
Some influential comedians have long regarded certain words in the English language as being inherently funny and have used these to enhance the humour of their comic routines. The radio panel game ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' includes an occasional round called "I'm_Sorry_I_Haven't_a_Clue#Straight_face", in which the panelists take turns to say a single word each. A player is eliminated from the game if anyone in the audience laughs at their word ("even the merest titter"). The winner is the last player standing. The fact that this game works, and that it is possible to predict more or less accurately which words are safe to use and which are unsafe, can be construed as evidence that the phenomenon is real. (The word ''titter'' in the instructions for the game achieves a comic effect: it may have a claim to be itself an inherently funny word.) As a generalization, words deemed inherently funny for their sound (rather than meaning or potential misinterpretation) often have a tendency to either vaguely resemble a baby's babbling or to have very strongly defined syllables. Some words, such as ''aardvark'', ''badger'', ''kumquat'', ''rutabaga'', and ''bassoon'' refer to unusual items for some people, which adds to their surprise, strangeness or humour potential. Conversely, other words gain humour by being completely ordinary, such as ''spoon'', ''cow'', or ''potato''. Others acquire "naughty" humour by being or being similar to sexual terms (''knickers'', ''Phuket'', ''chewing'', ''titter''...etc.). Yiddish language and German language words often seem funny to American English speakers, in particular those that begin with the /ʃ/ ("sh") sound, spelled ''sch-'' (or sometimes ''sh-'' in Yiddish, as in the derisive prefix ''shm-''/''schm-'': "Oedipus schmoedipus!"). Texts in Dutch language often seem comical to English-speaking readers, in part because much written Dutch is partially intelligible, but curiously spelled from an English-language point of view. By propagating the meme that the words used are funny, comedy routines may increase the comedy potential of the words by adding another level of comic association. ==Examples of references to the concept== * In Neil Simon's play ''The Sunshine Boys'', a fictional character says: "Words with a ''k'' in it are funny. ''Alka-Seltzer'' is funny. ''Chicken'' is funny. ''Pickle'' is funny. All with a ''k''. ''L''s are not funny. ''M''s are not funny." ** An episode of ''King of the Hill'' has Bobby tell this to his father, Hank. ** Krusty the Clown paralyzes his vocal cords when he tries to cram in too many "Comedy Ks" on ''The Simpsons''. ** The ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "The Outrageous Okona (TNG episode)" features Joe Piscopo as a comedian who, in attempting to teach the android Data (Star Trek) the concept of humor, refers to words ending in a ''k'' as funny. * Monty Python's "Woody and Tinny Words" sketch features extensive play on the sounds of English words for their inherent humour. * Another Monty Python sketch, "Are You Embarrassed Easily?", includes a humorous list of words: ''shoe'', ''megaphone'', ''grunties'', ''Wankel engine''. * Dave Barry's 1991 book ''Dave Barry Talks Back'' reprints a column on linguistic humour. He contrasts the phrase "Richard Nixon wearing a necktie" with "Richard Nixon wearing a neck weasel", and concludes that ''weasel'' is a very funny word. * In the ''The Simpsons'' episode "Homie the Clown", written by John Swartzwelder, Krusty the Clown tells Homer Simpson during a lesson at his clown college: "Memorize these funny place names: Walla Walla, Washington, Keokuk, Iowa, Rancho Cucamonga, California, Seattle, Washington." Homer finds the last example hysterical. * Comedian George Carlin talks about ''kumquats'' and ''succotash'' in his older routines. * In the December 21, 1989 ''Dilbert'' comic strip, Dilbert uses his computer to determine the funniest words in the world, coming up with ''chainsaw'', ''weasel'', ''prune'', and any reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. * Many have conjectured that the word ''duck'' is the funniest word in the English language. This was popularized by the Marx Brothers comedies ''The Cocoanuts'' (featuring their "Why a Duck" routine) and ''Duck Soup''. This might have more to do with the actual animal than the English word for it, as in 2002, after conducting a scientific cross-cultural joke experiment known as LaughLab, psychologist Richard Wiseman concluded that ducks are funny in all the studied countries: "If you're going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a duck." [http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992876] * "''Turtle'', by the way, is a very funny word." —Roger Ebert, review of ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' *The radio comedy ''Round the Horne'' came up with the inherently funny word ''Gruntfuttock'' *Comedian Ron White, in routines such as "They Call Me 'Tater Salad'", emphasizes the ''c'' in ''public'' to draw laughter from the audience, in addition to the use of the word ''tater''. *The popular Internet meme Badger Badger Badger has caused some people to laugh any time they hear the words ''badger'', ''mushroom'' or ''snake''. *Spike Milligan's ''Goon Show'' scripts often include funny nonsense words, such as ''spon'', ''ploogie'', ''plinge'' and ''needle nardle noo'' *On Gilmore Girls, Lorelai Gilmore posits that "oy" is the funniest word ever and "poodle" is also very funny, and creates what she considers a wonderful catchphrase, "Oy with the poodles already." *There is a Usenet newsgroup called alt.spleen, which has its own [http://anon.razorwire.com/alt.spleen.FAQ/ alt.spleen FAQ], since "spleen" is often thought of as an inherently funny word. == Answering the question "What is funny?" == Determining whether a word is inherently funny, some say, is subjective and based on context. Therefore, there can never be a consensus on the answer of "What is funny?", or many other questions explaining the nature of such an abstract concept. It is part of the mythology of actors and writers that the consonant plosives (so called because they start suddenly or "explosively"); that is: p, b, t, d, k, and g are the funniest sounds in the English language - particularly when found in short words since these "create the greatest tension" (tension being a key to comedy). Shorter words are held to "create tension" because separating words from the normal flow of speech is very difficult cognitively, and it's more difficult to discern whether a short word has ended or not. Now look again at that list of funniest words. Duck is not only admirably short but both starts and ends in a plosive, and the other plosives are legion. Unresolved questions about inherently funny words include: * Are there any known physiology or linguistics reasons for why these words are funny? * Are the funny sounds the same in other languages? ==Sources== *Barry, Dave (1991), ''Dave Barry Talks Back'', 1st edn., New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-58546-4. *The Power of the Plosive, Tips & Tactics, 1st Quarter 1999, The Naming Newsletter, Rivkin and Associates [http://www.namingnewsletter.com/article.asp?id=39] ==See also== * Comic timing * Spoonerism * Malapropism == External links == * [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~kimb/dai_version/subsection3_6_5.html#SECTION0006500000000000000 "Funny letters"] * [http://www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-humorwords-article.htm "Funny words"] * [http://domesticat.net/archives/entry.php?e=471 Fruits with inherently funny names] * [http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/woodytin.htm Monty Python "Woody and Tinny Words" sketch transcript] * [http://facstaff.uww.edu/shiblesw/humorbook/h8%20theory.html Theories on humor] * [http://www.favorites.com/~bailey/pants.html Substituting "pants" for words in ''Star Wars'' lines] * [http://www.geocities.com/startrekpants/index.html Substituting "pants" for words in ''Star Trek'' lines] * [http://www.snoozejersey.com/funnythings.html The Funny Things List] Lists of English words Humor Comedy
