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“Let me be another victim of Rajapaksa’s genocide.” -Karunanidhi on indefinite fast
- Thread starter AtulaSiriwardane
- Start date
Lanka issue: Karunanidhi begins indefinite fast
27 Apr 2009, 0800 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM
Print Email Discuss Share Save CommentText:
<DIV class=KonaBody>CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi launched an indefinite fast on Monday morning demanding immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. ( Watch )
He went to the memorial of C N Annadurai, his mentor, and paid floral tribute to the late leader before going on fast.
“This is my sacrifice for the Tamil cause,” the chief minister said. “Let me be another victim of Rajapaksa’s (Lanka president) genocide.”
Sitting on a wheel chair, Karunanidhi said he did not want DMK men to go on a fast. "It is my decision and I do not want others to join," he said even as a host of DMK leaders, including his daughter Kanimozhi and his grand nephew Kalanidhi Maran rushed to spot to see him, PTI reported.
"I have decided to offer my life to the increasing numbers of lives lost due to the Sinhalese regime's continuing cruel acts against the Tamil ethnic minority in the war in Sri Lanka," Karunanidhi told reporters.
"After the Tamil Tigers offered unilateral truce (Sunday), I stayed awake the whole night surfing television channels and radio stations to hear good news. Since that did not happen, I have decided to embark upon this endeavour on behalf of all the Tamils of the world," he added, according to IANS.
LTTE offered a unilateral truce on Sunday which was summarily rejected by the Sri Lanka government. LTTE's truce offer came on a day when the Lankan forces captured the strategic Vlayarmadam area and encircled the remaining 6 sq km strip of land where Prabhakaran and his top aides are believed to be holed up in. The LTTE said the "suffering inflicted on our people by the Sri Lankan armed forces in violation of all international humanitarian laws has now reached its peak".
AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha said on Saturday that the establishment of a separate 'Eelam' homeland was the only solution for the Tamil minority in the island.
On Friday, Karunanidhi had asked the Centre to snap all diplomatic relations with the island nation if it did not honour India's latest appeal for a ceasefire in the embattled northern parts. The DMK president sent a telegram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee who on Friday made the appeal to the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to respond to the Tamil civilian problem.
Karunanidhi has been demanding a permanent ceasefire and an amicable solution to the ethnic strife within the framework of a unified Sri Lanka with minority Tamils treated on par with the Sinhalese.
Last week, the Tamil Nadu chief minister inflicted serious embarrassment on Congress by calling LTTE chief Prabhakaran a proclaimed offender in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, a "good friend".
Karunanidhi, who was speaking to a TV channel, also refused to describe the LTTE chief as a terrorist, though he faulted him for using "wrong methods". "Their goals are right, but method is wrong," he said of the LTTE, declared a terrorist organisation in India.
The Sri Lankan Tamils problem is snowballing into a major campaign issue in the run up to the May 13 Lok Sabha polls with all major opposition parties turning the spotlight on it.
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27 Apr 2009, 0800 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM
Print Email Discuss Share Save CommentText:
<DIV class=KonaBody>CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi launched an indefinite fast on Monday morning demanding immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. ( Watch )
He went to the memorial of C N Annadurai, his mentor, and paid floral tribute to the late leader before going on fast.
“This is my sacrifice for the Tamil cause,” the chief minister said. “Let me be another victim of Rajapaksa’s (Lanka president) genocide.”
Sitting on a wheel chair, Karunanidhi said he did not want DMK men to go on a fast. "It is my decision and I do not want others to join," he said even as a host of DMK leaders, including his daughter Kanimozhi and his grand nephew Kalanidhi Maran rushed to spot to see him, PTI reported.
"I have decided to offer my life to the increasing numbers of lives lost due to the Sinhalese regime's continuing cruel acts against the Tamil ethnic minority in the war in Sri Lanka," Karunanidhi told reporters.
"After the Tamil Tigers offered unilateral truce (Sunday), I stayed awake the whole night surfing television channels and radio stations to hear good news. Since that did not happen, I have decided to embark upon this endeavour on behalf of all the Tamils of the world," he added, according to IANS.
LTTE offered a unilateral truce on Sunday which was summarily rejected by the Sri Lanka government. LTTE's truce offer came on a day when the Lankan forces captured the strategic Vlayarmadam area and encircled the remaining 6 sq km strip of land where Prabhakaran and his top aides are believed to be holed up in. The LTTE said the "suffering inflicted on our people by the Sri Lankan armed forces in violation of all international humanitarian laws has now reached its peak".
AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha said on Saturday that the establishment of a separate 'Eelam' homeland was the only solution for the Tamil minority in the island.
On Friday, Karunanidhi had asked the Centre to snap all diplomatic relations with the island nation if it did not honour India's latest appeal for a ceasefire in the embattled northern parts. The DMK president sent a telegram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee who on Friday made the appeal to the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to respond to the Tamil civilian problem.
Karunanidhi has been demanding a permanent ceasefire and an amicable solution to the ethnic strife within the framework of a unified Sri Lanka with minority Tamils treated on par with the Sinhalese.
Last week, the Tamil Nadu chief minister inflicted serious embarrassment on Congress by calling LTTE chief Prabhakaran a proclaimed offender in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, a "good friend".
Karunanidhi, who was speaking to a TV channel, also refused to describe the LTTE chief as a terrorist, though he faulted him for using "wrong methods". "Their goals are right, but method is wrong," he said of the LTTE, declared a terrorist organisation in India.
The Sri Lankan Tamils problem is snowballing into a major campaign issue in the run up to the May 13 Lok Sabha polls with all major opposition parties turning the spotlight on it.
var zz=0;var sldsh=0; var bellyaddiv = ' ';var stindex=100;var stp=150;var taglen=0;var tmp;var tagcheck = new Array("div","span","br","font","a");var storycontent = document.getElementById("storydiv").innerHTML;var firstpara = storycontent.substring(0,storycontent.toLowerCase().indexOf("
")).toLowerCase();function findptt(cnt){zz++;if(zz == 10)return; var xxx=-1,yyy=-1; var ccnt = cnt; for(ii=0; ii < tagcheck.length; ii++){ xxx = ccnt.indexOf("
Please participate in a vote to determine the future copyright terms of Wikimedia projects (vote ends May 3, 2009). Vote now!
