Is a joke really funny if it's directed at a minority?
Gil Greengross says no, and he's going to tell students why in a class that takes a scientific look at humor.
He said if you tell him a joke about a Jewish person or an Israeli, he won't be offended because that's what he is, and he understands humor.
His traits might even add to the humor of the class, he said.
But he said most people do not realize there is a misconception that humor is racist.
"It's not the humor itself that is racist, it is the people who appreciate the joke," he said. "You choose to be insulted or not. It's not the joke itself."
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The class is offered through the Department of Anthropology and was not listed in the schedule of classes for Fall 2004.
Greengross said he learned he would teach the class in June and posted fliers around campus.
The fliers featured a man in glasses and a mustache with the word 'humor' written across the top.
He said humor has been looked at from a linguistic and English approach, but not much of a scientific one. His approach is more interdisciplinary, because humor touches almost all disciplines, he said.
It is defined by Webster's Dictionary as that quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous.
But Greengross can come up with a reason why that doesn't fit as well as any other definition anyone gives him.
"I can always find an incident that falls out of your definition," he said.
What it is, he said, is a good social skill.
"You can memorize 100 jokes and tell them to people, but that doesn't make you have a good sense of humor," he said.
If someone tries to tell jokes in a status-based group, people will notice, he said.
"The problem is that if you are not in high status in the group, people will think you are more pathetic than funny, because you are a person of low status," Greengross said.
There are humor conferences and humor journals around the world. The International Journal of Humor Research, first published in 1988, comes out four times a year.
Greengross said most research done is qualitative, but his focuses on quantitative methods.
Refuting humor myths will also be a part of the class.
He said research does not support the myth that humor brings health benefits and is not always associated with fun.
That's what senior Patrick Duncan thought when he signed up for the class.
"It wasn't what I thought it was going to be," he said. "I thought I'd laugh more, but maybe that will come later."
Greengross said luckily enough students were interested in the class to fill it to capacity at 30.
"It's interesting," said senior Stephen Sitton. "Humor is such a big part of the culture, because you can use it in so many situations."
