The Phenomenon of Humor By: Amanda There is a popular saying, "anyone can laugh at a good joke." If one was to actually ask around, he'/she would find that this is quite true. This is part of the magic of humor. Humor, as defined by The American Heritage Dictionary, is "the quality that makes something laughable." Laughter can be defined as "the co-ordinated contraction of fifteen facial muscles (Koestler 29). However that definition tells how one laughs. The American Heritage Dictionary explains why we laugh by describing laughter as "the expression of delight or happiness." So therefore, it seems pretty safe to conclude that humor is used to make someone happy. But, the phenomenon of humor is not that simple. There are many different forms of humor used by most everyone on a daily basis. Also, it would be foolish to image that each person uses the device of humor for the same purpose or in the same manner. If this were true, everyone would find the same jokes as laughable, t!
             he same movies as comical and so forth. All types of people use humor in all walks of life, and that is the true magic of humor. The trick is knowing what type of humor is being used given situation, and for what reason. In this paper I plan to present and explain various types of humor (satire, witticism, etc), giving examples when necessary, by which I will also explain the different reasons and ways a person uses humor. Through this I intend to show that it is undeniable fact that humor plays in important role in the world today, and in each individual's daily life. As mentioned before there are various types of humor. The first that will be discussed is that of "puns." Puns are one of the most basic forms of humor. A pun is commonly defined as a "play on words." What this means is that there are two ideas connected with a word, and both ideas are used in the same expression (Swabey 5). The e...