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Joke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Not to be confused with The Joke.
"Jokes" redirects here. For the filmmaker, see Jokes Yanes.
For the given name, see Joke (given name).
A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. These jokes will normally have a punch line that will end the sentence to make it humorous. A joke can also be a single phrase or statement that employs sarcasm. The word joke can also be used as a slang term for a person or thing which is not taken seriously by others in general. A practical joke or prank differs from a spoken one in that the major component of the humour is physical rather than verbal (for example placing salt in the sugar bowl).
Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired response is generally laughter; when this does not happen the joke is said to have "fallen flat".
Contents [hide]
1 Antiquity of jokes
2 Psychology of jokes
3 Jokes in organizations
4 Rules
4.1 Precision
4.2 Synthesis
4.3 Rhythm
4.4 Comic
4.5 Wit
4.6 Humour
5 Cycles
6 Types of jokes
6.1 Subjects
6.2 Styles
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Antiquity of jokes
Jokes have been a part of human culture since at least 1900 BCE. A fart joke from ancient Sumer is currently believed to be the world's oldest known joke[1]
A recent discovery of a document called Philogelos (The Laughter Lover) gives us an insight into ancient humour. Written in Greek by Hierocles and Philagrius, it dates to the third or fourth century AD, and contains some 260 jokes. Considering humour from our own culture as recent as the 19th century is at times baffling to us today, the humour is surprisingly familiar. They had different Stereotypes, the Absent-minded professor, the eunuch, and people with hernias or bad breath were favourites. A lot of the jokes play on the idea of knowing who you are:
a barber, a bald man and an absent minded professor take a journey together. They have to camp overnight, so decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it's the barber's turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says "How stupid is that barber? He's woken up the bald man instead of me.
Another joke goes: "A man tells a well-known wit: "I had your wife, without paying a penny". The husband replies: "It's my duty as a husband to couple with such a monstrosity. What made you do it?"
There is even a version of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch: a man buys a slave, who dies shortly afterwards. When he complains to the slave merchant, he is told: "He didn't die when I owned him." Comic Jim Bowen has presented them to a modern audience. "One or two of them are jokes I've seen in people's acts nowadays, slightly updated. They put in a motor car instead of a chariot - some of them are Tommy Cooper-esque."[2]
Psychology of jokes
Why we laugh has been the subject of serious academic study, examples being:
Immanuel Kant, in Critique of Judgement (1790) states that "Laughter is an effect that arises if a tense expectation is transformed into nothing." Here is Kant's 218-year old joke and his analysis:
"An Englishman at an Indian's table in Surat saw a bottle of ale being opened, and all the beer, turned to froth, rushed out. The Indian, by repeated exclamations, showed his great amazement. - Well, what's so amazing in that? asked the Englishman. - Oh, but I'm not amazed at its coming out, replied the Indian, but how you managed to get it all in. - This makes us laugh, and it gives us a hearty pleasure. This is not because, say, we think we are smarter than this ignorant man, nor are we laughing at anything else here that it is our liking and that we noticed through our understanding. It is rather that we had a tense expectation that suddenly vanished..."
Henri Bergson, in his book Le rire (Laughter, 1901), suggests that laughter evolved to make social life possible for human beings.
Sigmund Freud's "Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious". (Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten).
Arthur Koestler, in The Act of Creation (1964), analyses humour and compares it to other creative activities, such as literature and science.
Marvin Minsky in Society of Mind (1986).
Marvin Minsky suggests that laughter has a specific function related to the human brain. In his opinion jokes and laughter are mechanisms for the brain to learn nonsense. For that reason, he argues, jokes are usually not as funny when you hear them repeatedly.
Edward de Bono in "The Mechanism of the Mind" (1969) and "I am Right, You are Wrong" (1990).
Edward de Bono suggests that the mind is a pattern-matching machine, and that it works by recognizing stories and behaviour and putting them into familiar patterns. When a familiar connection is disrupted and an alternative unexpected new link is made in the brain via a different route than expected, then laughter occurs as the new connection is made. This theory explains a lot about jokes. For example:
Why jokes are only funny the first time they are told: once they are told the pattern is already there, so there can be no new connections, and so no laughter.
Why jokes have an elaborate and often repetitive set up: The repetition establishes the familiar pattern in the brain. A common method used in jokes is to tell almost the same story twice and then deliver the punch line the third time the story is told. The first two tellings of the story evoke a familiar pattern in the brain, thus priming the brain for the punch line.
Why jokes often rely on stereotypes: the use of a stereotype links to familiar expected behaviour, thus saving time in the set-up.
Why jokes are variants on well-known stories (e.g. the genie and a lamp and a man walks into a bar): This again saves time in the set up and establishes a familiar pattern.
In 2002, Richard Wiseman conducted a study intended to discover the world's funniest joke [1].
Humour and Jokes have also been concluded to be logic that is completely random or vice versa.[citation needed]
Laughter, the intended human reaction to jokes, is healthy in moderation, uses the stomach muscles, and releases endorphins, natural "feel good" chemicals, into the brain.
Jokes in organizations
Jokes can be employed by workers as a way to identify with their jobs. For example, 9-1-1 operators often crack jokes about incongruous, threatening, or tragic situations they deal with on a daily basis.[3] This use of humor and cracking jokes helps employees differentiate themselves from the people they serve while also assisting them in identifying with their jobs.[4] In addition to employees, managers use joking, or jocularity, in strategic ways. Some managers attempt to suppress joking and humor use because they feel it relates to lower production, while others have attempted to manufacture joking through pranks, pajama or dress down days, and specific committees that are designed to increase fun in the workplace.[5]
Rules
The rules of humour are analogous to those of poetry. These common rules are mainly timing, precision, synthesis, and rhythm. French philosopher Henri Bergson has said in an essay: "In every wit there is something of a poet."[6] In this essay Bergson views the essence of humour as the encrustation of the mechanical upon the living. He used as an instance a book by an English humorist, in which an elderly woman who desired a reputation as a philanthropist provided "homes within easy hail of her mansion for the conversion of atheists who have been specially manufactured for her, so to speak, and for a number of honest folk who have been made into drunkards so that she may cure them of their failing, etc." This idea seems funny because a genuine impulse of charity as a living, vital impulse has become encrusted by a mechanical conception of how it should manifest itself.
