Good Humor, Bad Taste by Kuipers, Giselinde -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Preface to the new edition Acknowledgments Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction: Jokes, humor, and taste

Researching jokes Jokes and humor Humor as a social phenomenon Humor and taste The context of Dutch humor The design of this book

Part I: Style and social background

Chapter 2 - The joke: Genesis of an oral genre

The joke as oral culture The spread of the joke The genesis of the joke The status of the joke High and low humor Conclusion: Changing criteria for judging the joke

Chapter 3 - Joke telling as communication style

Joke telling and social background

Jokes and gender Jokes and class Gender roles and class cultures Joking and trade

Humorous communication styles

Gender and speech Class and speech

Conclusion: Objections to jokes and criteria for good humor

Chapter 4 - The humor divide: Class, age and humor styles

Humor styles: High and low, old and young Style, status, and knowledge Highbrow and lowbrow humor styles

Arguments for lowbrow humor Arguments for highbrow humor

The eye of the beholder? Humor styles and taste variations Conclusion: Humor styles beyond standardized Dutch humor?

Chapter 5 - The logic of humor styles

Distinguishing good humor from bad

Coarseness: Objections to bad humor “A good sense of humor”: Criteria for good humor

Class culture and humor style The sense of humor and the self: humor style and authenticity Conclusion: Jokes, taste, and authenticity

Part II: Taste and quality

Chapter 6 - The repertoire: Dutch joke culture

Jokes and social boundaries Innocuous jokes: Stupidity and other unseemly behavior Sexual jokes: From allusion to transgression Irreverent jokes: Religion, power, suffering and sickness Hurtful jokes: Jokes at the expense of others Conclusion: The hardening of the humor

Chapter 7 - Temptation and transgression

The balance between funny and offensive

Varying viewpoints on offensiveness

Tempting the laugh

World-class jokes: Joke tellers on joke technique The importance of joke-work

“Humor is humor”: The incompatibility of humor and morals Conclusion: temptation, transgression, and joke quality

Chapter 8 - Sense and sociability

Personal styles of joke tellers

Avoiding or transgressing boundaries Specialists and generalists

Transgression, identification, and Dutch joke culture(s)

Young and old Men and women Non-college and college-educated people

Conclusion: Mechanisms of taste and the sense of sociability

Part III: Comparing humor styles

Chapter 9 - National humor styles: Humor styles, joke telling and social background in the United States

Researching humor styles in America Jokes and humor styles in the United States: Survey results Transgression and identification in American jokes

American humorous identifications

The social status of the joke in America

American arguments against the joke

American views on a good sense of humor “You gotta have a sense of humor”: Humor and the moral self Conclusion: Telling a joke to save your life

Chapter 10 - Sociology and the joke

The appreciation of jokes: Genre and individual jokes

Style: Evaluating a humorous genre Form and content: Evaluating individual jokes

Gender, age, class and nationality: The dynamics of social differences

Gender and role Age and phase Class and culture National differences and cultural logics

Distinction and difference Good humor and bad taste

Appendix 1 - The jokes used in the Dutch survey Appendix 2 - Dutch humorists and television programs References Subject index

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