Does humor change over time?

Question

Would an 11th century peasant find someone walking into a glass door humorous? Would they apprecite the same types of jokes?

Answer 1

George Bush was vaguely funny till he got us into a war in Iraq, and before that, brought 9/11 upon us.

Answer 2

An 11th century peasant would first find the glass door amazing. Yes, I think they would be laughing their heads off, mostly from the amazing technology.

The center of humor is pleasant surprise. The same jokes might not all fly, but some would. Milton Berle once published his jokebook, a very thick book with a price a bit bigger than I could afford to pay. But many of the jokes were essentially things that you replace names and places.

But bear in mind that the context of most of our jokes has changed. The peasant would have a different word for bar, but none for airplane, truck, etc. The peasant wouldn't know what a po-lock (yes, it is misspelled, but wouldn't pass censors if it wasn't) was, but he would know a priest--and probably have a much higher respect for him than you (which would greatly reduce the likelihood he would find some things funny). Still the mechanics of many stories would be similar, just not the same.

A merchant just came in from a far country, maybe a whole hundred miles away. He had painted his donkey pink, which attracted a lot of attention. A crowd gathered and asked about the strangely-colored animal. The merchant said he sold fabric dyes and this was to demonstrate one of his colors and a great idea. He would dye the hair of the animals first, instead of after they were shaved (shorn). As he spoke, he sometimes would step to the back of the animal and wipe his finger under the animal's tail then smear it across his lips. Finally, one incredulous peasant asked why he did that. "My lips are chapped." The peasant then asked, "And that helps them heal?" The merchant answered, "No, it just keeps me from licking them."

I think the peasants would have laughed. They might also have groaned a bit just as some of you. And there would have been some who said, "So that's why my father did that."

Answer 3

I must be an 11th centurty peasant. I don't find humor in someone walking into a door, either. What many young people of today think is humor, I find disgusting. At the very least, not funny. I am been shown time and time again on this site, how lucky I was to grow up in the time era that I did. By the way, this is a very good question.

Answer 4

Yes, and you don't have to go back to the 11th century. Just a few generation will do it. I don't know why people would think walking into a glass door is funny, someone might get hurt.

Answer 5

Slapstick humor might stay the same, but if you where to tell someone from the 11th century a joke they might not find it funny, or understand it.

Answer 6

Yes. Humor matures as you grow older. Old TV comedies are often not as funny as they were when they first came out - and it's not because you know what's going to happen.
Also, humor is cultural. People laugh at very different things in different parts of the world.

Answer 7

They'd find it funny, but in certain surroundings they'd be too appalled to laugh at it. Comedians (and the rest of us) have much more freedom with their material these days. Somethings we say are funny just because they're off-color or taboo.

I'm sure a peasant in his own home or with friends would be happy to make fart jokes, blonde jokes, boob jokes, etc.

Answer 8

Yes with the advent of technology the humor changes.
It would have been thaught to be the devels work in 1790 to say that the internet is fun. ha ha

Answer 9

Appreciation of humor changes with knowledge and maturity.

Answer 10

of course it does and i dont know. im not a peasant.