Precision
To reach precision, the comedian must choose the words in order to provide a vivid, in-focus image, and to avoid being generic as to confuse the audience, and provide no laughter. To properly arrange the words in the sentence is also crucial to get precision. An example by Woody Allen (from Side Effects, "A Giant Step for Mankind" story [2]):
“ Grasping the mouse firmly by the tail, I snapped it like a small whip, and the morsel of cheese came loose. ”
Synthesis
That a joke is best when it expresses the maximum level of humour with a minimal number of words, is today considered one of the key technical elements of a joke.[citation needed] An example from Woody Allen:
“ I took a speed reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia. ”
Though, the familiarity of the pattern of "brevity" has led to numerous examples of jokes where the very length is itself the pattern breaking "punchline".[citation needed] Numerous examples from Monty Python exist, for instance, the song "I Like Traffic Lights", and more modernly, Family Guy contains numerous such examples, most notably, in the episode Wasted Talent, Peter Griffin bangs his shin, a classic slapstick routine, and tenderly nurses it whilst inhaling and exhaling to quiet the pain. This goes on for considerably longer than expected.[vague] Certain versions of the popular vaudevillian joke The Aristocrats can go on for several minutes, and it is considered an anti-joke, as the humour is more in the set-up than the punchline.[vague]
Rhythm
Main articles: Timing (linguistics) and Comic timing
The joke's content (meaning) is not what provokes the laugh, it just makes the salience of the joke and provokes a smile. What makes us laugh is the joke mechanism. Milton Berle demonstrated this with a classic theatre experiment in the 1950s: if during a series of jokes you insert phrases that are not jokes, but with the same rhythm, the audience laughs anyway. A classic is the ternary rhythm, with three beats: Introduction, premise, antithesis (with the antithesis being the punch line).
In regards to the Milton Berle experiment, they can be taken to demonstrate the concept of "breaking context" or "breaking the pattern". It is not necessarily the rhythm that caused the audience to laugh, but the disparity between the expectation of a "joke" and being instead given a non-sequitur "normal phrase." This normal phrase is, itself, unexpected, and a type of punchline.
Comic
In the comic field plays the 'economy of ideative expenditure'; in other words excessive energy is wasted or action-essential energy is saved. The profound meaning of a comic gag or a comic joke is "I'm a child"; the comic deals with the clumsy body of the child.
Laurel and Hardy are a classic example. An individual laughs because he recognizes the child that is in himself. In clowns stumbling is a childish tempo. In the comic, the visual gags may be translated into a joke. For example in Side Effects (By Destiny Denied story) by Woody Allen:
“ "My father used to wear loafers," she confessed. "Both on the same foot". ”
The typical comic technique is the disproportion.
Wit
In the wit field plays the "economy of censorship expenditure"[7](Freud literally calls it "the economy of psychic expenditure".); usually censorship prevents some 'dangerous ideas' from reaching the conscious mind, or helps us avoid saying everything that comes to mind; adversely, the wit circumvents the censorship and brings up those ideas. Different wit techniques allow one to express them in a funny way. The profound meaning behind a wit joke is "I have dangerous ideas". An example from Woody Allen:
“ I contemplated suicide again - this time by inhaling next to an insurance salesman. ”
Or, when a bagpipe player was asked "How do you play that thing?" his answer was:
“ Well. ”
Wit is a branch of rhetoric, and there are about 200 techniques (technically they are called tropes, a particular kind of figure of speech) that can be used to make jokes.[8]
Irony can be seen as belonging to this field.
Humour
In the comedy field, humour induces an "economized expenditure of emotion" (Freud literally calls it "economy of affect" or "economy of sympathy". Freud produced this final part of his interpretation many years later, in a paper later supplemented to the book.).[7][9] In other words, the joke erases an emotion that should be felt about an event, making us insensitive to it.e.g: "yo momma" jokes. The profound meaning of the void feeling of a humour joke is "I'm a cynic". An example from Woody Allen:
“ Three times I've been mistaken for Robert Redford. Each time by a blind person. ”
This field of jokes is still a grey area, being mostly unexplored. Extensive use of this kind of humour can be found in the work of British satirist Chris Morris, like the sketches of the Jam television program.
Black humour and sarcasm belong to this field.
Cycles
Folklorists, in particular (but not exclusively) those who study the folklore of the United States, collect jokes into joke cycles. A cycle is a collection of jokes with a particular theme or a particular "script". (That is, it is a literature cycle.)[10] Folklorists have identified several such cycles:
the elephant joke cycle that began in 1962
the Helen Keller Joke Cycle that comprises jokes about Helen Keller[11]
Viola jokes[12]
the NASA, Challenger, or Space Shuttle Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster[13][14][15]
the Chernobyl Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Chernobyl disaster[16]
the Polish Pope Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to Pope John Paul II[17]
the Essex girl and the Stupid Irish joke cycles in the United Kingdom[18]
the Dead Baby Joke Cycle[19]
the Dingo Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance
the Newfie Joke Cycle that comprises jokes made by Canadians about Newfoundlanders[20]
the Little Willie Joke Cycle, and the Quadriplegic Joke Cycle[21]
the Jew Joke Cycle and the Polack Joke Cycle[22]
the Rastus and Liza Joke Cycle, which Dundes describes as "the most vicious and widespread white anti-Negro joke cycle"[23]
the Jewish American Princess and Jewish American Mother joke cycles[24]
the Wind-Up Doll Joke Cycle[25]
Chuck Norris facts
Tom Swifties
In Soviet Russia...
