Jokes

The term joke can be found in two different meanings within humor research. The first is that as a type of text; the second is more generally that of an instance of humor. Etymologically, the word comes from Latin iocus, which means “play” or “game.” It denotes a usually short narrative ending in a humorous punch line. Jokes are generally constituted of a setup, which presents the situation in which the events of the narrative develop, followed by the punch line, which occurs generally at the end of the text. The setup part of the joke may be missing if it is inferable from the punch line. Often the punch line is discursive. The semantic relation between the setup and the punch line has been the object of much discussion. The generally accepted view is that the punch line should be incongruous relative to the setup.

The definition of joke as a type of text varies somewhat historically. Contemporary collections of jokes tend to favor short texts, and there are extant collections of ancient jokes that are just as short. However, 19th-century jokes tend to be longer and more elaborate. Jokes are attested historically as far as Greek and Roman antiquity and even in Egyptian and Babylonian texts.

Jokes can be characterized from a discourse perspective as “canned” or “spontaneous.” The term “canned joke” comes from the professional jargon of comedians. A canned joke is a generally short narrative ending in a punch line, which preexists the setting in which the joke is told (in other words, a canned joke is re-created from a preexisting model the speaker has memorized). Canned jokes are opposed to spontaneous or improvised jokes, often also called “conversational” jokes. Those are improvised on the fly, without prior rehearsal.

A rigid distinction between canned and conversational jokes cannot be maintained since canned jokes may be “recycled,” that is, contextually adapted to the point that a canned joke may be presented in a manner indistinguishable from a spontaneous joke. Moreover, canned jokes, in some cases, may originate from conversational jokes that have been decontexualized.

Jokes address a wide variety of topics and are frequently classified based on their content; thus, for example, ethnic jokes concern some ethnic group, such as Jewish jokes, Polish jokes, and so forth. Jokes sharing a common topic, such as light bulbs or elephants, are known as joke cycles. These can be considered subgenres of jokes.