Krusty the Clown: "Memorize these funny place names. Walla Walla. Keokuk. Seattle." Maybe some links to other Wiki pages? Funny, Joke, Humor, etc... --User:Dante Alighieri This actually works: I just subvocalised "sock", "pock", "kack", "kumquat", "rutabaga", "balloon", "bassoon", and found myself laughing involuntarily. -- Anon. :I've always thought that the sound of the word "potato" spoken slowly was hilarious. --User:Dante Alighieri ::See for instance the dialogue between (IIRC) Sam and Gollum in the movie of ''The Two Towers'' ... the carefully enunciated "po-ta-toes" is worth a grin. --User:Fubar Obfusco 15:08 14 Jun 2003 (UTC) Is there any physiological or linguistic reason known about why this works? Are the funny sounds the same in other languages? -- Anon. :I always thought any word with an "oo" sound in it was funny, food being an exception for being such a common word. But even the face one makes saying it is funnier than most vowels. This list confirms that suspicion, look how many of these have it. "Poop"... "Boob"... two of the same consonant surrounding the "oo" sound seem to make it even funnier. "Noon" would probably be hilarious if we didn't hear it so much.User:PJV Hmmm. This article is highly idiosyncratic and POV at the moment, and really this belongs in the context of a wider article on comedy or humor IMHO. --User:Robert Merkel 00:35 Nov 28, 2002 (UTC) The article is slightly silly, but the phenomenon is real, and well-known to comedians. It also has potentially interesting avenues of serious inquiry: I would not be surprised if someone had made an academic study of this -- if not, they should. -- Anon. See also "Proposed Research Topic #2: Funny Words" at http://metaphoricaldwelling.org/Language/ and "The power of the plosive" at http://www.namingnewsletter.com/Plosives.html The funniest sounding word I know in English (offhand) is chess. -User:PierreAbbat I am very confused. What is it that you are saying is funny about these words? You just have a list of words, informing the reader that they a funny! WTF? User:Cgs 12:23 18 May 2003 (UTC) This article is nonsense, I vote for deletion. User:Mintguy 12:27 18 May 2003 (UTC) These words are hilarious ... well ... at least the idea that anyone could be so foolish to think they are "inherently funny" by some "law of nature" is hilarous. ''Don't delete!''Move to "Deleted jokes and other nonsense" - this delightfully asinine silliness deserves to be preserved. User:Tannin I don't think this should be deleted or removed. It's an interesting and real concept that comedians discuss and believe in. --User:The Cunctator However, after reading the article I still don't understand. Are you saying that if I tell my mother that "I am missing a sock" she will laugh? If I say "there is a badger in the garden shed" will people laugh? I have never encountered this. User:Cgs 18:09 18 May 2003 (UTC). Well, I just laughed. Does that count -- Anonymous *Me too -- Thomas You missed the point; the article says "to enhance the humor of their comic routines". It doesn't mean that badgers are always funny, but it does mean that if you tell a joke about a smallish mammal in your shed, you'll want to use "badger", as the effect will be funnier than saying "cat". Also, a comedian who is talking about old U.S. presidents would never say "John Adams" when he has the chance to say "Millard Fillmore" or "Grover Cleveland". User:Deltabeignet 23:15, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC) ---- Does this article refer to ''funny strange'' or ''funny ha ha''? What makes things ''funny ha ha'' is timing, not static letters. IMHO :) User:Kingturtle 19:10 18 May 2003 (UTC) Hmm. Maybe we need an article on comic timing, too. I vote to keep this: "sound" is definitely a real factor in comedy: silly names, for example. User:The Anome 19:18 18 May 2003 (UTC) Nothing wrong with this concept (and it is ''funny ha ha''). All words have connotations and denotations. Denotations are the "logical" meanings. Connotations are the "emotional" meanings. If a word has amusing connotations, it may be a funny word; if it has connotations of disgust, it may be a swear-word or an insult; if it is devoid of connotations, it may be used as technical jargon. Compare "poopie", "shit" and "faeces" for instance. Despite the fact that these all refer to the same thing, the connotations mean that one is funnier than the rest and one makes a better insult than the rest. -- User:Derek Ross 19:31 18 May 2003 (UTC) ---- Text moved from Votes for deletion: * inherently funny word ** This is just a list of words that the reader is told are funny. It's highly POV and less factual than a copy of The Sun (and about as funny as the latter). User:Cgs 13:02 18 May 2003 (UTC). User:Mintguy also agrees. ** User:Tannin suggests it is moved to Wikipedia:Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense ** I disagree. It (or at belief in it) is a real concept. Kind of like God, except not so much. --User:The Cunctator ** I disagree also. The article does focus on a longstanding debate in comedy. Is something ''inherently'' funny? Most comedians certainly believe that certain words, particularly in terms of their pronounciation and cultural context, ''are'' funny. This article needs a lot of work but it does have a basis behind it. But it needs to define context, comedic, traditional and cultural resonnances, etc. In some cultures, 'cack' means marbles and has no humour. Cack is also used as a colloquial meaning as 'fæces', which in some contexts touches on scatological humour and reduce an audience to hysterics. So this article definitely should ''not'' be deleted. User:Jtdirl 05:34 19 May 2003 (UTC) **I agree with the above two comments. There is a real issue that this article discusses. It should not be deleted. --User:Dante Alighieri 04:05 20 May 2003 (UTC) **Me, too. This is a good article. Anybody who has ever played Cheddar Gorge (game) knows that this is a real phenomenon. User:GrahamN 05:30 20 May 2003 (UTC) *** Surely what makes that funny is the context or juxtaposition of the words. User:Mintguy ****Actually, on reflection I was thinking of a different ''I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'' round, the one where they take turns to say single words, the object being ''not'' to make the audience laugh. [What ''is'' that round called?] It is evident from listening to that that certain words are simply funnier than others. For example "glass" or "filed" are completely safe, whereas "theodolite" or "pustule" would be suicide. User:GrahamN 02:25 25 May 2003 (UTC) *****But note the context in which the words are said, which is that everybody is silent and waiting for something funny to happen. Those same words said used properly in a phrase would not have a funny effect (like in "the geographer used a theodolite to find the height of the mountain"). User:Diego Moya **Don't delete it. The concept is well worth discussing. It's just that the current article needs to be replaced with something better. -- User:Derek Ross 20:06 20 May 2003 (UTC) **I think this can stay. It's highly POV right now, but has potential to become a good article. It needs an expanded introduction and more on the psychology of the phenomenon, and hopefully someone will add that