Responses to failed humor

Abstract

Although research on the pragmatics of humor has increased, the study of failed humor has continued to be neglected. The purpose of the present paper is to open the discussion of this phenomenon through the examination of a corpus of 186 responses to failed humor. These responses, which were elicited through the telling of a joke found to be lacking in humor for most hearers, were classified by type and affective sense (positive, negative, and neutral). The data were also categorized by the sociolinguistic variables of age, gender, and social relationship. The findings indicate that responses to failed humor go well beyond the typical groans or fake laughter that are often asserted as prototypical reactions in the literature, with laughter, metalinguistic comments, and interjections as the most common responses. In addition, no significant differences were found in response types according to age or gender; however, very strong effects were found for social relationship, with negative reactions more common among intimates and neutral reactions preferred by acquaintances and strangers.