TWO KINDS OF HUMOUR

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1641, 14 May 1925, Page 2

TWO KINDS OF HUMOUR

AND THEIR EFFECTS,

Most humor is the surprise of the unexpected. It is like going down a strange stairway in the dark. One kind of humor lies in thinking that there is another step when there isn't, the other kind is the shock that comes from thinking there is no other step when there is.

The former hurts, the latter simply surprises. So there is one kind of humor that hurts* that has a sting to it, the other kind is that which simply amuses. Wit has also been called the Art of Getting Oneself Disliked. In the one case we laugh at a person, and in the other we laugh with him. In the one case there is co-operation, and in the other case we make him ridiculous. There is a dearth of the kind of humor that is kindly and genial, and there is entirely too much of the kind of humor that leaves bitterness in its trail.

The man that is expert in the kind of humor finds his friends growing fewer and fewer as he lives on, the other kind of man finds his friends growing more and more. A good example of the kind of humor that is genial and y kindly is that of Mark Twain. He always succeeded in making you laugh with him. The other kind of humor is exemplified in that of Bernard Shaw. You feel that he is laughing at you. If a man cares for the favour of his fellows, he should refrain from that sort of wit which has a sting in it, and should devote his attention to that kind of humor which contains genial good fellowship.