The Serious Business of Frivolity.

How the simple knock knock joke can help you exercise your mind and help you to become cleverer at the same time.

We like knock knock jokes, not because they are funny, but because they are clever.  I had this realization the other day when my 7 year old son was asking me why I was laughing at one of his jokes. I realized, it wasn’t because it was funny. I was laughing because it was clever.

Knock Knock jokes only work when they are based on a good pun or if they so completely break the rules that we are amused. In both instances it is the cleverness that amuses us. Or more specifically, we are surprised by the cleverness and so start laughing.

Coming up with a good knock knock joke is actually quite difficult because coming up with good puns is hard to do. My son is still grappling with this so his knock knock jokes are only occasionally funny, which is why he was asking me why I had laughed at one of them. He wanted to know so he could come up with more like that. It’s all part of the learning process.

To write a good knock knock joke, takes time and effort and a good deal of thinking. Like anything, the more you practice, the better you get at it and the easier they are to write.

Yes, writing knock knock jokes is a frivolous waste of time. That’s exactly the point. It is a fun and difficult task for your brain and is therefore good exercise for the brain. If you want to be more clever, you need to start practicing. Knock knock jokes are as good a place to start as any and a good deal more fun that other more serious forms of brain exercise.  This might be why Humanists love telling jokes.

So, let’s have them. Give me your favorite knock knock joke. Or your favorite pun based joke. And be honest, did you make it up or steal it from someone else? Either is fine with me as long as I get a good laugh out of them!

Joke about Atheists is a teachable moment

So, back in 2003 a joke started making the rounds about a Florida judge who gave Atheists their own holiday, April Fools Day. This joke is making the rounds again, except that it appears that many people don’t know it is a joke. Even though it is CLEARLY a joke. And any quick check of the news in Florida will verify that it is a joke and not real. Still, most people want to believe it is true for a variety of reasons. Atheists want to believe that they are persecuted and Christians want judges to stick it to those uppity atheists who are trying to eliminate Christianity from the public square. At least judging by the comments posted with the joke.

I was introduced to this joke on a Freethought discussion board and people were genuinely upset by it because they thought it was real. I read it and laughed. It is not as good as the atheist and the guillotine joke, but it is still funny. And the fact that freethinker’s fell for it as real was even funnier. And therein lies the teachable moment. Just because you claim to be a skeptic and a freethinker doesn’t mean you actually are. Whenever you hear something outrageous – even if you think it could be true – it is always a good idea to double check. Just to be sure before you go working your self up into a lather.