Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'd say the definition is simple: it's in bad taste when the listener is offended or upset, and not amused.
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I believe Harry hit it square on. And based on that, I don't think there is any joke that could be told on MR that would not be considered by someone in the MR audience as in bad taste. This audience is just too diverse.
I had a "Diversity Awareness" instructor tell me that you shouldn't tell a joke that was derogatory to anyone. That left no jokes to tell. Even a joke on oneself is derogatory to yourself so couldn't be told under that requirement.
A friend asked me once what made a joke good. After thinking about it I decided there were three things required;
- It had to get and keep your interest
- When the punch line came, you had to get it instantly but not see it coming.
- The joke needed to be just a little taboo but not too much or the audience would be offended. What we tend to laugh at usually has a slight embarassing aspect to it, whether it's bathroom humor, dead person humor, racest or sexest humor, religous humor, etc. Otherwise there would be no interest.
This pretty much dictates that audiences be culturally very similar to each other. Other threads have alteady shown the MR community to be culturally diverse.
Just my opinion (but I agree with the Blue Lady on the Simpsons - it's too taboo [i.e. course] for me.)