Aggie jokes honor Texas A&M University and its students' lack of intelligence.[26][27][28][29]
Gruner discusses several "sick joke" cycles that occurred upon events surrounding Gary Hart, Natalie Wood, Vic Morrow, Jim Bakker, Richard Pryor, and Michael Jackson, noting how several jokes were recycled from one cycle to the next. For example: A joke about Vic Morrow ("We now know that Vic Morrow had dandruff: they found his head and shoulders in the bushes") was subsequently recycled about Admiral Mountbatten after his murder by Irish Republican terrorists in 1980, and again applied to the crew of the Challenger space shuttle ("How do we know that Christa McAuliffe had dandruff? They found her head and shoulders on the beach.").[30]
Berger asserts that "whenever there is a popular joke cycle, there generally is some widespread kind of social and cultural anxiety, lingering below the surface, that the joke cycle helps people deal with".[31]
Types of jokes
Jokes often depend on the humour of the unexpected, the mildly taboo (which can include the distasteful or socially improper), or playing off stereotypes and other cultural beliefs. Many jokes fit into more than one category.
Subjects
Political jokes are usually a form of satire. They generally concern politicians and heads of state, but may also cover the absurdities of a country's political situation. A prominent example of political jokes would be political cartoons. Two large categories of this type of jokes exist. The first one makes fun of a negative attitude to political opponents or to politicians in general. The second one makes fun of political clichés, mottoes, catch phrases or simply blunders of politicians. Some, especially the "you have two cows" genre, derive humour from comparing different political systems.
Professional humour includes caricatured portrayals of certain professions such as lawyers, and in-jokes told by professionals to each other.
Mathematical jokes are a form of in-joke, generally designed to be understandable only by insiders.
Ethnic jokes exploit ethnic stereotypes. They are often racist and frequently considered offensive.
For example, the British tell jokes starting "An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman..." which exploit the supposed parsimony of the Scot, stupidity of the Irish or rigid conventionality of the English. Such jokes exist among numerous peoples.
Racially offensive humour is often considered unacceptable, but similar jokes based on other stereotypes (such as blonde jokes) are often considered acceptable.
Religious jokes fall into several categories:
Jokes based on stereotypes associated with people of religion (e.g. nun jokes, priest jokes, or rabbi jokes)
Jokes on classical religious subjects: crucifixion, Adam and Eve, St. Peter at The Gates, etc.
Jokes that collide different religious denominations: "A rabbi, a medicine man, and a pastor went fishing..."
Letters and addresses to God.
Self-deprecating or self-effacing humour is superficially similar to racial and stereotype jokes, but involves the targets laughing at themselves. It is said to maintain a sense of perspective and to be powerful in defusing confrontations. Probably the best-known and most common example is Jewish humour. The egalitarian tradition was strong among the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe in which the powerful were often mocked subtly. Prominent members of the community were kidded during social gatherings, part a good-natured tradition of humour as a levelling device. A similar situation exists in the Scandinavian "Ole and Lena" joke.
Self-deprecating humour has also been used by politicians, who recognize its ability to acknowledge controversial issues and steal the punch of criticism - for example, when Abraham Lincoln was accused of being two-faced he replied, "If I had two faces, do you think this is the one I’d be wearing?".
Dirty jokes are based on taboo, often sexual, content or vocabulary.
Other taboos are challenged by sick jokes and gallows humour; to joke about disability is considered in this group.
Scholarship applications for Wikimania 2009 are now open. Apply now! [Hide]
[Help us with translations!]
Joke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Not to be confused with The Joke.
"Jokes" redirects here. For the filmmaker, see Jokes Yanes.
For the given name, see Joke (given name).
A joke is a short story or ironic depiction of a situation communicated with the intent of being humorous. These jokes will normally have a punch line that will end the sentence to make it humorous. A joke can also be a single phrase or statement that employs sarcasm. The word joke can also be used as a slang term for a person or thing which is not taken seriously by others in general. A practical joke or prank differs from a spoken one in that the major component of the humour is physical rather than verbal (for example placing salt in the sugar bowl).
Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired response is generally laughter; when this does not happen the joke is said to have "fallen flat".
Contents [hide]
1 Antiquity of jokes
2 Psychology of jokes
3 Jokes in organizations
4 Rules
4.1 Precision
4.2 Synthesis
4.3 Rhythm
4.4 Comic
4.5 Wit
4.6 Humour
5 Cycles
6 Types of jokes
6.1 Subjects
6.2 Styles
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Antiquity of jokes
Jokes have been a part of human culture since at least 1900 BCE. A fart joke from ancient Sumer is currently believed to be the world's oldest known joke[1]
A recent discovery of a document called Philogelos (The Laughter Lover) gives us an insight into ancient humour. Written in Greek by Hierocles and Philagrius, it dates to the third or fourth century AD, and contains some 260 jokes. Considering humour from our own culture as recent as the 19th century is at times baffling to us today, the humour is surprisingly familiar. They had different Stereotypes, the Absent-minded professor, the eunuch, and people with hernias or bad breath were favourites. A lot of the jokes play on the idea of knowing who you are:
a barber, a bald man and an absent minded professor take a journey together. They have to camp overnight, so decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it's the barber's turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says "How stupid is that barber? He's woken up the bald man instead of me.
Another joke goes: "A man tells a well-known wit: "I had your wife, without paying a penny". The husband replies: "It's my duty as a husband to couple with such a monstrosity. What made you do it?"
There is even a version of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch: a man buys a slave, who dies shortly afterwards. When he complains to the slave merchant, he is told: "He didn't die when I owned him." Comic Jim Bowen has presented them to a modern audience. "One or two of them are jokes I've seen in people's acts nowadays, slightly updated. They put in a motor car instead of a chariot - some of them are Tommy Cooper-esque."[2]
Psychology of jokes
Why we laugh has been the subject of serious academic study, examples being:
Immanuel Kant, in Critique of Judgement (1790) states that "Laughter is an effect that arises if a tense expectation is transformed into nothing." Here is Kant's 218-year old joke and his analysis:
"An Englishman at an Indian's table in Surat saw a bottle of ale being opened, and all the beer, turned to froth, rushed out. The Indian, by repeated exclamations, showed his great amazement. - Well, what's so amazing in that? asked the Englishman. - Oh, but I'm not amazed at its coming out, replied the Indian, but how you managed to get it all in. - This makes us laugh, and it gives us a hearty pleasure. This is not because, say, we think we are smarter than this ignorant man, nor are we laughing at anything else here that it is our liking and that we noticed through our understanding. It is rather that we had a tense expectation that suddenly vanished..."
