Humour

Forms of humour include the following: witticism, joke, comedy, ridicule, quip, travesty, buffoonery, farce, caricature, practical joke, trick, irony, skit, satire, facetiousness, foolery, banter, bon mot, epigram, jest, repartee, pun, levity, frivolity, play, absurdity, paradox, mummery and escapade. Humour is produced consciously to entertain, to instruct, or to criticize or condemn. Humour is also an unconscious or involuntary reduction of the psyche. Humour can be verbal or non-verbal, human or animal. The ancients spoke also of 'the laughter of the Gods'. Philosophers and theorists of humour are themselves unamusing but most usually report the not infrequent human sentiment that 'life is a joke'. Also during the period from the late Middle Ages to the Reformation the figure of the spiritual fool and the unlearned wise man was of interest. There were also a Feast of Fools and several famous books - such as 'Ship of Fools' and 'In Praise of Folly', and the figure of the fool (later, the clown) was of great significance at court, in the theatre (Harlequin, Punch) and in the pack of cards known as the Tarot.