The Mind Creative
Humour is all about feeling good. While it has at times been used
to ridicule and rebuke, it has also been a very useful tool that has
often been employed to educate and to express thoughts and
opinions that would otherwise be hard to state in simple words.
In fact, humour is a state of the mind that forms an essential part
of our existence and a trait that separates human beings from
other fauna.
Humour, as we know it today, has a long history that dates back
to the time of Aristotle. At that time, humour was strongly
associated with satire. Over the centuries, the concept of humour
has changed and in fact the definition has widened to encompass
various “categories” of humour, each with their own triggers and
outcomes. Much has been written about the use of humour,
covering many subjects like standup comedy, literature and even
about the philosophy of humour.
Recently, I found a very interesting article written by Eric Decker
in his weekly newspaper humorous column called Eric Decker’s
Laughing Stalk where Decker defines seven categories of humour
and I will borrow his concise definitions here.
Dry: Dry humour is very different from the other six types. It is
that “not-so-funny” and dead pan humour that can often be
implied or indirect.
Farce: Farce is comedy that has been exaggerated to handle
improbable, larger than life situations. This type is often used in
comic dramatic work.
Dark: Dark humour makes light of otherwise serious subject
matters like distress, sadn \