Henri Bergson, in his book Le rire (Laughter, 1901), suggests that laughter evolved to make social life possible for human beings.
Sigmund Freud's "Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious". (Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten).
Arthur Koestler, in The Act of Creation (1964), analyses humour and compares it to other creative activities, such as literature and science.
Marvin Minsky in Society of Mind (1986).
Marvin Minsky suggests that laughter has a specific function related to the human brain. In his opinion jokes and laughter are mechanisms for the brain to learn nonsense. For that reason, he argues, jokes are usually not as funny when you hear them repeatedly.
Edward de Bono in "The Mechanism of the Mind" (1969) and "I am Right, You are Wrong" (1990).
Edward de Bono suggests that the mind is a pattern-matching machine, and that it works by recognizing stories and behaviour and putting them into familiar patterns. When a familiar connection is disrupted and an alternative unexpected new link is made in the brain via a different route than expected, then laughter occurs as the new connection is made. This theory explains a lot about jokes. For example:
Why jokes are only funny the first time they are told: once they are told the pattern is already there, so there can be no new connections, and so no laughter.
Why jokes have an elaborate and often repetitive set up: The repetition establishes the familiar pattern in the brain. A common method used in jokes is to tell almost the same story twice and then deliver the punch line the third time the story is told. The first two tellings of the story evoke a familiar pattern in the brain, thus priming the brain for the punch line.
Why jokes often rely on stereotypes: the use of a stereotype links to familiar expected behaviour, thus saving time in the set-up.
Why jokes are variants on well-known stories (e.g. the genie and a lamp and a man walks into a bar): This again saves time in the set up and establishes a familiar pattern.
In 2002, Richard Wiseman conducted a study intended to discover the world's funniest joke [1].
Humour and Jokes have also been concluded to be logic that is completely random or vice versa.[citation needed]
Laughter, the intended human reaction to jokes, is healthy in moderation, uses the stomach muscles, and releases endorphins, natural "feel good" chemicals, into the brain.
Jokes in organizations
Jokes can be employed by workers as a way to identify with their jobs. For example, 9-1-1 operators often crack jokes about incongruous, threatening, or tragic situations they deal with on a daily basis.[3] This use of humor and cracking jokes helps employees differentiate themselves from the people they serve while also assisting them in identifying with their jobs.[4] In addition to employees, managers use joking, or jocularity, in strategic ways. Some managers attempt to suppress joking and humor use because they feel it relates to lower production, while others have attempted to manufacture joking through pranks, pajama or dress down days, and specific committees that are designed to increase fun in the workplace.[5]
Rules
The rules of humour are analogous to those of poetry. These common rules are mainly timing, precision, synthesis, and rhythm. French philosopher Henri Bergson has said in an essay: "In every wit there is something of a poet."[6] In this essay Bergson views the essence of humour as the encrustation of the mechanical upon the living. He used as an instance a book by an English humorist, in which an elderly woman who desired a reputation as a philanthropist provided "homes within easy hail of her mansion for the conversion of atheists who have been specially manufactured for her, so to speak, and for a number of honest folk who have been made into drunkards so that she may cure them of their failing, etc." This idea seems funny because a genuine impulse of charity as a living, vital impulse has become encrusted by a mechanical conception of how it should manifest itself.
Precision
To reach precision, the comedian must choose the words in order to provide a vivid, in-focus image, and to avoid being generic as to confuse the audience, and provide no laughter. To properly arrange the words in the sentence is also crucial to get precision. An example by Woody Allen (from Side Effects, "A Giant Step for Mankind" story [2]):
“ Grasping the mouse firmly by the tail, I snapped it like a small whip, and the morsel of cheese came loose. ”
Synthesis
That a joke is best when it expresses the maximum level of humour with a minimal number of words, is today considered one of the key technical elements of a joke.[citation needed] An example from Woody Allen:
“ I took a speed reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia. ”
Though, the familiarity of the pattern of "brevity" has led to numerous examples of jokes where the very length is itself the pattern breaking "punchline".[citation needed] Numerous examples from Monty Python exist, for instance, the song "I Like Traffic Lights", and more modernly, Family Guy contains numerous such examples, most notably, in the episode Wasted Talent, Peter Griffin bangs his shin, a classic slapstick routine, and tenderly nurses it whilst inhaling and exhaling to quiet the pain. This goes on for considerably longer than expected.[vague] Certain versions of the popular vaudevillian joke The Aristocrats can go on for several minutes, and it is considered an anti-joke, as the humour is more in the set-up than the punchline.[vague]
Rhythm
Main articles: Timing (linguistics) and Comic timing
The joke's content (meaning) is not what provokes the laugh, it just makes the salience of the joke and provokes a smile. What makes us laugh is the joke mechanism. Milton Berle demonstrated this with a classic theatre experiment in the 1950s: if during a series of jokes you insert phrases that are not jokes, but with the same rhythm, the audience laughs anyway. A classic is the ternary rhythm, with three beats: Introduction, premise, antithesis (with the antithesis being the punch line).
In regards to the Milton Berle experiment, they can be taken to demonstrate the concept of "breaking context" or "breaking the pattern". It is not necessarily the rhythm that caused the audience to laugh, but the disparity between the expectation of a "joke" and being instead given a non-sequitur "normal phrase." This normal phrase is, itself, unexpected, and a type of punchline.
Comic
In the comic field plays the 'economy of ideative expenditure'; in other words excessive energy is wasted or action-essential energy is saved. The profound meaning of a comic gag or a comic joke is "I'm a child"; the comic deals with the clumsy body of the child.
