Do you find that the older you get, the less you seem to get enjoyment out of incongruity?
I still genuinely laugh and chuckle at amusing things, but often - even with dark humour - I find I can guess the pun before it's delivered. Things such as stand-up or one-liners on these very boards no longer have me laughing-out-loud, but rather raising a dry grin in acknowledgment as I recognise why it is funny rather than finding it funny.
I honestly think, the last time I had a hearty belly-laugh that caused tears of laughter was probably ten or so years ago. Since then of course, there are genuine moments where I'm amused and chortle my satisfaction, but the feel-good factor of that amusement has never been as rewarding as it was when I was younger.
If there is a link between age/experience and amusement, I believe it is one that our experience moots incongruity where humour, jokes, etc. tend to lie. Indeed, incongruity can even become predictable if our humour has shaped our very perspective to expect certain lines.
Likewise, I think that there is a relationship between seriousness and humour, as it is no secret that humour is a social coping mechanism to deal with the seriousness of life (the army for example, is well known for its brash and very dark humour and they are in the business of mortality.). However, that would imply that as the older we get, the less serious we become whereas I feel that the opposite may be the case which leads support heavily to the experience idea.
For example, I was watching the IT Crowd last night and the female lead walks out of the office, turns a corner and trips over comically into a homage to her person as one of the male characters had lied and said she was dead. I laughed because it was funny, and I knew it was funny. However, I didn't really gain enjoyment from the laughing, if that possibly makes any sense.
So OcUK, I turn to you: is this something that you've experienced too? I'm not incapable of really finding things amusing, but it seems like I've almost become numb to the incongruity itself - perhaps overloaded with too much humour - and those moments of genuine sincere joy are now few and far between and interestingly tend to derrive from personal social interaction as opposed to outrageous script-writing.
I still genuinely laugh and chuckle at amusing things, but often - even with dark humour - I find I can guess the pun before it's delivered. Things such as stand-up or one-liners on these very boards no longer have me laughing-out-loud, but rather raising a dry grin in acknowledgment as I recognise why it is funny rather than finding it funny.
I honestly think, the last time I had a hearty belly-laugh that caused tears of laughter was probably ten or so years ago. Since then of course, there are genuine moments where I'm amused and chortle my satisfaction, but the feel-good factor of that amusement has never been as rewarding as it was when I was younger.
If there is a link between age/experience and amusement, I believe it is one that our experience moots incongruity where humour, jokes, etc. tend to lie. Indeed, incongruity can even become predictable if our humour has shaped our very perspective to expect certain lines.
Likewise, I think that there is a relationship between seriousness and humour, as it is no secret that humour is a social coping mechanism to deal with the seriousness of life (the army for example, is well known for its brash and very dark humour and they are in the business of mortality.). However, that would imply that as the older we get, the less serious we become whereas I feel that the opposite may be the case which leads support heavily to the experience idea.
For example, I was watching the IT Crowd last night and the female lead walks out of the office, turns a corner and trips over comically into a homage to her person as one of the male characters had lied and said she was dead. I laughed because it was funny, and I knew it was funny. However, I didn't really gain enjoyment from the laughing, if that possibly makes any sense.
So OcUK, I turn to you: is this something that you've experienced too? I'm not incapable of really finding things amusing, but it seems like I've almost become numb to the incongruity itself - perhaps overloaded with too much humour - and those moments of genuine sincere joy are now few and far between and interestingly tend to derrive from personal social interaction as opposed to outrageous script-writing.
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