eventually. -- User:Minesweeper 21:49 20 May 2003 (UTC) **I would be against deletion; however, I do doubt about the list of words, which seems POV to me. Okay, so the very existence of "inherently funny" words is POV... Should we move the article? Use of words for comedic effect, anyone? -- User:Oliver Pereira 11:02 21 May 2003 (UTC) :That sounds like a sensible suggestion. User:Mintguy :: User:Karada has just moved the article to my proposed title. I didn't realise that was going to happen so quickly. Perhaps I should have put more thought into the wording... -- User:Oliver Pereira 11:30 21 May 2003 (UTC) ::I'm moving it back. The article isn't about the use of words for comedic effect, it's about the concept of the inherently funny word. --User:The Cunctator ---- This page still bemuses me. What pray tell is inherently funny about the word "sock" without context? (I'm sure I'll regret asking this). User:Mintguy 17:31 21 May 2003 (UTC) I asked this before, but noone said anything: Are you saying that if I ask my mother "Have you seen the other sock of this pair?", she will burst out laughing at my funny question? Also, the article says that badger is funny because it's an unusual word. This is an example of the POV - where I live badgers are fairly common. I maintain that no word is inherently funny. User:Cgs 17:42 21 May 2003 (UTC). :Yes CGS I noted that you got no reply, which is why I repeated it. It the word 'Jam' inherently funny? I would say no. But then Eddie Izzard uses the word when he can't think of something to say. It's all to do with context. User:Mintguy :CGS, I just want to let you know that when I read in your comment above, "where I live badgers are fairly common", I burst out laughing. User:Guppy 15:20, 25 Sep 2003 (UTC) :"Sock" is not supposed to be funny without context. Actually, I might not consider it inherently funny, unless said in a British accent with sharp emphasis. Few words are funny on their own (although there are many notable exceptions: rutabaga, belch, googol). The article says "to enhance the humor of their comic routines", which is entirely different. As I've noted already, this means that, for example, a joke about vegetables is inevitably going to be funnier when the teller says "rutabaga" instead of "celery". In a joke about mammals, "badger" will be funnier than "cat". "Millard Fillmore ate a rutabaga and badger muffaletta" vs. "James Madison ate a celery and fish sandwich"; you tell me which is funnier. ---- It seems that my text at Votes for Deletion has been deleted during the move from that page to here. It is my opinion that while the page itself is ok, the list of funny words here is inherently POV and should therefore be removed. User:Andre Engels 08:55 22 May 2003 (UTC) : I don't ''think'' I lost anything in moving the text across. That last comment was you, wasn't it? "I would be against deletion; however, I do doubt about the list of words, which seems POV to me." If there was anything else that I did lose, I apologise. But anyway, I suppose if we ''are'' to keep the article at Inherently funny word, then we are facing a big NPOV problem, because the very existence of such a thing is a point of view. So we have to talk about what ''other people'' have claimed about such words. Of course we need examples, to illustrate the sorts of things we're talking about, but they have to be attributed, saying that so-and-so claimed that this word was funny, and so on. -- User:Oliver Pereira 19:42 23 May 2003 (UTC) ---- This discussion is fascinating. It strikes me this article may be the ultimate test of the [in my view dubious] concept of "neutral point of view". Some people are saying ''"We don't find the words in the list funny, therefore they are NOT funny, therefore they must be deleted."'' Others (including myself) are saying ''"We DO find these words funny, therefore they ARE funny, therefore they must be retained."'' Since humour is COMPLETELY subjective, there is no way of determining who is "right", so both points of view should be given equal weight. Therefore the list should be both deleted and retained. Get out of that! User:GrahamN 02:25 25 May 2003 (UTC) :Well the NPOV article tells us that where there is a dispute we should describe the dispute including what each side in the dispute says. So I would think that that means changing the article to discuss the worthiness of the concept of inherently funny words, if we take the NPOV article literally. User:Derek Ross 02:54 25 May 2003 (UTC) ::Ok, fair enough. User:GrahamN 13:49 14 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- How come this article is inherently not funny? User:Kingturtle 06:59 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::Because ''describing'' humour is one of the most humourless things anyone can do. A ''how to'' description is invariably never as good as actually doing it. But that doesn't mean it isn't useful knowing the 'how to' information. Many of these words are funny by the ''manner'' of their verbal usage, and that obviously cannot be conveyed in the spoken word. User:Jtdirl 07:13 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) :Because the tragedy of comedy is that one must eventually think about it. User:TUF-KAT ::The discussion of the effect and meaning of sounds is at least 2400 years old. And it is not confined to humor; but also rhetoric, word-magic, etc.... -- User:Cimon avaro 07:28 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- I was reading all the above and came across - ''It is evident from listening to that that certain words are simply funnier than others. For example "glass" or "filed" are completely safe, whereas "theodolite" or "pustule" would be suicide. GrahamN 02:25 25 May 2003 (UTC)'' : And guess what? The moment I came across "pustule" I immediately and utterly unintentionally sniggered, not from its meaning, or from the way it was being said, but simply because of the word. In other words, it seems to prove the point by being an "inherently funny word." And when I take it further and imagine Walter Matthau saying it in his distinctive voice, forget the sniggering, I start laughing out loud. Even the thought of Tom Cruise saying it sounds funny. (Not to mention George W. Bush!!!) User:Jtdirl 07:24 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- See also: http://people.ucsc.edu/~mleyden/words.htm for someone else's list of "funny words": note the long vowels and K/C/plosive sounds. User:The Anome 17:32 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) :Okay.. personally, I think 'plosive' should be on the list. That's one of the funniest words I've seen reading the article. --User:Patteroast 17:36, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC) And this one: http://timschnabel.net/funny.htm User:The Anome I removed the following: ''Nevertheless, the idea persists.'' The implication of the line is that the idea, contrary to all the evidence, persists. The implication of the line is a POV dismissal. User:Jtdirl 20:03 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- Can people please stop moving this page around - it's moved twice today. It will be POV nonsense wherever you put it. User:Cgs 20:27 24 Jun 2003 (UTC). ---- And, of course, a truly comprehensive list would have ''Triscuit'' on it somewhere. User:Koyaanis Qatsi :Isn't that a cookie with three sides? --User:Guaka 15:11 11 Jul 2003 (UTC) What was meant by 'inherently funny' is that it makes comedy more funny when used correctly. Why a deadly rabbit in ''The Holy Grail''? Because it makes it funnier. It's a psychological phenomenon! ---- This article has twice been listed for deletion and twice kept for obvious reasons. Here is the second deletion debate: ---- I'd like to include: ''Sponge pudding'' and ''spoon'', but they're my own favourites. Vivian Stanshall and other British comics have got a lot of mileage out of ''trousers''. Also, ''monkeys'': can't decide if it's the ''animal'' the ''word'' or a combination of the two. But Alan Partridge's ''Monkey Tennis'' is a gem, and I've just had the new All Star Comedy Show on where Vic Reeves played a troubled man who could say nothing but ''Monkey trousers''. Perhaps if others share a fondness for these they can be included. At present I don't ahve solid enough references. --User:Bodnotbod 22:44, May 6, 2004 (UTC) == Spork == Does no-one else find this to be a very odd-sounding word. User:Zoney ███ User talk:Zoney 15:32, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC) -- Yes, Spork is indeed a funny word. User:Guppy 05:34, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC) :I have another one... well, two: ''gooey ooze'', but maybe there are too many funny words in English to fit them all in this article. ;) User:Sabbut 09:30, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC) ---- Yeah but so are 'Neptune', 'rhododendron', and 'scrum'. Also, I believe David Letterman once gave someone advice to insert he word 'pants' when necessary, and the name of his produciton company, 'World Wide Pants' is based on that word. Seems that should earn some mention. One point on this -- there are clearly certain words that, when used in a joke or other humourous bit, are funnier than others. For instance, the concept of putting a monitor in one's pants is somewhat funny, but it just sounds funnier when the word 'lizard' is used. 'Iguana' and 'Chamaeleon' are not bad either, but 'Haitian Curly-Tail' is just weird, and 'skink' might outdo them all. But all in all, despite the relative equal potential for viciousness and pain, putting a weasel in your pants outdoes them all. == Self-reference == Great article! I see only one problem. The sentence :"The following English words are considered by various contributors to this article to be inherently funny" is self-referential, which is to be avoided. I would fix it, but I don't know what to change it to. Perhaps someone else has an idea. User:Dbenbenn 04:42, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC) :I worry that the list is POV in that it needlessly privledges contributors to the article as experts, when in fact they have no special qualifications. The result is that the article tracks the aggregate POV of the contributors, which is not NPOV, nor will it become NPOV no matter how many contributors there are. I propose that the list be trimmed to entries that can be attributed to known and important comedians. User:Snowspinner 19:29, Jan 13, 2005 (UTC) ::Agreed. For a word to be included here, it should be described as inherently funny by some expert. (And important comedians count as experts.) Wikipedia:Cite your sources! And that would neatly solve my self-reference issue. User:Dbenbenn 20:06, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC) ::: I agree. Moreover, unless someone starts doing this quickly, the situation will get out of hand. People are adding words left and right. I'd like to help but I hardly know where to find proper sources on this sort of thing. I was considering moving to a new article, but I think once we delete unverified entries it should shrink drastically. User:Dcoetzee 10:55, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC) == Page Title == Shouldn't the page title be "Inherently funny words"? I realize that most wikipedia articles are entitled by the singular of the noun, but this article is more of a list that about an "inherently funny word". If the article told us which word was the specific funny word that it was referring to, that would be one thing, but this is about ''numerous'' words. User:Asbestos — User:Asbestos | User talk:Asbestos 18:18, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC) :Well, the article Knife talks about many kinds of knives. The noun sort of defines the general subject area. I wouldn't be for a name change, although I might be for removing the list to List of inherently funny words. User:Dcoetzee 01:53, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC) :Personally, I'd be for deleting the entire thing, but there's no point asking for for that. Moving to List of inherently funny words might also work, though it's not just a list page. I'm not sure, and don't really hold any strong feelings either way (just stumbled across this page by accident), but just feel tha the title is odd. No matter. User:Asbestos — User:Asbestos | User talk:Asbestos 13:01, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC) ==The list== I know that this has been discussed endlessly, but I dislike this list of funny words. Not only is it irrevocably POV, but at over ''two hundred words'', it is mind-bogglingly ''long''. Do we really need to list every single word that somebody somewhere might find funny? I'd personaly delete the list entirely, but in the interest of compromise, I'm willing to trim it down to maybe 10 entries. Or maybe keep only the words we have direct citations for, as suggested by snowspinner. If this change occurs, we can then remove the neutrality warning. On a less contentious note, I've deleted the rhetorical questions near the end, as rhetorical questions are not encyclopedic. User:DaveTheRed 01:38, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) :Please do — potentially seek legitimate attributions for some of them. User:Dcoetzee 01:52, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::You know, the more I look at it, the more I realize that the "list with citations" section we've been talking about already exists on this page. It's under the "Examples of References to the Concept" header. In which case, we can just eliminate the longer list entirely. I will do a quick check to verify the sourced examples, and if no one objects soon, I will make the changes. User:DaveTheRed 04:31, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) :::Sounds like that would be a very good improvement to the article. — User:Asbestos | Talk">User talk:Asbestos 11:48, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) ==Moratorium on adding new words== Sigh. I just dramatically shortened the list, and already someone has added another word (at least this time there's a source). I suggest we hold a moratorium on adding new words to the list. The examples we have are sufficient, and if people keep adding new words, we'll just run into the same problem we had before. BTW, the new word that was added, was "gherkin", attributed to Irregular Webcomic. I did a google search for "Irregular webcomic" and gherkin, and found nothing. Ergo, it will be reverted. User:DaveTheRed 07:21, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC) :Watch out — the text of webcomics often cannot be indexed because it is "hidden" in images. I'd try to get an explanation from the contributor first. :I would strongly argue against any policy of requiring prior agreement on adding words, but I think a friendly reminder about notability and citing sources in an HTML comment wouldn't hurt. Those who seem to be making things up can just continue to be reverted; this is innately the sort of list that people enjoy adding things to without evidence. The existing words are a good guide to what is appropriate. User:Dcoetzee 02:57, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::Your points are well taken. If the original editor wants to add that webcomic thing back, I won't revert. I will post the HTML notice as you requested. User:DaveTheRed 21:49, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC) Monkey should be noted as a popular funny word.