Laurel and Hardy are a classic example. An individual laughs because he recognizes the child that is in himself. In clowns stumbling is a childish tempo. In the comic, the visual gags may be translated into a joke. For example in Side Effects (By Destiny Denied story) by Woody Allen:
“ "My father used to wear loafers," she confessed. "Both on the same foot". ”
The typical comic technique is the disproportion.
Wit
In the wit field plays the "economy of censorship expenditure"[7](Freud literally calls it "the economy of psychic expenditure".); usually censorship prevents some 'dangerous ideas' from reaching the conscious mind, or helps us avoid saying everything that comes to mind; adversely, the wit circumvents the censorship and brings up those ideas. Different wit techniques allow one to express them in a funny way. The profound meaning behind a wit joke is "I have dangerous ideas". An example from Woody Allen:
“ I contemplated suicide again - this time by inhaling next to an insurance salesman. ”
Or, when a bagpipe player was asked "How do you play that thing?" his answer was:
“ Well. ”
Wit is a branch of rhetoric, and there are about 200 techniques (technically they are called tropes, a particular kind of figure of speech) that can be used to make jokes.[8]
Irony can be seen as belonging to this field.
Humour
In the comedy field, humour induces an "economized expenditure of emotion" (Freud literally calls it "economy of affect" or "economy of sympathy". Freud produced this final part of his interpretation many years later, in a paper later supplemented to the book.).[7][9] In other words, the joke erases an emotion that should be felt about an event, making us insensitive to it.e.g: "yo momma" jokes. The profound meaning of the void feeling of a humour joke is "I'm a cynic". An example from Woody Allen:
“ Three times I've been mistaken for Robert Redford. Each time by a blind person. ”
This field of jokes is still a grey area, being mostly unexplored. Extensive use of this kind of humour can be found in the work of British satirist Chris Morris, like the sketches of the Jam television program.
Black humour and sarcasm belong to this field.
Cycles
Folklorists, in particular (but not exclusively) those who study the folklore of the United States, collect jokes into joke cycles. A cycle is a collection of jokes with a particular theme or a particular "script". (That is, it is a literature cycle.)[10] Folklorists have identified several such cycles:
the elephant joke cycle that began in 1962
the Helen Keller Joke Cycle that comprises jokes about Helen Keller[11]
Viola jokes[12]
the NASA, Challenger, or Space Shuttle Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster[13][14][15]
the Chernobyl Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Chernobyl disaster[16]
the Polish Pope Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to Pope John Paul II[17]
the Essex girl and the Stupid Irish joke cycles in the United Kingdom[18]
the Dead Baby Joke Cycle[19]
the Dingo Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance
the Newfie Joke Cycle that comprises jokes made by Canadians about Newfoundlanders[20]
the Little Willie Joke Cycle, and the Quadriplegic Joke Cycle[21]
the Jew Joke Cycle and the Polack Joke Cycle[22]
the Rastus and Liza Joke Cycle, which Dundes describes as "the most vicious and widespread white anti-Negro joke cycle"[23]
the Jewish American Princess and Jewish American Mother joke cycles[24]
the Wind-Up Doll Joke Cycle[25]
Chuck Norris facts
Tom Swifties
In Soviet Russia...
Aggie jokes honor Texas A&M University and its students' lack of intelligence.[26][27][28][29]
Gruner discusses several "sick joke" cycles that occurred upon events surrounding Gary Hart, Natalie Wood, Vic Morrow, Jim Bakker, Richard Pryor, and Michael Jackson, noting how several jokes were recycled from one cycle to the next. For example: A joke about Vic Morrow ("We now know that Vic Morrow had dandruff: they found his head and shoulders in the bushes") was subsequently recycled about Admiral Mountbatten after his murder by Irish Republican terrorists in 1980, and again applied to the crew of the Challenger space shuttle ("How do we know that Christa McAuliffe had dandruff? They found her head and shoulders on the beach.").[30]
Berger asserts that "whenever there is a popular joke cycle, there generally is some widespread kind of social and cultural anxiety, lingering below the surface, that the joke cycle helps people deal with".[31]
Types of jokes
Jokes often depend on the humour of the unexpected, the mildly taboo (which can include the distasteful or socially improper), or playing off stereotypes and other cultural beliefs. Many jokes fit into more than one category.
Subjects
Political jokes are usually a form of satire. They generally concern politicians and heads of state, but may also cover the absurdities of a country's political situation. A prominent example of political jokes would be political cartoons. Two large categories of this type of jokes exist. The first one makes fun of a negative attitude to political opponents or to politicians in general. The second one makes fun of political clichés, mottoes, catch phrases or simply blunders of politicians. Some, especially the "you have two cows" genre, derive humour from comparing different political systems.
Professional humour includes caricatured portrayals of certain professions such as lawyers, and in-jokes told by professionals to each other.
Mathematical jokes are a form of in-joke, generally designed to be understandable only by insiders.
Ethnic jokes exploit ethnic stereotypes. They are often racist and frequently considered offensive.
For example, the British tell jokes starting "An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman..." which exploit the supposed parsimony of the Scot, stupidity of the Irish or rigid conventionality of the English. Such jokes exist among numerous peoples.
Racially offensive humour is often considered unacceptable, but similar jokes based on other stereotypes (such as blonde jokes) are often considered acceptable.
Religious jokes fall into several categories:
Jokes based on stereotypes associated with people of religion (e.g. nun jokes, priest jokes, or rabbi jokes)
Jokes on classical religious subjects: crucifixion, Adam and Eve, St. Peter at The Gates, etc.
Jokes that collide different religious denominations: "A rabbi, a medicine man, and a pastor went fishing..."
Letters and addresses to God.
Self-deprecating or self-effacing humour is superficially similar to racial and stereotype jokes, but involves the targets laughing at themselves. It is said to maintain a sense of perspective and to be powerful in defusing confrontations. Probably the best-known and most common example is Jewish humour. The egalitarian tradition was strong among the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe in which the powerful were often mocked subtly. Prominent members of the community were kidded during social gatherings, part a good-natured tradition of humour as a levelling device. A similar situation exists in the Scandinavian "Ole and Lena" joke.
