2.17-18 Humour Deep Dive 'Not so serious look at humour!'

Very good ...Made me smile this morning :)

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I read and throughly enjoyed thinking of all the humorous jokes and stories of Paddy that I have heard or read over the years. And being born a catholic 3rd generation Irish I can only say I take each story with humor. I jumped to reply right away to ask about "Ball Hopping" through the Michael. what kind of meaning is this? Is he referring to our famous basketball player Michael Jordan with his up and down career? Or indeed is there a meaning I don't know? With the internet a few click away how could I not query the meanings that are available?
It is come from " I'll get the ball rolling" phrase that has been around for ions in different management styles.
Or is it coined from the famous columnist Michael rolling?
Or is is from Wexford Michael Falsey "with the ball hopping twice to the net" penned from a late soccer match...??
Only you as the author can share!?

Ruth, Pres of Greene County Toastmasters, GA, USA

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Des,

I think academics are very good at taking simple,easy to understand ideas and making them complex and confusing! :-o Humor is the derailment of our expectations. That's all ye know in life and all ye need to know! We expect things to go one way and, instead, they go a different way.

For example, saying, "When you're speaking, make sure you stay involved with your audience and stay on time" isn't funny. But when Mark Twain says, "It's a terrible death to be talked to death" it's funny. This is because the word "death" sets up an expectation that the statement will be about dead things and instead it turns out to be about boring people giving boring speeches that go on too long. That "derailment" of our expectations makes the humor. And see what I did there? By going all "academic" and explaining things I destroyed a perfectly good joke! :-o

So all that really applies in the professors statement is "Surprise". But I suppose he couldn't do much with just the letter "S" alone. I mean, it doesn't really spell anything by itself. And somehow the "S" theory doesn't sound nearly so good as the "HEARTS" theory! Although I supppose the "S" theory would be popular with snakes since it sounds like "Sssssssss".

Humorously,

Tim

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Des,

Now that you have opened up the discussion about humor, let's take a deeper look at humor. More information is available here:
http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com/search?q=humor

There are MANY different ways to "surprise" people and combine things in a way that they don't expect (that creates a humorous response). One way is what World Champion humorous speaker Darren Lacroix calls the "Half and Half" method, as in "I'm part English and part Irish which means I'm polite when I beat people up." You can also use the "rule of three" (list things in threes) as a joke as in, "In order to be a persuasive speaker you need to have sincerity, passion, and a gun." You can also create humor out of the moment by looking at the things around you in a funny way, Darren Lacroix suggests when a cell phone rings while you are giving a presentation, turn to the person with the phone, say "Hold my calls" and return to your presentation.

If your humor doesn't work, most likely it's because the audience wasn't truly surprised by what you said and so it didn't "sound funny" to them.

Looking at humor,

Tim

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Hey Des

Thank you sharing this first article on humour.  To be honest I am confused about the points made about aggression and hostility.  For me, humour is about the story and the clever use of words, body language and surprise that comes from the presentation.

As an English man, I am married to the Irish folks, so very happy to be part of captial of humour as they say.  On that note, I better close on an irish joke if that can be excused!

---

Three Paddys in a Bar

Paddy Irishman, Paddy Englishman, and Paddy Scotsman

One day, Paddy Irishman, Paddy Englishman, and Paddy Scotsman walked into a pub together. They proceeded to each buy a pint of Guinness.
Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints and got stuck in the thick head.

Paddy Englishman pushed his beer away from him in disgust.

Paddy Scotsman fished the offending fly out of his beer and continued drinking it as if nothing had happened.

The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink, held it out over the beer and then started yelling: "AH YOU LITTLE THIEF! SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT!"

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Hi Des, interesting article but like Justin I am also confused .....

By the way, I can do a little better on the irish jokes :-)

Paddy Irishman, Paddy Englishman and Paddy Scotsman were doing construction work on scaffolding on the 20th floor of a building.

