Muir Woods Academy, Inc.

A Leader In Me School
Bayombong Nueva Vizcaya
Accredited by FranklinCovey

GAG OR HUMILITY:

A BEHAVORIAL DISSECTION STUDY OF JOKES

A Research Paper

Presented to the Faculty and staff of

Muir Woods Academy, Inc.

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya

In partial fulfillment of the

Requirements in Research 1

Submitted by

Christian Patrick Baldeo

Paul Unseld Acosta Baltazar

Student of Grade 11

Submitted to

Sr. James Prae B. Liclican

Date
 Muir Woods Academy, Inc. A Leader In Me School
Bayombong Nueva Vizcaya
Accredited by FranklinCovey

GAG OR HUMILITY:

A BEHAVORIAL DISSECTION STUDY OF JOKES

Kippy Baldeo, Paul Baltazar

I. Introduction
A joke is a display of humor in which words are used within a specific and well-defined
narrative structure to make people laugh and is not meant to be taken seriously. It takes the form of a
story, usually with dialogue, and ends in a punch line. It is in the punch line that the audience becomes
aware that the story contains a second, conflicting meaning. This can be done using a pun or other word
play such as irony, a logical incompatibility, nonsense, or other means. Linguist Robert Hetzron offers
the definition:
A joke is a short humorous piece of oral literature in which the funniness culminates in the final sentence,
called the punchline… In fact, the main condition is that the tension should reach its highest level at the
very end. No continuation relieving the tension should be added. As for its being "oral," it is true that
jokes may appear printed, but when further transferred, there is no obligation to reproduce the text
verbatim, as in the case of poetry.
It is generally held that jokes benefit from brevity, containing no more detail than is needed to set the
scene for the punchline at the end. In the case of riddle jokes or one-liners the setting is implicitly
understood, leaving only the dialogue and punchline to be verbalized. However, subverting these and
other common guidelines can also be a source of humor—the shaggy dog story is in a class of its own
as an anti-joke; although presenting as a joke, it contains a long drawn-out narrative of time, place and
character, rambles through many pointless inclusions and finally fails to deliver a punchline. Jokes are
a form of humor, but not all humor is a joke. Some humorous forms which are not verbal jokes are:
involuntary humor, situational humor, practical jokes, slapstick and anecdotes.
Identified as one of the simple forms of oral literature by the Dutch linguist André Jolles, jokes are
passed along anonymously. They are told in both private and public settings; a single person tells a joke
to his friend in the natural flow of conversation, or a set of jokes is told to a group as part of scripted
entertainment. Jokes are also passed along in written form or, more recently, through the internet.
Stand-up comics, comedians and slapstick work with comic timing, precision and rhythm in their
performance, relying as much on actions as on the verbal punchline to evoke laughter. This distinction
has been formulated in the popular saying "A comic says funny things; a comedian says things funny."
(Hetzron, 1991)

II. Objectives and Significance of the Study

 Muir Woods Academy, Inc. A Leader In Me School
Bayombong Nueva Vizcaya
Accredited by FranklinCovey

The study attempted to ….

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What draws the line between a good joke and a bad joke?
2. What do these jokes tell about personality?
3. Can the degree of friendship be measured by the degree of insults willing to be
tolerated?

The following are the assumptions (or hypothesis) of the study

1. It draws the line when it reaches matters concerning race/ethnicity, religious/cultural

beliefs, personal relationships, and health conditions such as having serious diseases.
2. These jokes can tell about an individual’s background, on what type of environment
he/she came from and grew up.
3. Yes, but still, there are boundaries that should be recognized.

This study can provide as an eye-opener on what breed of antics are conventional and
when not to cross the edge, among students in Muir woods, not only Grade 10 students,
but the whole high school division. It will also help and improve our guidance counselor,
teacher Irene Ramos, in assisting and consoling students who are victimized by verbal
bullying.

The findings of this study will be baseline information for the following.

a. School. It could be a better environment for everyone.

b. Students. They will have a better humorous environment that will no longer be filled with
awful jokes and all be favorable by everyone.