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Revision as of 18:28, 29 May 2003 by DropDeadGorgias (talk | contribs) (Added Dave Barry- "Richard Nixon wearing a neck-weasel")(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Comedians have long regarded certain words as being inherently funny, and have used them to enhance the humor of their comic routines.
Examples of references to the concept:
- In The Simpsons episode "Homer the Clown", Krusty the Klown tells Homer: "Memorize these funny place names. Walla Walla. Keokuk. Seattle."
- In Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys, a character says: "Words with a 'k' in it are funny. Alkaseltzer is funny. Chicken is funny. Pickle is funny. All with a 'k'. 'L's are not funny. 'M's are not funny."
- Monty Python's "Woody and Tinny words" sketch features extensive play on the sounds of English words for their inherent humour.
- Dave Barry's "Dave Barry Talks Back" has an column on linguistic humor. He contrasts the phrase "Richard Nixon wearing a neck-tie" with "Richard Nixon wearing a neck-weasel", and concludes that "weasel" is a very funny word.
These comedy routines, by propogating the meme that the words used are funny, increased the comedy potential of the words by adding another level of association to comedy.
In the English language, these tend to include words with the letters 'c' and 'k' in and words with the vowel sounds 'oo', 'o' and 'aa'.
For example:
- "aardvark"
- "badger" (the comedic writer Dave Barry frequently uses badger in this manner, and has written an essay on how usage makes any joke funnier)
- "sock"
- "pock"
- "cack"
- "kumquat"
- "rutabaga"
- "balloon"
- "bassoon"
- "nodal"
Note also that "aardvark", "badger", "kumquat", "rutabaga", and "bassoon" refer to unusual items for some people, which adds to their surprise/strangeness/humor potential.
Yiddish and German words often seem funny to English speakers, in particular those that begin with the /∫/ sound spelled as sch-. Texts in the Dutch language often seem comical to English-speaking readers, in part because much written Dutch is partially intelligible, but curiously spelled.
Another category of inherently funny words are those that resemble taboo words or invite taboo mispronunciations, such as fuchsia or Wankel rotary engine.
Unresolved questions about inherently funny words include:
- Are there any known physiological or linguistic reasons for why these words are funny?
- Are the funny sounds the same in other languages?
See also: