
A few people develop a compulsive urge to crack jokes - Amorymeltzer
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160308-the-curse-of-the-people-who-cant-stop-making-puns
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gracenotes
I make a lot of jokes and incongruous juxtapositions and things like that, I
hope not anywhere close to 'disinhibition' mentioned in the paper. But it
makes me wonder how much laughing at a joke is appreciation of a witty idea vs
how much of it is a social contract where you say something mildly
interesting, laugh, and other conversation participants laugh.

It's still a genuine social exchange, but the point is that humor has empathy
as a key component, and it helps us bond. If you were to convey the same
concept in a tone of anger or disappointment, most listeners won't laugh. So
maybe humor and rants are two sides of the same coin: socialized salience.

But like any other social contract, it can be abused. If you frame a sentence
in the cadence of a joke or rant, you're expecting the listener to respond. If
you rant for a very long time, people stop listening. If you make jokes 24/7,
the social activity of joke-telling is no longer a two-way street, and people
stop laughing. If you deliver nonsense like a joke, you may get the knee-jerk
social laugh, but not the witty-idea laugh (unless nonsense _is_ the witty
idea). If it's inappropriate to bond in a situation, and you tell a joke, you
might not get a laugh, let alone an acknowledgment.

For various reasons, patients described in the article only have pieces of
this whole system, and struggle with the social aspect or the witty-idea
aspect.

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mpnordland
I would say there's a definite social component. I have some ability to speak
Spanish, and work with several Spanish speaking coworkers. Sometimes I
completely miss the joke, but laugh anyways, because everyone else is.

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scandox
I once sat next to a businessman whose only conversation was making joke after
joke during an entire dinner. They were not his own, just regular old jokes.
He'd built a business worth 300 million euro over thirty years and he
literally told me jokes for two and a half hours. By the end I struggled to
even smile let alone laugh. He didn't appear to notice.

Perhaps this explains it.

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jacquesm
I suspect he believes the jokes are good because people pay attention to him
because of the $300M, not because of the jokes but it's hard for him to tell
the difference from where he's sitting.

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scandox
The funny thing is until you said this it never occurred to me for a moment.
My impression was much more of someone that couldn't help themselves. More as
if he was terrified of even a moment's silence.

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JacobAldridge
I passed this on to a colleague whose jokes are both constant and terrible
(though far from the condition described).

As I said to him, I'd be worried about myself ... but thankfully my jokes are
always funny.

It's an interesting insight into what sparks 'humour', and how much of it is
physical rather than intellectual.

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pc86
I'm sure your colleague thinks his jokes are "always funny," too.

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sydneysider
....you missed it..

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hackaflocka
Someone I know had this for the earlier part of their life (till about 35).
Mostly, it was a defense mechanism, against extreme nervousness, anxiety, and
"out-of-placeness."

They're much much better now. But will still let loose when extremely stressed
out.

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caminante
Did your acquaintance have a stroke/cancer? I doubt your friend had
"Witzelsucht."

Instead, I think you're describing a socially awkward introvert performing
cringeworthy feats. Awkward in the moment, but hilarious in hindsight.

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hackaflocka
You're right. It may not have been "Witzelsucht." But it makes me wonder if
there's a mild form of "Witzelsucht" that's rampant in the population making
people do cringeworthy things.

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raulk
So finally we understand Chandler's condition (Friends).

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lolidaisuki
I think that Reddit is making this a lot worse, at least for the people using
it. Pretty much everyone there is constantly trying to make jokes in order to
get a few upvotes and as a result even the most serious subreddits have people
who feel the need to crack jokes. It is really fucking annoying.

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MasterScrat
This is why they introduced the [serious] tag, which literally prohibits jokes
in the thread. This was a very welcome feature.

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emodendroket
Welcome to whom? I'd rather have the wisecracks.

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bonobo
Welcome to the people who want to participate in serious discussions. You
still have threads, and whole subreddits for that matter, with jokes. But
before this tag, people who wanted a joke-free discussion were unable to do so
on Reddit, and had to dig through piles of puns and jokes to get some
thoughtful comments. Now we have space for both groups.

~~~
emodendroket
Yeah, but I feel that the combination of jokes and serious discussion is
better than either one alone.

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nefitty
At least they aren't developing a compulsive urge to crack farts...

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emodendroket
Is "crack" the verb usually used here? Seems tenuous.

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nefitty
I was hesitant, but pulled the finger, so to speak.

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72deluxe
I have the compulsive urge to crack nuts.

Only when trying to eat them, mind you...

