Ross The Language Of Humor Analysis

Humor is not a tool that can be used limitlessly as there are certain societal boundaries that prohibit jokes from exceeding levels of acceptable humor. This kind of prohibition is known as a taboo. In unit five of Alison Ross’s textbook, The Language of Humour, Ross discusses on these common taboos: sex, excreta, death, and religion while also explaining how jokes sometimes break taboos, but at the same time keep limits to where these jokes are accepted by society. The topic of sex and excreta are the most common taboo topics since they seem to be universal, according to Ross (63). An example of a joke breaking the taboo of excreta is, “What’s the difference between a bad marksman and a constipated owl? One shoots but can’t hit” (Ross 63). In this joke, there is the mentioning of defecation but what allows this joke to be acceptable is the ambiguity of the thing that “shoots but can’t hit” which can be either the marksman or the constipated owl. Ross referred to this technique as “the element of disguise” (63). As a result, people have been making sexual and excretion jokes for as long as evidence exists (Ross 64). As long as limits are still imposed, these types of jokes stay within the boundaries of socially acceptable humor. Another factor that
People tend to avoid making jokes about death as it is more serious in terms of offensiveness. As Ross said, “Humour on death ranges from generally acceptable to shocking and offensive” and as long as the joke is not referring to a specific death, it’s not instantly classed as a “sick” joke (66). What allows death jokes to be accepted are, like for sex jokes, the use of euphemisms. For instance, the phrase “put him out of his misery” does not carry as much powerful language as “killed him” (Ross 68). However, if a joke is over grave tragedies, such as school shootings, euphemisms won’t always work and the subject is avoided in jokes