Jim Holt. Copyright (c) 2008 by Jim Holt. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
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🌎 Culture plays a big part in our sense of humor. Social norms - that means the unwritten rules of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that are considered acceptable in a particular social group or culture - take shape in different countries and that also plays a big part in what makes people around the world laugh. Check out some of the popular funny styles across the world:
Japan: The Japanese tell long, comical stories, called Rakugo that feature foolish characters and awkward social faux pas.
Korea: Koreans put on acts and like to make observations about others.
China: The Chinese uses characters that change their meaning depending on the grammatical context so humor is often found in the puns in their writing.
United States: American humor plays on the absurdity of seemingly normal events.
Argentine: Argentinians find humor in their national identity and history.
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Satire: Humor that is used to make fun of and often show the weaknesses of someone or something. Satire often points out ironic or bad things that powerful people are doing. The Shrek movies are a great example of the use of satire because it makes fun of fairytales.
Irony: Irony is when something happens that is the opposite from what is expected. Irony can be categorized into different types, including verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony. One example is if a robber steals valuables from a police station (this is situational irony).
Parody: A parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. The word comes from the Greek paroidía, meaning “a song sung alongside another.” An example of a parody is the movie Spaceballs which is a parody of the Star Wars movies.
Joke: A joke is something said or done to cause laughter. It is meant to be brief - a short sentence or story with an explosion of word play or pun.
A pun is a type of joke is a form of wordplay that makes use of the multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, to create a humorous or rhetorical effect. It’s an old formula for a joke and one that is popular in the United States.
Here is an example of a pun joke:
Why are teddy bears never hungry? They are always stuffed!
Care Plan Prompt
There is a proverbial message that says “laughter is the best medicine” which is a metaphor that means that there are health benefits to spreading humor.
Stands are used often to raise money for organizations - lemonade stand, bake sale stand, etc. Why not create a joke stand?
Here is a great story that talks in detail about how these kids’ used a joke stand to raise funds for their chosen nonprofit, The Ronald McDonald House.
Jokes a Bunch
Need a few jokes to get going? We put together a whole page dedicated to funny one-liners. You can check out that page here.