How the other half jokes

A couple of weekends ago, fathers from all over the world were celebrated by their families on their special day. We, too, celebrated my husband’s love for us and enjoyed our time together. While I saw generations gathering in various places, one image captured my attention. As we were riding along, a group of motorcyclists passed us, a young girl in the lead and an older man on choppers. Behind them, rode four young men, all of them bearing an uncanny resemblance to each other and the older man. It was an incredibly unique way to spend the day with their dad. Fathers hold a special place in our society and are all different but there is one common element among all of them, regardless of economic status, race, or creed: Dad Jokes.

Here are a few, according to the article, 20+ Best Dad Jokes-From Corny to Punny to Actually Pretty Hilarious, in Woman’s Day magazine:

• What do you call it when a snowman throws a tantrum? A meltdown.
• Why did the baby strawberry cry? His parents were in a jam.
• How do you follow Will Smith in the snow? You follow the fresh prints.
• What does a sprinter eat before race day? Nothing, they fast!
• Where do you learn to make a banana split? Sundae school.
• Why don’t pirates take a bath before they walk the plank? Because they’ll just wash up on shore later.
• How do you stop bulls from charging? You cancel their credit cards.

 What is the actual science behind dad jokes? By definition, a dad joke is almost always a pun, which is technically a “linguistic brain teaser,” according to David Astle, a crossword creator and self- confessed word nerd. These jokes are a play on words and bring out the different meanings of a word. These jokes produce laughter or groans, but these moments of humor actually build family relationships with parents and children. As mothers tend to be nurturing parents, the father is generally the one that gives the children challenges, in this case, gentle teasing.

 Besides dad jokes, men do have their own special brand of humor, especially among each other. Humor involves social, emotional, cognitive, and cultural aspects. Generally, class clowns are always male. It seems that men are jockeying for the position of alpha male and their joking with each other is a subtle social structuring with a few jabs here and there, sometimes, even at themselves. My husband recently quipped: “If I didn’t get a lot done in 40 years of work, imagine how much I will get done in retirement!”

Women, overall, tend to less aggressive in their social interactions and not really encouraged to be funny. My former boss always thought that while strong and competent in many ways, women, in general, were terrible joke tellers. Research also bears this out in the Psychology Today article, “Are Men Really Funnier Than Women?” where in a meta- analytical study, “humor plays a major role in mating, with a strong evolutionary basis.” Women look for indicators of male quality and it seems that humor is correlated with intelligence, so a sense of humor is highly valued. (I guess men really do have to have a sense of humor to live with some of us!) Men, in turn, are attracted to women who laugh at their jokes. While there are wonderful comediennes who have entertained us for years, men appear to dominate the field and excel in “humor production.” This is a worthy calling of fathers, to not only lead their families, but relieve their stress. #humor #fathers #dadjokes #society #life #laughter