They were eating lunch and Paddy Irishman said, "Corned beef and cabbage! If I get corned beef and cabbage one more time for lunch I'm going to jump off this building."

Paddy Englishman opened his lunch box and exclaimed, "Ham and English mustard again! If I get ham and mustard one more time I'm going to jump off, too."

Paddy Scotsman opened his lunch and said, "Haggis again. If I get a haggis sandwich one more time I'm jumping too."

Next day Paddy Irishman opens his lunch box, sees corned beef and cabbage and jumps to his death.

Paddy Englishman opens his lunch, sees ham and English mustard and jumps too.

Paddy Scotsman opens his lunch, sees the haggis and jumps to his death also.

At the funeral Paddy Englishman’s wife is weeping. She says, "If I'd known how really tired he was of ham and mustard I never would have given it to him again!

Paddy Scotsman’s wife also weeps and says, "I could have given him cheese! I didn't realise he hated haggis so much."

Everyone turned and stared at Paddy Irishman’s wife. "Hey, don't look at me" she said. "He makes his own lunch"

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Hi - I like the definition and explanation.  Thanks for sending it.  Bette McFarren, Colorado, USA Daybreakers #2429, Toastmasters

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Hi Ruth, taking the Michael or as the Irish taking the Mick you may say Pulling something someones leg. As for ball hopping its hard to explain, so the best I can do to explain it is by the following suppose you want to wind someone up you make a remark about something or someone that is outrages and it entices a reaction. Regards Des

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<div class="quote" style="width:90%"><span style="font-size: 88%">Quote from guest on Wednesday, February 17th 2010 @ 6:08 PM</span><br>Des,<br><br>Now that you have opened up the discussion about humor, let's take a deeper look at humor. More information is available here:<br>http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com/search?q=humor<br><br>There are MANY different ways to "surprise" people and combine things in a way that they don't expect (that creates a humorous response). One way is what World Champion humorous speaker Darren Lacroix calls the "Half and Half" method, as in "I'm part English and part Irish which means I'm polite when I beat people up." You can also use the "rule of three" (list things in threes) as a joke as in, "In order to be a persuasive speaker you need to have sincerity, passion, and a gun." You can also create humor out of the moment by looking at the things around you in a funny way, Darren Lacroix suggests when a cell phone rings while you are giving a presentation, turn to the person with the phone, say "Hold my calls" and return to your presentation.<br><br>If your humor doesn't work, most likely it's because the audience wasn't truly surprised by what you said and so it didn't "sound funny" to them.<br><br>Looking at humor,<br><br>Tim</div><br>

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<div class="quote" style="width:90%"><span style="font-size: 88%">Quote from guest on Wednesday, February 17th 2010 @ 6:08 PM</span><br>Des,<br><br>Now that you have opened up the discussion about humor, let's take a deeper look at humor. More information is available here:<br>http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com/search?q=humor<br><br>There are MANY different ways to "surprise" people and combine things in a way that they don't expect (that creates a humorous response). One way is what World Champion humorous speaker Darren Lacroix calls the "Half and Half" method, as in "I'm part English and part Irish which means I'm polite when I beat people up." You can also use the "rule of three" (list things in threes) as a joke as in, "In order to be a persuasive speaker you need to have sincerity, passion, and a gun." You can also create humor out of the moment by looking at the things around you in a funny way, Darren Lacroix suggests when a cell phone rings while you are giving a presentation, turn to the person with the phone, say "Hold my calls" and return to your presentation.<br><br>If your humor doesn't work, most likely it's because the audience wasn't truly surprised by what you said and so it didn't "sound funny" to them.<br><br>Looking at humor,<br><br>Tim</div><br>

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great article, thanks for sharing Des!

I've discovered that what gets the most laughs out of my audiences are times when I make fun of myself. "One time during a marathon I threw Gatorade in my face instead of water, talk about a sticky situation! I could tell you hundreds of stories that were embarrassing then but funny now. True stuff is the funniest stuff. I've learned it's best to laugh at yourself along with everyone else!

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