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Tue Jul 10, 2007 15:15 pm A sense of humour |
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. Yes, a good sense of humor is quite nice to have, isn't it?
However, it must also be said that what some people think of as their own hilariously funny sense of humor might just be seen by others as nothing but intentional nastiness. . _________________ Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 7821 Location: USA
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Tue Jul 10, 2007 17:52 pm A sense of humour |
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| I agree that one should have a sense of humor. It is very difficult, however, to convey your sense of humor in writing (without facial expressions and the likes). In a forum like this, people might misunderstand. |
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diverhank I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 278 Location: California, USA
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Tue Jul 10, 2007 19:47 pm A sense of humour |
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Greetings all,
Yes, a sense of humour is very important ... and there are different types of humour too.
"Sarcasm" is well known as "the lowest form of wit" because it is used to knock other people down at their own expense. There is an appropriate saying to this effect ... "When a person tries to cut off the heads off other people to make themselves look taller".
I sometimes used to be a bit sarcastic when I was younger until I realised what an awful state of mind it holds. Then I slowly but surely gave it up. The only time that I have used sarcasm since is when I decide to knock someone down who is doing just that - being thoroughly sarcastic - to somebody else who can?t defend him/herself. Then I feel good. Sarcasm is of course very creative as we sometimes see in a good Hollywood film or whereever. Then we can really enjoy it. That is definitely the posiive use because it is simply very intelligent and sharp witted. Two people in history who I know were very sharp witted are : Sir Winston Churchill (GB/UK ex Prime Minister) ... and ... John Lennon (the Beatles pop music group).
Sarcasm as I see it usually stems : from - anger - through a sense of injustice being done. Through - envy/jealousy - of what someone else has or owns ... and - resentment (hate/anger) - from not accepting a correction, loss or mishandling.
I think it is more important to share humour and most important to be able to laugh about oneself. Nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes and we should not take ourselves all too seriously because that is the beginning of our own downfall preceded by a big red face. There is once again a very nice saying to this effect ... "Laugh at the devil".
I don?t know if you realise it but this is the greatest weapon of all against the devil ... or the devil in people who are mean and fiendish. They just can?t stand it and begin to loose their cool composure and start to get real angry and loose control because they take themselves too seriously. Try it sometime. Actually, everybody knows this. The fact is "the devil" or the personification thereof which can be clearly identified in the characters of certain people, cannot withstand being laughed at when they make a mistake. Try it on your local Mafia gangster and see how he reacts. Just make sure he can?t see you because you?ll soon be dead.
Humour is also a great leveler and when we can laugh about mistakes we make, we remain humane and authentic. This then allows us to be reachable as a human being. It is easy to gain respect and trust a person who is authentic, real and transparent.
I reminds me also of the caption, "to rule through respect and not through fear".
Whatever, my personal view is : I prefer the noblest view and certainly don?t like below the belt jokes or so called toilet humour. I usually say so out load if someone makes too many such dirty jokes when I am a group who have to lisen to it but also don?t like it. I usually do this in a positive way by saying something like, "Have you got any jokes about - love, flowers and sunshine". If I can?t do that, I just make my appropriate exit and leave the people who enjoy that kind of humour to swim in it.
What I do really like are jokes with zoo animals or farm animals. Basically clean jokes which are also good for kids ... like :
Q. How do you know if an elephant was in your fridge? A. Because you can find his footprints in the butter. (ho,ho,ho)
OK, everybody knows that. It?s years old. What about :
Q. How do you fit four giraffes in a mini (car)? A. Two in the back and two in the front. (ha,ha,ha)
OK, you knew that one, too. But you get the idea.
Can anybody offer me some good animal jokes. I recently got a great IQ test for IT Managers from a German teacher friend which is based on zoo animals. He is a computer / IT teacher of course. It?s great fun, but it is short and could be extended. I?ll see if I can find it and translate it from the German to English.
OK, that?s me. As the Scots say. Now, I am really looking forward to some good jokes because I like to tell my students to keep them in a good spirits.
Until then ... Best wishes, Bruce. _________________ Free English Tests |
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Bruce I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 115 Location: Germany
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Thu Jul 12, 2007 22:34 pm A sense of humour |
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Hi Bruce!
How would you fit a mouse in a mini?
Best wishes
Michael |
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Fan of Arabian horses I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 836
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Sun Jul 15, 2007 16:54 pm Humour |
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I don't know why Russian and English humour are different. But I feel both of them. I think life is very boring without having a sense of humour.  |
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Harry Smiith I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 112 Location: Moscow, Russia
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Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:57 am A sense of humour |
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| Bruce wrote: | | Can anybody offer me some good animal jokes. |
How about this one I've just found:
Three turtles, Joe, Steve, and Poncho, decide to go on a picnic. Joe packs the picnic basket with cookies, bottled sodas, and sandwiches. The trouble is, the picnic site is 10 miles away, so the turtles take 10 whole days to get there.