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Inherently_funny_word:
Inherently_funny_word
Inherently_funny_word
Inherently_funny_words
Inherently_funny_words
Inherently funny word
Some influential comedians have long regarded certain words in the English language as being inherently funny and have used these to enhance the humour of their comic routines. The radio panel game ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' includes an occasional round called "I'm_Sorry_I_Haven't_a_Clue#Straight_face", in which the panelists take turns to say a single word each. A player is eliminated from the game if anyone in the audience laughs at their word ("even the merest titter"). The winner is the last player standing. The fact that this game works, and that it is possible to predict more or less accurately which words are safe to use and which are unsafe, can be construed as evidence that the phenomenon is real. (The word ''titter'' in the instructions for the game achieves a comic effect: it may have a claim to be itself an inherently funny word.) As a generalization, words deemed inherently funny for their sound (rather than meaning or potential misinterpretation) often have a tendency to either vaguely resemble a baby's babbling or to have very strongly defined syllables. Some words, such as ''aardvark'', ''badger'', ''kumquat'', ''rutabaga'', and ''bassoon'' refer to unusual items for some people, which adds to their surprise, strangeness or humour potential. Conversely, other words gain humour by being completely ordinary, such as ''spoon'', ''cow'', or ''potato''. Others acquire "naughty" humour by being or being similar to sexual terms (''knickers'', ''Phuket'', ''chewing'', ''titter''...etc.). Yiddish language and German language words often seem funny to American English speakers, in particular those that begin with the /ʃ/ ("sh") sound, spelled ''sch-'' (or sometimes ''sh-'' in Yiddish, as in the derisive prefix ''shm-''/''schm-'': "Oedipus schmoedipus!"). Texts in Dutch language often seem comical to English-speaking readers, in part because much written Dutch is partially intelligible, but curiously spelled from an English-language point of view. By propagating the meme that the words used are funny, comedy routines may increase the comedy potential of the words by adding another level of comic association. ==Examples of references to the concept== * In Neil Simon's play ''The Sunshine Boys'', a fictional character says: "Words with a ''k'' in it are funny. ''Alka-Seltzer'' is funny. ''Chicken'' is funny. ''Pickle'' is funny. All with a ''k''. ''L''s are not funny. ''M''s are not funny." ** An episode of ''King of the Hill'' has Bobby tell this to his father, Hank. ** Krusty the Clown paralyzes his vocal cords when he tries to cram in too many "Comedy Ks" on ''The Simpsons''. ** The ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "The Outrageous Okona (TNG episode)" features Joe Piscopo as a comedian who, in attempting to teach the android Data (Star Trek) the concept of humor, refers to words ending in a ''k'' as funny. * Monty Python's "Woody and Tinny Words" sketch features extensive play on the sounds of English words for their inherent humour. * Another Monty Python sketch, "Are You Embarrassed Easily?", includes a humorous list of words: ''shoe'', ''megaphone'', ''grunties'', ''Wankel engine''. * Dave Barry's 1991 book ''Dave Barry Talks Back'' reprints a column on linguistic humour. He contrasts the phrase "Richard Nixon wearing a necktie" with "Richard Nixon wearing a neck weasel", and concludes that ''weasel'' is a very funny word. * In the ''The Simpsons'' episode "Homie the Clown", written by John Swartzwelder, Krusty the Clown tells Homer Simpson during a lesson at his clown college: "Memorize these funny place names: Walla Walla, Washington, Keokuk, Iowa, Rancho Cucamonga, California, Seattle, Washington." Homer finds the last example hysterical. * Comedian George Carlin talks about ''kumquats'' and ''succotash'' in his older routines. * In the December 21, 1989 ''Dilbert'' comic strip, Dilbert uses his computer to determine the funniest words in the world, coming up with ''chainsaw'', ''weasel'', ''prune'', and any reference to ''Gilligan's Island''. * Many have conjectured that the word ''duck'' is the funniest word in the English language. This was popularized by the Marx Brothers comedies ''The Cocoanuts'' (featuring their "Why a Duck" routine) and ''Duck Soup''. This might have more to do with the actual animal than the English word for it, as in 2002, after conducting a scientific cross-cultural joke experiment known as LaughLab, psychologist Richard Wiseman concluded that ducks are funny in all the studied countries: "If you're going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a duck." [http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992876] * "''Turtle'', by the way, is a very funny word." —Roger Ebert, review of ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' *The radio comedy ''Round the Horne'' came up with the inherently funny word ''Gruntfuttock'' *Comedian Ron White, in routines such as "They Call Me 'Tater Salad'", emphasizes the ''c'' in ''public'' to draw laughter from the audience, in addition to the use of the word ''tater''. *The popular Internet meme Badger Badger Badger has caused some people to laugh any time they hear the words ''badger'', ''mushroom'' or ''snake''. *Spike Milligan's ''Goon Show'' scripts often include funny nonsense words, such as ''spon'', ''ploogie'', ''plinge'' and ''needle nardle noo'' *On Gilmore Girls, Lorelai Gilmore posits that "oy" is the funniest word ever and "poodle" is also very funny, and creates what she considers a wonderful catchphrase, "Oy with the poodles already." *There is a Usenet newsgroup called alt.spleen, which has its own [http://anon.razorwire.com/alt.spleen.FAQ/ alt.spleen FAQ], since "spleen" is often thought of as an inherently funny word. == Answering the question "What is funny?" == Determining whether a word is inherently funny, some say, is subjective and based on context. Therefore, there can never be a consensus on the answer of "What is funny?", or many other questions explaining the nature of such an abstract concept. It is part of the mythology of actors and writers that the consonant plosives (so called because they start suddenly or "explosively"); that is: p, b, t, d, k, and g are the funniest sounds in the English language - particularly when found in short words since these "create the greatest tension" (tension being a key to comedy). Shorter words are held to "create tension" because separating words from the normal flow of speech is very difficult cognitively, and it's more difficult to discern whether a short word has ended or not. Now look again at that list of funniest words. Duck is not only admirably short but both starts and ends in a plosive, and the other plosives are legion. Unresolved questions about inherently funny words include: * Are there any known physiology or linguistics reasons for why these words are funny? * Are the funny sounds the same in other languages? ==Sources== *Barry, Dave (1991), ''Dave Barry Talks Back'', 1st edn., New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-58546-4. *The Power of the Plosive, Tips & Tactics, 1st Quarter 1999, The Naming Newsletter, Rivkin and Associates [http://www.namingnewsletter.com/article.asp?id=39] ==See also== * Comic timing * Spoonerism * Malapropism == External links == * [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~kimb/dai_version/subsection3_6_5.html#SECTION0006500000000000000 "Funny letters"] * [http://www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-humorwords-article.htm "Funny words"] * [http://domesticat.net/archives/entry.php?e=471 Fruits with inherently funny names] * [http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/woodytin.htm Monty Python "Woody and Tinny Words" sketch transcript] * [http://facstaff.uww.edu/shiblesw/humorbook/h8%20theory.html Theories on humor] * [http://www.favorites.com/~bailey/pants.html Substituting "pants" for words in ''Star Wars'' lines] * [http://www.geocities.com/startrekpants/index.html Substituting "pants" for words in ''Star Trek'' lines] * [http://www.snoozejersey.com/funnythings.html The Funny Things List] Lists of English words Humor Comedy
Inherently funny word
Krusty the Clown: "Memorize these funny place names. Walla Walla. Keokuk. Seattle." Maybe some links to other Wiki pages? Funny, Joke, Humor, etc... --User:Dante Alighieri This actually works: I just subvocalised "sock", "pock", "kack", "kumquat", "rutabaga", "balloon", "bassoon", and found myself laughing involuntarily. -- Anon. :I've always thought that the sound of the word "potato" spoken slowly was hilarious. --User:Dante Alighieri ::See for instance the dialogue between (IIRC) Sam and Gollum in the movie of ''The Two Towers'' ... the carefully enunciated "po-ta-toes" is worth a grin. --User:Fubar Obfusco 15:08 14 Jun 2003 (UTC) Is there any physiological or linguistic reason known about why this works? Are the funny sounds the same in other languages? -- Anon. :I always thought any word with an "oo" sound in it was funny, food being an exception for being such a common word. But even the face one makes saying it is funnier than most vowels. This list confirms that suspicion, look how many of these have it. "Poop"... "Boob"... two of the same consonant surrounding the "oo" sound seem to make it even funnier. "Noon" would probably be hilarious if we didn't hear it so much.User:PJV Hmmm. This article is highly idiosyncratic and POV at the moment, and really this belongs in the context of a wider article on comedy or humor IMHO. --User:Robert Merkel 00:35 Nov 28, 2002 (UTC) The article is slightly silly, but the phenomenon is real, and well-known to comedians. It also has potentially interesting avenues of serious inquiry: I would not be surprised if someone had made an academic study of this -- if not, they should. -- Anon. See also "Proposed Research Topic #2: Funny Words" at http://metaphoricaldwelling.org/Language/ and "The power of the plosive" at http://www.namingnewsletter.com/Plosives.html The funniest sounding word I know in English (offhand) is chess. -User:PierreAbbat I am very confused. What is it that you are saying is funny about these words? You just have a list of words, informing the reader that they a funny! WTF? User:Cgs 12:23 18 May 2003 (UTC) This article is nonsense, I vote for deletion. User:Mintguy 12:27 18 May 2003 (UTC) These words are hilarious ... well ... at least the idea that anyone could be so foolish to think they are "inherently funny" by some "law of nature" is hilarous. ''Don't delete!''Move to "Deleted jokes and other nonsense" - this delightfully asinine silliness deserves to be preserved. User:Tannin I don't think this should be deleted or removed. It's an interesting and real concept that comedians discuss and believe in. --User:The Cunctator However, after reading the article I still don't understand. Are you saying that if I tell my mother that "I am missing a sock" she will laugh? If I say "there is a badger in the garden shed" will people laugh? I have never encountered this. User:Cgs 18:09 18 May 2003 (UTC). Well, I just laughed. Does that count -- Anonymous *Me too -- Thomas You missed the point; the article says "to enhance the humor of their comic routines". It doesn't mean that badgers are always funny, but it does mean that if you tell a joke about a smallish mammal in your shed, you'll want to use "badger", as the effect will be funnier than saying "cat". Also, a comedian who is talking about old U.S. presidents would never say "John Adams" when he has the chance to say "Millard Fillmore" or "Grover Cleveland". User:Deltabeignet 23:15, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC) ---- Does this article refer to ''funny strange'' or ''funny ha ha''? What makes things ''funny ha ha'' is timing, not static letters. IMHO :) User:Kingturtle 19:10 18 May 2003 (UTC) Hmm. Maybe we need an article on comic timing, too. I vote to keep this: "sound" is definitely a real factor in comedy: silly names, for example. User:The Anome 19:18 18 May 2003 (UTC) Nothing wrong with this concept (and it is ''funny ha ha''). All words have connotations and denotations. Denotations are the "logical" meanings. Connotations are the "emotional" meanings. If a word has amusing connotations, it may be a funny word; if it has connotations of disgust, it may be a swear-word or an insult; if it is devoid of connotations, it may be used as technical jargon. Compare "poopie", "shit" and "faeces" for instance. Despite the fact that these all refer to the same thing, the connotations mean that one is funnier than the rest and one makes a better insult than the rest. -- User:Derek Ross 19:31 18 May 2003 (UTC) ---- Text moved from Votes for deletion: * inherently funny word ** This is just a list of words that the reader is told are funny. It's highly POV and less factual than a copy of The Sun (and about as funny as the latter). User:Cgs 13:02 18 May 2003 (UTC). User:Mintguy also agrees. ** User:Tannin suggests it is moved to Wikipedia:Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense ** I disagree. It (or at belief in it) is a real concept. Kind of like God, except not so much. --User:The Cunctator ** I disagree also. The article does focus on a longstanding debate in comedy. Is something ''inherently'' funny? Most comedians certainly believe that certain words, particularly in terms of their pronounciation and cultural context, ''are'' funny. This article needs a lot of work but it does have a basis behind it. But it needs to define context, comedic, traditional and cultural resonnances, etc. In some cultures, 'cack' means marbles and has no humour. Cack is also used as a colloquial meaning as 'fæces', which in some contexts touches on scatological humour and reduce an audience to hysterics. So this article definitely should ''not'' be deleted. User:Jtdirl 05:34 19 May 2003 (UTC) **I agree with the above two comments. There is a real issue that this article discusses. It should not be deleted. --User:Dante Alighieri 04:05 20 May 2003 (UTC) **Me, too. This is a good article. Anybody who has ever played Cheddar Gorge (game) knows that this is a real phenomenon. User:GrahamN 05:30 20 May 2003 (UTC) *** Surely what makes that funny is the context or juxtaposition of the words. User:Mintguy ****Actually, on reflection I was thinking of a different ''I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'' round, the one where they take turns to say single words, the object being ''not'' to make the audience laugh. [What ''is'' that round called?] It is evident from listening to that that certain words are simply funnier than others. For example "glass" or "filed" are completely safe, whereas "theodolite" or "pustule" would be suicide. User:GrahamN 02:25 25 May 2003 (UTC) *****But note the context in which the words are said, which is that everybody is silent and waiting for something funny to happen. Those same words said used properly in a phrase would not have a funny effect (like in "the geographer used a theodolite to find the height of the mountain"). User:Diego Moya **Don't delete it. The concept is well worth discussing. It's just that the current article needs to be replaced with something better. -- User:Derek Ross 20:06 20 May 2003 (UTC) **I think this can stay. It's highly POV right now, but has potential to become a good article. It needs an expanded introduction and more on the psychology of the phenomenon, and hopefully someone will add that eventually. -- User:Minesweeper 21:49 20 May 2003 (UTC) **I would be against deletion; however, I do doubt about the list of words, which seems POV to me. Okay, so the very existence of "inherently funny" words is POV... Should we move the article? Use of words for comedic effect, anyone? -- User:Oliver Pereira 11:02 21 May 2003 (UTC) :That sounds like a sensible suggestion. User:Mintguy :: User:Karada has just moved the article to my proposed title. I didn't realise that was going to happen so quickly. Perhaps I should have put more thought into the wording... -- User:Oliver Pereira 11:30 21 May 2003 (UTC) ::I'm moving it back. The article isn't about the use of words for comedic effect, it's about the concept of the inherently funny word. --User:The Cunctator ---- This page still bemuses me. What pray tell is inherently funny about the word "sock" without context? (I'm sure I'll regret asking this). User:Mintguy 17:31 21 May 2003 (UTC) I asked this before, but noone said anything: Are you saying that if I ask my mother "Have you seen the other sock of this pair?", she will burst out laughing at my funny question? Also, the article says that badger is funny because it's an unusual word. This is an example of the POV - where I live badgers are fairly common. I maintain that no word is inherently funny. User:Cgs 17:42 21 May 2003 (UTC). :Yes CGS I noted that you got no reply, which is why I repeated it. It the word 'Jam' inherently funny? I would say no. But then Eddie Izzard uses the word when he can't think of something to say. It's all to do with context. User:Mintguy :CGS, I just want to let you know that when I read in your comment above, "where I live badgers are fairly common", I burst out laughing. User:Guppy 15:20, 25 Sep 2003 (UTC) :"Sock" is not supposed to be funny without context. Actually, I might not consider it inherently funny, unless said in a British accent with sharp emphasis. Few words are funny on their own (although there are many notable exceptions: rutabaga, belch, googol). The article says "to enhance the humor of their comic routines", which is entirely different. As I've noted already, this means that, for example, a joke about vegetables is inevitably going to be funnier when the teller says "rutabaga" instead of "celery". In a joke about mammals, "badger" will be funnier than "cat". "Millard Fillmore ate a rutabaga and badger muffaletta" vs. "James Madison ate a celery and fish sandwich"; you tell me which is funnier. ---- It seems that my text at Votes for Deletion has been deleted during the move from that page to here. It is my opinion that while the page itself is ok, the list of funny words here is inherently POV and should therefore be removed. User:Andre Engels 08:55 22 May 2003 (UTC) : I don't ''think'' I lost anything in moving the text across. That last comment was you, wasn't it? "I would be against deletion; however, I do doubt about the list of words, which seems POV to me." If there was anything else that I did lose, I apologise. But anyway, I suppose if we ''are'' to keep the article at Inherently funny word, then we are facing a big NPOV problem, because the very existence of such a thing is a point of view. So we have to talk about what ''other people'' have claimed about such words. Of course we need examples, to illustrate the sorts of things we're talking about, but they have to be attributed, saying that so-and-so claimed that this word was funny, and so on. -- User:Oliver Pereira 19:42 23 May 2003 (UTC) ---- This discussion is fascinating. It strikes me this article may be the ultimate test of the [in my view dubious] concept of "neutral point of view". Some people are saying ''"We don't find the words in the list funny, therefore they are NOT funny, therefore they must be deleted."'' Others (including myself) are saying ''"We DO find these words funny, therefore they ARE funny, therefore they must be retained."'' Since humour is COMPLETELY subjective, there is no way of determining who is "right", so both points of view should be given equal weight. Therefore the list should be both deleted and retained. Get out of that! User:GrahamN 02:25 25 May 2003 (UTC) :Well the NPOV article tells us that where there is a dispute we should describe the dispute including what each side in the dispute says. So I would think that that means changing the article to discuss the worthiness of the concept of inherently funny words, if we take the NPOV article literally. User:Derek Ross 02:54 25 May 2003 (UTC) ::Ok, fair enough. User:GrahamN 13:49 14 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- How come this article is inherently not funny? User:Kingturtle 06:59 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::Because ''describing'' humour is one of the most humourless things anyone can do. A ''how to'' description is invariably never as good as actually doing it. But that doesn't mean it isn't useful knowing the 'how to' information. Many of these words are funny by the ''manner'' of their verbal usage, and that obviously cannot be conveyed in the spoken word. User:Jtdirl 07:13 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) :Because the tragedy of comedy is that one must eventually think about it. User:TUF-KAT ::The discussion of the effect and meaning of sounds is at least 2400 years old. And it is not confined to humor; but also rhetoric, word-magic, etc.... -- User:Cimon avaro 07:28 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- I was reading all the above and came across - ''It is evident from listening to that that certain words are simply funnier than others. For example "glass" or "filed" are completely safe, whereas "theodolite" or "pustule" would be suicide. GrahamN 02:25 25 May 2003 (UTC)'' : And guess what? The moment I came across "pustule" I immediately and utterly unintentionally sniggered, not from its meaning, or from the way it was being said, but simply because of the word. In other words, it seems to prove the point by being an "inherently funny word." And when I take it further and imagine Walter Matthau saying it in his distinctive voice, forget the sniggering, I start laughing out loud. Even the thought of Tom Cruise saying it sounds funny. (Not to mention George W. Bush!!!) User:Jtdirl 07:24 15 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- See also: http://people.ucsc.edu/~mleyden/words.htm for someone else's list of "funny words": note the long vowels and K/C/plosive sounds. User:The Anome 17:32 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) :Okay.. personally, I think 'plosive' should be on the list. That's one of the funniest words I've seen reading the article. --User:Patteroast 17:36, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC) And this one: http://timschnabel.net/funny.htm User:The Anome I removed the following: ''Nevertheless, the idea persists.'' The implication of the line is that the idea, contrary to all the evidence, persists. The implication of the line is a POV dismissal. User:Jtdirl 20:03 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) ---- Can people please stop moving this page around - it's moved twice today. It will be POV nonsense wherever you put it. User:Cgs 20:27 24 Jun 2003 (UTC). ---- And, of course, a truly comprehensive list would have ''Triscuit'' on it somewhere. User:Koyaanis Qatsi :Isn't that a cookie with three sides? --User:Guaka 15:11 11 Jul 2003 (UTC) What was meant by 'inherently funny' is that it makes comedy more funny when used correctly. Why a deadly rabbit in ''The Holy Grail''? Because it makes it funnier. It's a psychological phenomenon! ---- This article has twice been listed for deletion and twice kept for obvious reasons. Here is the second deletion debate: ---- I'd like