How to Tell a Joke

Author: Marcus Tullius Cicero
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691211078
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Book Description
Timeless advice about how to use humor to win over any audience Can jokes win a hostile room, a hopeless argument, or even an election? You bet they can, according to Cicero, and he knew what he was talking about. One of Rome’s greatest politicians, speakers, and lawyers, Cicero was also reputedly one of antiquity’s funniest people. After he was elected commander-in-chief and head of state, his enemies even started calling him “the stand-up Consul.” How to Tell a Joke provides a lively new translation of Cicero’s essential writing on humor alongside that of the later Roman orator and educator Quintilian. The result is a timeless practical guide to how a well-timed joke can win over any audience. As powerful as jokes can be, they are also hugely risky. The line between a witty joke and an offensive one isn’t always clear. Cross it and you’ll look like a clown, or worse. Here, Cicero and Quintilian explore every aspect of telling jokes—while avoiding costly mistakes. Presenting the sections on humor in Cicero’s On the Ideal Orator and Quintilian’s The Education of the Orator, complete with an enlightening introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Tell a Joke examines the risks and rewards of humor and analyzes basic types that readers can use to write their own jokes. Filled with insight, wit, and examples, including more than a few lawyer jokes, How to Tell a Joke will appeal to anyone interested in humor or the art of public speaking.

The JOKE

Author: Milan Kundera
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006099505X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
All too often, this brilliant novel of thwarted love and revenge miscarried has been read for its political implications. Now, a quarter century after The Joke was first published and several years after the collapse of the Soviet-imposed Czechoslovak regime, it becomes easier to put such implications into perspective in favor of valuing the book (and all Kundera 's work) as what it truly is: great, stirring literature that sheds new light on the eternal themes of human existence. The present edition provides English-language readers an important further means toward revaluation of The Joke. For reasons he describes in his Author's Note, Milan Kundera devoted much time to creating (with the assistance of his American publisher-editor) a completely revised translation that reflects his original as closely as any translation possibly can: reflects it in its fidelity not only to the words and syntax but also to the characteristic dictions and tonalities of the novel's narrators. The result is nothing less than the restoration of a classic.

If You Can't Take a Joke

Author: Andrew Darroch
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
ISBN: 1788488296
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
The gates of RAF Swinderby were the entrance to an alien world in the eyes of a young man with no previous military experience, and arrival there came as a shock to the senses; a shock which the instructors did their level best to maximise, by giving every instruction and making every observation in an ear-splitting shriek that could melt earwax. From dawn until dusk there was no respite as a host of alien concepts were hammered into us from a variety of different sources, nor from dusk until midnight when we would be cleaning every nook and cranny of our barrack block until everything gleamed, although it never seemed to be shiny enough for the corporal or the sergeant. Gradually though, the unfamiliar became familiar as those alien concepts sank in and stopped being alien, as we learned and toughened up, becoming the best we thought we could be, and then exceeded that and started to become as good as the instructors thought we could be; until we really learned how to take a joke.

Who Can't Take a Joke?

Author: John Talbot
Publisher: Nelson Thornes
ISBN: 9780174023296
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 30

Book Description
NO description available

If You Can't Take A Joke…

Author: Gordon Gray
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1783064684
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
From a ‘baby salesman’ in the UK marine market, to global success in the naval defence industry, Gordon Gray invites the reader to join him overseas as he recounts the trials and tribulations he faced as a naval salesman. This book describes many of the events and experiences that a salesman, operating in the international naval defence market, will come across in the course of daily life. Amusing incidents, successes and failures all contribute to the lessons Gordon learns as he is exposed to life in the global market. He picks up tips and tricks along the way and becomes accustomed to culture shock. Keen to learn the ropes from the start, Gordon is sent as far as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and the Middle East. Business in the Middle East is very different from that in the Far East and whilst successes are achieved, they are rarely without immense patience and determination, rather than being due to the gift of the gab. From an initial dislike of India on his first visit in 1985, Gordon grows to love the country and develops a deep admiration for its industries and its people. As Gordon reflects on his nomadic life as a naval salesman, he concludes that a career in sales is often misunderstood and is by no means an experience that is suited to all. If You Can’t Take A Joke is a captivating travel memoir that offers the reader an insight into the life of a salesman. This humourous adventure with a relaxed writing style will be enjoyed by readers of travel writing and individuals working in sales in any capacity.

Life's a Joke!

Author: Jay M. Horne
Publisher: Jay M Horne
ISBN: 0557134862
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Book Description
Addictive! A book that reveals the true potential of Life and the importance of laughter. As Jay M Horne records a dialogue of a very special kind, questions about Infinite, God, existence, and the human spirits unwavering strength to persevere and heal itself, are answered as he fights and wins his battle with addiction. Written, in such, simplistic form that even the weakest readers can grasp the concepts. For once, a refreshing book on spirituality that needs no interpretation.

Life's a Joke

Author: Dr. J. T. Dock Houk
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
ISBN: 1480918199
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 488

Book Description
Sometimes life hands you lemons. In this collection of jokes, autobiography, and personal philosophy, author and businessman Dr. J. T. Dock Houk makes an ocean of lemonade. Life’s a Joke compiles four books – “It’s All About Me,” “My Life with a Girl,” “Kids and Pets,” and “Life Around Us” – recounting 1,162 jokes, funny anecdotes, and descriptions of Sunday morning comics, clippings of which Dock has been collecting for an incredible amount of decades. As the author writes, “What I mean to convey by saying ‘life is a joke’ is that humor has helped me over some of the rough spots by showing me a side of life that either explains what I am feeling, or gives me a glimpse of something I also see. Humor, whose visual expression is often a joke, makes me smile or even laugh out loud. And sometimes, if you don’t laugh, you might cry.” So crack open Life’s a Joke and crack a smile. You might learn a little wisdom – but if not, at least you’ll get a laugh

The Humor Hack

Author: Michael K. Cundall Jr.
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666799858
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 124

Book Description
The Humor Hack is an entirely different book about using humor to lead a more engaged life. It's a playbook filled with anecdotes, exercises, and discussion of topics that will provide readers a way to understand how humor works and how they can take this knowledge and enrich their personal and professional lives with more laughs, enjoyment, and mirth. The book's content is based in research, but not academic in tone or format, and is accessible to the general reader. The subject matter is broken into chapters that teach people how to understand, recognize, and produce more humor in their day-to-day lives. It is written in a friendly and warm tone and avoids being nothing more than a series of stories about humor or an overly theory-laden academic book. It provides readers with a book that is enjoyable to read, informative, playful, and educational. That's why this is best described as a playbook. The book is meant to provide a sort of text that is missing in the current books out there that profess to be humor how-tos. It takes research related to humor and discusses it in an informed yet accessible fashion.

Trump Was a Joke

Author: Sophia A Mcclennen
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100085874X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
Written by a scholar of satire and politics, Trump Was a Joke explains why satire is an exceptional foil for absurd political times and why it did a particularly good job of making sense of Trump. Covering a range of comedic interventions, Trump Was a Joke analyzes why political satire is surprisingly effective at keeping us sane when politics is making us crazy. Its goal is to highlight the unique power of political satire to encourage critical thinking, foster civic action, and further rational debate in moments of political hubris and hysteria. The book has been endorsed by Bassem Youssef, who has been referred to as the “Jon Stewart of Egypt,” and Srdja Popovic, author of Blueprint for Revolution, who used satirical activism to bring down Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. With a foreword by award-winning filmmaker, satirist, and activist Michael Moore, this study will be of interest to readers who follow politics and enjoy political comedy and will appeal to the communications, comedy studies, media studies, political science, rhetoric, cultural studies, and American studies markets.

Taking Humour Seriously

Author: Jerry Palmer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134851383
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
First published in 1993. When do we laugh? Why do we laugh? What makes us stop? What does ‘humour’ consist of? Listen to any everyday conversation: it is full of the constant interruptions and detours of humour. Look at the TV schedules for any evening—how many of the programmes are comedies or contain a degree of humour? Humour and comedy invite our pleasure at every step we take—they are absolutely integral to any culture. In Taking Humour Seriously, Jerry Palmer argues that we must take humour seriously (as well as humorously) or fail to understand a fundamental part of culture. Taking Humour Seriously unravels the reasons why humour is a challenge for every different theoretical approach. It is multi-dimensional, it is part of personality and part of our cognitive and emotional processes; it is subject to social rules governing appropriate behaviour on different occasions. It is part of literary and audio-visual narrative; it is subject to moral and aesthetic judgment, and it is a rhetorical instrument. Palmer argues that it is only through investigating those separate dimensions that we can begin to understand the phenomenon of humour. Taking Humour Seriously examines the role humour and comedy play in many different types of society. It also looks at the many different approaches to its study—from Freud to anthropology, from literary criticism to biology. Finally it considers its limits—the things that prevent humour and comedy from delivering their usual pleasures—and explores the aesthetic value of those pleasures.