Tower and Town, March 2020 (view the full edition)Telling A Joke Is A Skill
No doubt, this short silly joke has brought a smile to your face, but when was the last time you had a side splitting, burst of laughter, the positive health affirming carefree hilarity that reverberates on and on? 'A happy convulsion, a psychophysiological reflex, an uninterrupted, rhythmic spasmodic expiration with open glottis by a baring of teeth and facial grimaces' is one scientific definition of laughter. A kind of inner jogging; laughing is essentially good exercise. Face, diaphragm and abdomen muscles are stretched. One's heart rate and blood pressure temporarily rise as breathing increases, becoming deeper, while oxygen surges through the bloodstream. Laughing boosts T-cells, reduces levels of the stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol, triggers a release of good endorphins and apparently, bolsters immunity by deliberately altering mood. Making people laugh is a great gift, so if you are not naturally funny, why not learn to be? Observe those who are. Why not add the art of telling jokes and amusing stories to your polymathic list? Practise jokes at home in the mirror; take a course in telling jokes, anecdotes and stories; memorise quotes and sayings that spice up your conversation. When was the last time you memorised anything, even a song? Become an eccentric wise fool! 'A merry heart doeth good like a medicine', so Proverbs 17:22 (KJV) tells us. No doubt, Jesus of Nazareth enjoyed a good laugh. King Henry VIII's fool, Will Somers, often relieved the King's sadness through jokes and silliness and Elizabeth I was regularly amused by her Jester 'who cured her melancholy better than all her physicians'. Fools and jesters and many of Shakespeare's plays were the Music Hall comedy, the Rowan Atkinson, Two Ronnies, Dad's Army and Benny Hill, of their days. But over the centuries in the West, have the written word, film, radio, TV and now a myriad of technologies, combined with our intellectual logical Western form of education, pushed out the real thing? Riveting comedy is rare these days. Why? Are those writing comedy too influenced by an invasive political correctness? Are we taking ourselves too seriously? Is a lack of laughter directly affecting our health? Researchers have discovered that laughter involves various regions of the brain, so perhaps a good joke bounces from the left to right brain, around the back and frontal lobes like an electrical impulse in a computer's circuity? Our DNA contains the unconscious capacity to laugh. We do not decide to laugh and we can inhibit it, but generally laughter is caused by a spontaneous reaction. The best jokes build on a set of expectations and have a punchline to update the knowledge of the listener in an unexpected way. It's the unexpected challenge that intrigues us in many of life's convoluted, sometimes, very testing patterns. Across the Middle East, Central Asia and Asia, the oral tradition is still strong and jokers' tales like those of Joha and The Mulla Nasrudin help to remind those parts of the world on a daily basis that a good joke is a way to avoid confrontation. Jokes poke fun at all human weaknesses. Humour may indeed be an effective antidote to adversity because when animals are confronted with a threatening situation, they have two choices; flee or fight. Humans have a third alternative: LAUGHTER! Humour allows us to distance ourselves from a threat, short circuiting feelings of anxiety or anger. One of the best-known tales of the joker Mulla Nasrudin concerns his life as a smuggler. For years, the Mulla was known for his habit of crossing the Afghan border with nothing but a straw-laden donkey. Asked by customs officers whether he had anything to declare, the answer was always the same: "nothing but straw." A search always followed; but no matter how hard the officials prodded and probed the donkey's load; no contraband was ever found. Years later, the now-retired chief of customs happened to meet the Mulla in a teahouse. 'All those years ago,' he tells Nasrudin, 'we knew you were up to something, but we never found anything. Since we are both old men now, can you tell me what it was you were smuggling?' 'Donkeys!' replied Nasrudin, 'Donkeys.' Another Nasrudin style anecdote is attributed to Churchill. A group of clever clogs Civil Servants complained that Churchill always answered a question with a question. They had a plan. In a Whitehall corridor, they stopped Churchill and one of them asked him the time. 'What time do YOU make it, young man,' replied Churchill. The original goes like this: A conceited customer approached Nasrudin in the teahouse. 'Why do you always answer a question with another question?' he asked. Narrowing his eyes, Nasrudin sipped his tea, and replied, 'Do I?' How any society deals with humour and uses it to best advantage is interesting. I find the British very self-deprecating and able to laugh at themselves. In fact, the British sense of humour is probably one of the most sophisticated in the world. Douglas Jerrold, a dramatist, remarked, 'If an earthquake were to engulf England tomorrow, the English would manage to meet and dine somewhere amongst the rubbish, just to celebrate the event' - and, no doubt, have a good laugh! As an English proverb reminds us; 'he is not laughed at who laughs at himself!' Lucinda Hall |