to include: ''Sponge pudding'' and ''spoon'', but they're my own favourites. Vivian Stanshall and other British comics have got a lot of mileage out of ''trousers''. Also, ''monkeys'': can't decide if it's the ''animal'' the ''word'' or a combination of the two. But Alan Partridge's ''Monkey Tennis'' is a gem, and I've just had the new All Star Comedy Show on where Vic Reeves played a troubled man who could say nothing but ''Monkey trousers''. Perhaps if others share a fondness for these they can be included. At present I don't ahve solid enough references. --User:Bodnotbod 22:44, May 6, 2004 (UTC) == Spork == Does no-one else find this to be a very odd-sounding word. User:Zoney ███ User talk:Zoney 15:32, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC) -- Yes, Spork is indeed a funny word. User:Guppy 05:34, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC) :I have another one... well, two: ''gooey ooze'', but maybe there are too many funny words in English to fit them all in this article. ;) User:Sabbut 09:30, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC) ---- Yeah but so are 'Neptune', 'rhododendron', and 'scrum'. Also, I believe David Letterman once gave someone advice to insert he word 'pants' when necessary, and the name of his produciton company, 'World Wide Pants' is based on that word. Seems that should earn some mention. One point on this -- there are clearly certain words that, when used in a joke or other humourous bit, are funnier than others. For instance, the concept of putting a monitor in one's pants is somewhat funny, but it just sounds funnier when the word 'lizard' is used. 'Iguana' and 'Chamaeleon' are not bad either, but 'Haitian Curly-Tail' is just weird, and 'skink' might outdo them all. But all in all, despite the relative equal potential for viciousness and pain, putting a weasel in your pants outdoes them all. == Self-reference == Great article! I see only one problem. The sentence :"The following English words are considered by various contributors to this article to be inherently funny" is self-referential, which is to be avoided. I would fix it, but I don't know what to change it to. Perhaps someone else has an idea. User:Dbenbenn 04:42, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC) :I worry that the list is POV in that it needlessly privledges contributors to the article as experts, when in fact they have no special qualifications. The result is that the article tracks the aggregate POV of the contributors, which is not NPOV, nor will it become NPOV no matter how many contributors there are. I propose that the list be trimmed to entries that can be attributed to known and important comedians. User:Snowspinner 19:29, Jan 13, 2005 (UTC) ::Agreed. For a word to be included here, it should be described as inherently funny by some expert. (And important comedians count as experts.) Wikipedia:Cite your sources! And that would neatly solve my self-reference issue. User:Dbenbenn 20:06, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC) ::: I agree. Moreover, unless someone starts doing this quickly, the situation will get out of hand. People are adding words left and right. I'd like to help but I hardly know where to find proper sources on this sort of thing. I was considering moving to a new article, but I think once we delete unverified entries it should shrink drastically. User:Dcoetzee 10:55, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC) == Page Title == Shouldn't the page title be "Inherently funny words"? I realize that most wikipedia articles are entitled by the singular of the noun, but this article is more of a list that about an "inherently funny word". If the article told us which word was the specific funny word that it was referring to, that would be one thing, but this is about ''numerous'' words. User:Asbestos — User:Asbestos | User talk:Asbestos 18:18, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC) :Well, the article Knife talks about many kinds of knives. The noun sort of defines the general subject area. I wouldn't be for a name change, although I might be for removing the list to List of inherently funny words. User:Dcoetzee 01:53, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC) :Personally, I'd be for deleting the entire thing, but there's no point asking for for that. Moving to List of inherently funny words might also work, though it's not just a list page. I'm not sure, and don't really hold any strong feelings either way (just stumbled across this page by accident), but just feel tha the title is odd. No matter. User:Asbestos — User:Asbestos | User talk:Asbestos 13:01, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC) ==The list== I know that this has been discussed endlessly, but I dislike this list of funny words. Not only is it irrevocably POV, but at over ''two hundred words'', it is mind-bogglingly ''long''. Do we really need to list every single word that somebody somewhere might find funny? I'd personaly delete the list entirely, but in the interest of compromise, I'm willing to trim it down to maybe 10 entries. Or maybe keep only the words we have direct citations for, as suggested by snowspinner. If this change occurs, we can then remove the neutrality warning. On a less contentious note, I've deleted the rhetorical questions near the end, as rhetorical questions are not encyclopedic. User:DaveTheRed 01:38, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) :Please do — potentially seek legitimate attributions for some of them. User:Dcoetzee 01:52, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::You know, the more I look at it, the more I realize that the "list with citations" section we've been talking about already exists on this page. It's under the "Examples of References to the Concept" header. In which case, we can just eliminate the longer list entirely. I will do a quick check to verify the sourced examples, and if no one objects soon, I will make the changes. User:DaveTheRed 04:31, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) :::Sounds like that would be a very good improvement to the article. — User:Asbestos | Talk">User talk:Asbestos 11:48, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) ==Moratorium on adding new words== Sigh. I just dramatically shortened the list, and already someone has added another word (at least this time there's a source). I suggest we hold a moratorium on adding new words to the list. The examples we have are sufficient, and if people keep adding new words, we'll just run into the same problem we had before. BTW, the new word that was added, was "gherkin", attributed to Irregular Webcomic. I did a google search for "Irregular webcomic" and gherkin, and found nothing. Ergo, it will be reverted. User:DaveTheRed 07:21, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC) :Watch out — the text of webcomics often cannot be indexed because it is "hidden" in images. I'd try to get an explanation from the contributor first. :I would strongly argue against any policy of requiring prior agreement on adding words, but I think a friendly reminder about notability and citing sources in an HTML comment wouldn't hurt. Those who seem to be making things up can just continue to be reverted; this is innately the sort of list that people enjoy adding things to without evidence. The existing words are a good guide to what is appropriate. User:Dcoetzee 02:57, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::Your points are well taken. If the original editor wants to add that webcomic thing back, I won't revert. I will post the HTML notice as you requested. User:DaveTheRed 21:49, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC) Monkey should be noted as a popular funny word.
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