Site search
sponsored by
Home
News
It's only conjecture, but I have to guess that the first person ever to laugh was Eve. I have to imagine she guffawed at something really awkward that Adam did, like trying to shave with a sharp rock, nicking himself, and cursing, when he really wasn't yet properly equipped to swear poetically.
It was probably not long after, however, that Adam got his chance to have one on Eve, perhaps it was the next morning when she first she spied herself in the reflection of the pond in the garden, and examined it so intently that she toppled over and fell in.
Lilly Tomlin credits Eve with uttering the first complete human sentence: "What a hairy back!"
The first primitive joke was most likely told by Adam, and it might have happened something like this: One night while washing the dishes, Adam turned to Eve and said, "A woman's work is never done." One can only guess what her response might have been; instead of laughing, she might have snapped him on the bare backside with the dishtowel. Who knows, humor is an unpredictable thing.
But isn't it funny that after all these centuries since the first joke, there are only 13 jokes in existence! Oh, there are thousands of variations on those 13 core jokes, of course, but when you boil down all the jokes on the Internet, they each relate to the original 13. What was once, "So this guy walks into a cave..." is now, "So this guy walks into a bar..."
What is new, and what is exciting about humor in general, is that science is discovering how healthful laughter is; it might just happen to be the best homeopathic medicine available over the counter.
And science has recently confirmed what I have always expected to be true: Rats really do laugh at us! We can't hear them snickering because they do so on a really high note, that only dogs, and maybe cats can hear. Science has also discovered that if you tickle a rat, they say he will come back for more, though no Nevada man I have known has ever entertained such an experiment, much less a woman.
Laughter, as it turns out, relaxes not only the laugher, but those people surrounding the laugher. One infectious laugh can incite an entire room full of people to laugh, just as one naughty laugh can bring a sudden silence to a room, followed by a room-searching stare. Happening to adore humor myself, and having made a personal study of this broad subject over the years, I've concluded that the funniest people in the world are Jewish-Americans and African-Americans; the Jewish-Americans on account of the "matter," involved in their jokes, and the African-Americans on account of the "manner" involved in the telling. I could go into specific examples of these wonderfully rich veins of humor, but I see I am quickly running out of room. The main thing is, the essential thing is, that we make a concerted effort to view most things in a mildly amusing light, especially ourselves. More healthful even than having a sense of humor, is being in possession of a humorous outlook on life. Therein lies the secret source of longevity.
It was probably not long after, however, that Adam got his chance to have one on Eve, perhaps it was the next morning when she first she spied herself in the reflection of the pond in the garden, and examined it so intently that she toppled over and fell in.
Lilly Tomlin credits Eve with uttering the first complete human sentence: "What a hairy back!"
The first primitive joke was most likely told by Adam, and it might have happened something like this: One night while washing the dishes, Adam turned to Eve and said, "A woman's work is never done." One can only guess what her response might have been; instead of laughing, she might have snapped him on the bare backside with the dishtowel. Who knows, humor is an unpredictable thing.
But isn't it funny that after all these centuries since the first joke, there are only 13 jokes in existence! Oh, there are thousands of variations on those 13 core jokes, of course, but when you boil down all the jokes on the Internet, they each relate to the original 13. What was once, "So this guy walks into a cave..." is now, "So this guy walks into a bar..."
What is new, and what is exciting about humor in general, is that science is discovering how healthful laughter is; it might just happen to be the best homeopathic medicine available over the counter.
And science has recently confirmed what I have always expected to be true: Rats really do laugh at us! We can't hear them snickering because they do so on a really high note, that only dogs, and maybe cats can hear. Science has also discovered that if you tickle a rat, they say he will come back for more, though no Nevada man I have known has ever entertained such an experiment, much less a woman.
Laughter, as it turns out, relaxes not only the laugher, but those people surrounding the laugher. One infectious laugh can incite an entire room full of people to laugh, just as one naughty laugh can bring a sudden silence to a room, followed by a room-searching stare. Happening to adore humor myself, and having made a personal study of this broad subject over the years, I've concluded that the funniest people in the world are Jewish-Americans and African-Americans; the Jewish-Americans on account of the "matter," involved in their jokes, and the African-Americans on account of the "manner" involved in the telling. I could go into specific examples of these wonderfully rich veins of humor, but I see I am quickly running out of room. The main thing is, the essential thing is, that we make a concerted effort to view most things in a mildly amusing light, especially ourselves. More healthful even than having a sense of humor, is being in possession of a humorous outlook on life. Therein lies the secret source of longevity.