Self-deprecating humour has also been used by politicians, who recognize its ability to acknowledge controversial issues and steal the punch of criticism - for example, when Abraham Lincoln was accused of being two-faced he replied, "If I had two faces, do you think this is the one I’d be wearing?".
Dirty jokes are based on taboo, often sexual, content or vocabulary.
Other taboos are challenged by sick jokes and gallows humour; to joke about disability is considered in this group.
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Ghost
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Ghost (disambiguation).
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"Hamlet and his father's ghost" by Henry Fuseli (1780s drawing)A ghost is popularly held to be the disembodied spirit or soul of a deceased person. [1][2] Popularly described as insubstantial and partly transparent, ghosts are reported to haunt particular locations that they were associated with in life or at time of death. A revenant is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied ghost or alternatively as an animated ("undead") corpse.
Phantom armies, ghost-animals, ghost trains and phantom ships have also been reported.[3][4]
A poll conducted in 2003 showed that more than half of adults in the United States believe in ghosts and/or demons.[5] To date, there is no solid empirical evidence of the existence of ghosts.
Ghosts or similar paranormal entities appear in film, theatre, and literature; legends and myths, and some religions.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 Typology
2.1 Anthropological context
2.2 Ghosts and the afterlife
2.3 Common attributes
2.4 Locale
3 History
3.1 Antiquity
3.2 Middle Ages
3.3 Renaissance to Romanticism
3.4 Modern period
4 By culture
4.1 Asia
4.2 Near East and Mediterranean
4.3 Pre-Columbian Americas
4.4 European folklore and modern Western culture
5 In modern culture and fiction
5.1 Literature
5.2 Film and television
6 Paranormal and scientific explanations
7 See also
8 References
Etymology
Further information: spirit, soul, anima, and genius
The English word ghost continues Old English gást, hypothetical Common Germanic *gaisto-z. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North and East Germanic (the equivalent word in Gothic is ahma, Old Norse has andi m., önd f.). The pre-Germanic form would have been *ghoizdo-z, apparently from a root denoting "fury, anger", cognate to Sanskrit hedas "anger", reflected in Old Norse geisa "to rage". The Germanic word is recorded as masculine only, but likely continues a neuter s-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been an animating principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation and fury (compare óðr). In Germanic paganism, "Germanic Mercury", and the later Odin, was at the same time the conductor of the dead and the "lord of fury" leading the Wild Hunt.
Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of Latin spiritus also in the meaning of "breath, blast" from the earliest (9th century) attestations. It could also denote any good or evil spirit, i.e. angels and demons; the Anglo-Saxon gospel refers to the demonic possession of Matthew 12:43 as se unclæna gast. Also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the "Holy Ghost". The now prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" emerges in Middle English (14th century) only.[6]
The synonym spook is also a Germanic word, although it was introduced into American English only in the 19th century, apparently as a loan from Low German spôk, of uncertain etymology. Alternate words in modern usage include spectre (from Latin spectrum), the Scottish wraith (of obscure origin), phantom (via French ultimately from Greek phantasma, compare fantasy) and apparition. The term shade in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά,[7] or Latin umbra[8], in reference to the notion of spirits in the Greek underworld.
The term poltergeist is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects.[9]
Also related is the concept of a fetch, the visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive, a notion widespread[citation needed] in shamanistic[citation needed] cultures. The word "ghost" may also refer to any spirit or demon.[2][10][11]
Typology
Anthropological context
Further information: Animism, Ancestor worship, Origin of religion, and Anthropology of religion
A notion of the transcendent, supernatural or numinous, usually involving entities like ghosts, demons or deities, is a cultural universal shared by all human cultures.[12] In pre-literate ethnic religions, these beliefs are often summarized under animism and ancestor worship.[13]
In many cultures malignant, restless ghosts are distinguished from the more benign spirits which are the subject of ancestor worship.[14]
Ancestor worship typically involves rites intended to prevent revenants, vengeful spirits of the dead, imagined as starving and envious of the living. Strategies for preventing revenants may either include sacrifice, i.e. the provision of the dead with food and drink in order to pacify them, or the magical banishment of the deceased, preventing them from returning by force. Ritual feeding of the dead is performed in traditions like the Chinese Ghost Festival or the Western All Souls' Day. Magical banishment of the dead is present in many of the world's burial customs. The bodies found in many tumuli (kurgan) had been ritually bound before burial,[15] and the custom of binding the dead persists, for example, in rural Anatolia.[16]
Nineteenth-century anthropologist James Frazer stated in his classic work, The Golden Bough, that souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body.[17]
Ghosts and the afterlife
Further information: Soul, Psyche, Underworld, Hungry ghost, and Psychopomp
Further information: Ghost Festival, All Souls' Day, and Day of the Dead
Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.
Common attributes
Another widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they were composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Anthropologists speculate that this may also stem from early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person, most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.[13] This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as the Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which by analogy became extended to mean the soul. In the Bible, God is depicted as animating Adam with a breath.
In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or "fetch" is a related omen of death.[18]
A White Lady were reported to appear in many rural areas, and supposed to have died tragically or suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with an individual family line, as a harbinger of death. When one of these ghosts is seen it indicates that someone in the family is going to die, similar to a banshee.
Legends of ghost ships have existed since the 18th century; most notable of these is the Flying Dutchman. This theme has been used in literature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.
Locale
Amityville House is portrayed as a haunted house in the filmSee also: Haunted house
A place where ghosts are reported is described as haunted, and often seen as being inhabited by spirits of deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Supernatural activity inside homes is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide — sometimes in the recent or ancient past. Amongst many cultures and religions it is believed that the essence of a being such as the 'soul' continues to exist. Some philosophical and religious views argue that the 'spirits' of those who have died have not 'passed over' and are trapped inside the property where their memories and energy are strong.
