A joke is a funny saying or occurrence. It can be a spontaneous expression or a saying or short story that contains something that generates laughter in its receptors. The joke can be oral, written or graphic. For example: “Grandpa told me a very funny joke”, “They always make fun of me because I don’t understand jokes”, “Raúl is amused by dirty jokes”.
The intent of the joke is to make the recipient (whether listener or reader) laugh. Its main objective, therefore, is comedy, although there are jokes with political and social connotations that mask criticism.
Jokes can be classified, subjectively, as good or bad. The good jokes are those that meet your target and arouse laughter from the receiver. The bad jokes, however, fail in their final effect.
The ability to make people laugh is something very few possess; It is not enough to tell a good joke, but the way in which it is transmitted is fundamental. In fact, true comedians do not need to say much or have a large repertoire to cause the effect they seek in their audience, since through their gestures, their facial expressions, the inflections of their voices and certain words or phrases Identifying them turns any story into a great joke.
As a social element, the joke plays a very important role when building new relationships, since it is very useful to break the ice in a group of people who still do not have close ties. Making others laugh gratifies us in a very particular way and, since laughter is contagious, it amuses us too.
It is public knowledge that laughter is very beneficial for our health. Some of its virtues are listed below:
* helps us fight depression and anguish;
* promotes adrenaline secretion, thanks to which imagination and creativity are enhanced;
* causes the body to secrete endorphins, which act as brain sedatives. They can be compared with drugs that are not harmful, natural and without side effects that we can obtain as easily as laughing, and that cause us an analgesic effect;
* is an interesting exercise in which around four hundred muscles are involved, among which are some that are only exercised through laughter.
For these reasons, jokes not only serve to have a good time, but also positively affect our health and that of those around us. However, it is curious that not all people have the capacity to enjoy them; For various reasons, there are those who seem unable to laugh out loud, and this is sometimes perceived as antipathy, despite being due to very particular issues in each case, similar to the inability to enjoy food.
Sometimes the jokes are an assault or incur discrimination. Sexist jokes, for example, feed a stereotype that makes fun of women, even though the comic element has little to do with reality.
The notion of joke is often used as a synonym for joke or gag. Jokes, however, are comic situations created from a real person or situation, while gags are part of visual (and non-verbal) humor.
The degree of difficulty of something can also be classified under the concept of joke. A joke, in that sense, is something very easy: “Solving this problem is a joke”, “In the end, painting the house does not make any joke”.