“Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep , and you weep alone.” This old saying points out the importance of enjoying a good time with friends, or even strangers. Telling jokes to others is one sure way to make others feel happy and comfortable.
Joke telling is anything but a new social phenomenon . While there is no known “original joke,” jokes have actually been around for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks wrote their jokes down in the Philolegos ( roughly 3, “laughter lover”) more than 2,000 years ago. The following is an example. __1__ Not wanting to hear mindlesschitchat , the customer says, “In silence.”
Many Greek traditions were kept and maintained through the later Roman Empire. __2__ Many of his jokes involved “eggheads,” professionals who had much professional knowledge but little common sense. One of their jokes goes like this: An egghead doctor listens to his patient. __3__ The doctor responds, “Then get up half an hour later.”
In many cultures nowadays, a group of people—almost always a minority within a large society—become the “ victim ” of jokes. These are sometimes considered in bad taste , as in “How do you get a one-armed ( insert the name of a member of a minority) out of a tree? Wave.” __4__
Humor is so important that International Joke Day on July 1 and National Tell an Old Joke Day on July 24 are now practiced around the world. It doesn’t matter whether your jokes are old or new. Share them with your friends. After all, “Laughter is the best medicine.”
(A) “Doctor, whenever I get up in the morning, I feel dizzy for about half an hour and then I feel fine.”
(B) The humor is at the expense of the minority member even though it could apply to anyone.
(C) The famous Roman orator Cicero enjoyed telling jokes known to be of Greek origin.
(D) A talkative barber asks his customer, “How should I cut your hair?”