By the time they do arrive, everyone's whipped and hungry. Joe takes the stuff out of the basket, one by one. He takes out the sodas and realizes that they forgot to bring a bottle opener. Joe & Steve beg Poncho to turn back home and retrieve it, but Poncho flatly refuses, knowing that they'll eat everything by the time he gets back.
Somehow, after about two hours, the turtles manage to convince Poncho to go, swearing on their great-grand turtles' graves that they won't touch the food. So, Poncho sets off down the road, slow and steady.
Twenty days pass, but no Poncho. Joe and Steve are hungry and puzzled, but a promise is a promise. Another day passes, and still no Poncho, but a promise is a promise. After three more days pass without Poncho in sight, Steve starts getting restless. "I NEED FOOD!" he says with a hint of dementia in his voice.
"NO!" Joe retorts. "We promised."
Five more days pass. Joe realizes that Poncho probably skipped out to the Burger King down the road, so the two turtles weakly lift the lid, get a sandwich, and open their mouths to eat. But then, right at that instant, Poncho pops out behind a rock.
"Just for that, I'm not going."
Or this one:
Little Nancy was in the garden filling in a hole when her neighbor peered over the fence. Interested in what the little girl was up to, he politely asked, "What are you up to there, Nancy?"
"My goldfish died," replied Nancy tearfully, without looking up, "and I've just buried him."
The neighbor was concerned, "That's an awfully big hole for a goldfish, isn't it?"
Nancy patted down the last heap of earth and then replied, "That's because he's inside your stupid cat."
Only two more to go:
Two guys were walking their dogs and came across a bar. Since they were hot and tired from walking the dogs they decided to go in and have a drink. Unfortunately, the bar didn't allow dogs. There was no place to safely secure the dogs, so they started thinking of ideas to get in the bar. Then one of the guys had an idea.
"Just watch me and follow my lead," he said.
He walked into the bar with his dog and the bartender stopped and said to him, "I'm sorry but I can't let you in here."
The guy looked at the bartender and asked, "Why not?"
The bartender replied, "Well, we don't allow dogs into the bar."
"But this is my seeing eye dog," the guy said.
"Oh, I'm sorry sir come on in, and by the way, nice golden retriever."
The guy went into the bar and the second guy walked in with his dog. The bartender stopped him and told him he can't let him in. When asked why not the bartender replied that you cannot have dogs in his bar.
"But this is my seeing eye dog," said the second guy.
The bartender looked at the man and then looked at the dog. After a while he said, "Sir, ah… um… a Chihuahua?"
The man looked a little puzzled and then said, "What? They gave me a Chihuahua?"
And the last one, I promise:
"Some plants," said the teacher, "have the prefix "dog. For instance, there is the dogrose, the dogwood, the dogviolet. Now name another plant prefixed by 'dog'."
"I can," shouted a little redhead from the back row, "Collieflower!" |
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Conchita Language Coach

Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 2702 Location: Madrid, Spain
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Sun Jul 22, 2007 0:27 am A sense of humour |
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. I especially liked your last joke, Conchita. . _________________ Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 7821 Location: USA
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Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:03 am A sense of humour |
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Hi Alan,
I think I have a sense of humour indeed, but my problem is I don't want to be a humour person when I was being with some one I am not very familiar to him or her And I don't like making jokes when everybody get together. I just will BE humour when I was being with my close friends. I talk too much and will be very happy. So almost people think me as a chill girl and hard to close to me at the beginning. But after a period they found out its totally misled! So do you have some suggeustion about this condition of me? Because I realized the first expression is very important for a person. _________________ Life is milk and cookies. |
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princess You can meet me at english-test.net

Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 67 Location: Wonderland
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Fri Aug 03, 2007 18:14 pm A mouse in a mini?! |
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Greetings Michael (Arabian horses), princess, Amy (Yankee), Conchita, Harry Smith, diverhank, Alan and all viewers,
Sorry, I took so long to get back to you all. There are just action-packed phases in my life where I can?t get back quickly enough and answer. By the way I just posted a LINK to a Cross-Cultural Website with some got jokes which you are all sure to like. Go to :
http://www.culturalsavvy.com/stereotyping_examples.htm Now, to Michael (Arabian Horses).
Michael, "how would you fit a mouse in a mini" is good question.
I thought about a "mini" as either a "car" or "skirt" but I decided that a "mini" = "skirt". If that?s correct, then a "mini" would have to be "fitted" to a "mouse".
On the other hand ... if the "mini" was a "car", I would simply open the door to the mini-car?s glove compartment and fit the mouse in.
How does that sound Michael? Did I get the answer right and do I get a cigar?
Best wishes, Bruce. _________________ Free English Tests |
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Bruce I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 115 Location: Germany
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Fan of Arabian horses I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 836
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| What do you think about premonition and prophetic dreams :)? | Intercultural communication |