History
Antiquity
Further information: Shade (mythology)
Ghost stories date back to ancient times, and can be found in many different cultures. The Chinese philosopher, Mo Tzu (470-391 BC), is quoted as having said:
"The way to find out whether anything exists or not is to depend on the testimony of the ears and eyes of the multitude. If some have heard it or some have seen it then we have to say it exists. If no one has heard it and no one has seen it then we have to say it does not exist. So, then, why not go to some village or some district and inquire? If from antiquity to the present, and since the beginning of man, there are men who have seen the bodies of ghosts and spirits and heard their voices, how can we say that they do not exist? If none have heard them and none have seen them, then how can we say they do? But those who deny the existence of the spirits say: "Many in the world have heard and seen something of ghosts and spirits. Since they vary in testimony, who are to be accepted as really having heard and seen them?" Mo Tzu said: As we are to rely on what many have jointly seen and what many have jointly heard, the case of Tu Po is to be accepted."[19] (note: King Hsuan (827-783 BC) executed his minister, Tu Po, on false charges even after being warned that Tu Po's ghost would seek revenge. Three years later, according to historical chronicles, Tu Po's ghost shot and killed Hsuan with a bow and arrow before an assembly of feudal lords.)
Many other Eastern religious traditions also subscribe to the concept of ghosts. The Hindu Garuda Purana has detailed information about ghosts.[20]
The Hebrew Torah and the Bible contain few references to ghosts, associating spiritism with forbidden occult activities cf. Deuteronomy 18:11. The most notable reference is in the First Book of Samuel (I Samuel 28:7-19 KJV), in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the spirit of Samuel. In the New Testament, Jesus has to persuade the Disciples that he is not a ghost following the resurrection, Luke 24:37-39 (note that some versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term "spirit"). In a similar vein, Jesus' followers at first believe him to be a ghost (spirit) when they see him walking on water.
A celebrated account of a haunted house, from the ancient classical world, is given by Pliny the Younger (c. (50 AD).[21] Pliny describes, in a letter to a friend, how Athenodoros Cananites (c. 74 BC – 7 AD), a Stoic philosopher, decided to rent a large house in Athens, to investigate widespread rumors that it was haunted. Athenodoros staked out at the house that night, and, sure enough, a disheveled, aged spectre, bound at feet and hands with rattling chains, eventually appeared. The spirit then beckoned for Athenodoros to follow him; Athenodoros complied, but the ghost soon vanished. The philosopher marked the spot where the old man had disappeared, and, on the next day, advised the magistrates to dig there. The man's shackled bones were reportedly uncovered three years later. After a proper burial, the hauntings ceased.[22]
One of the first persons to express disbelief in ghosts was Lucian of Samosata in the 2nd century AD. In his tale "The Doubter" (circa 150 AD) he relates how Democritus "the learned man from Abdera in Thrace" lived in a tomb outside the city gates in order to prove that cemeteries were not haunted by the spirits of the departed. Lucian relates how he persisted in his disbelief despite practical jokes perpetrated by "some young men of Abdera" who dressed up in shrouds with skull masks in order to give him a fright.[23]
Middle Ages
From the medieval period an apparition of a ghost is recorded from 1211, at the time of the Albigensian Crusade[24]. Gervase of Tilbury, Marshal of Arles, wrote that the image of Guilhem, a boy recently murdered in the forest, appeared in his cousin's home in Beaucaire, near Avignon. This series of "visits" lasted all of the summer. Through his cousin, who spoke for him, the boy allegedly held conversations with anyone who wished, until the local priest requested to speak to the boy directly, leading to an extended disquisition on theology. The boy narrated the trauma of death and the unhappiness of his fellow souls in Purgatory, and reported that God was most pleased with the ongoing Crusade against the Cathar heretics, launched three years earlier. The time of the Albigensian Crusade in southern France was marked by intense and prolonged warfare, this constant bloodshed and dislocation of populations being the context for these reported visits by the murdered boy.
Renaissance to Romanticism
John Dee and Edward Kelley evoking a spiritRenaissance magic took a revived interest in the occult, including necromancy. The Child ballad Sweet William's Ghost (1868) recounts the story of a ghost returning to beg a woman to free him from his promise to marry her, as he obviously cannot being dead; her refusal would mean his damnation. This reflects a popular British belief that the dead would haunt their lovers if they took up with a new love without some formal release.[25] The Unquiet Grave expresses a belief even more widespread, found in various locations over Europe: ghosts can stem from the excessive grief of the living, whose mourning interferes with the dead's peaceful rest.[26] In many folktales from around the world, the hero arranges for the burial of a dead man. Soon after, he gains a companion who aids him and, in the end, the hero's companion reveals that he is in fact the dead man.[27] Instances of this include the Italian fairy tale Fair Brow and the Swedish The Bird 'Grip'.
Modern period
In 1848, the Fox sisters of Hydesfield in New York State, claimed to have communication with the disembodied spirits of the dead and launched the Spiritualist movement, which claimed many adherents in the nineteenth century.[28] The claims of spiritualists and others as to the reality of ghosts were investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, founded in London in 1882. The Society set up a Committee on Haunted Houses and a Literary Committee which looked at the literature on the subject.[29] Apparitions of the recently deceased, at the moment of their death, to their friends and relations, were very commonly reported.[30][31] One celebrated example was the strange appearance of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, walking through the drawing room of his family home in Eaton Square, London, looking straight ahead, without exchanging a word to anyone, in front of several guests at a party being given by his wife on 22 June 1893 whilst he was supposed to be in a ship of the Mediterranean Squadron, manoeuvering of the coast of Syria. Subsequently it was reported that he had gone down with his ship, the HMS Victoria, that very same night, after it had collided with the HMS Camperdown following an unexplained and bizarre order to turn the ship in the direction of the other vessel.[32] Such crisis apparitions have received serious study by parapsychologists with various explanations given to account for them, including telepathy, as well as the traditional view that they represent disembodied spirits.[33][34]
Summoning or exorcising the shades of the departed is an item of belief and religious practice for spiritualists and practitioners of ritual magic. According to a poll conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization about 32% of Americans "believe in the existence of ghosts".[35]
By culture
Asia
A Japanese depiction of a ghost.Yūrei (幽霊 ?) are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 (yū), meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 (rei), meaning "soul" or "spirit." Like their Western counterparts, they are thought to be spirits kept from a peaceful afterlife. See also Yokai, Obake.
Ancestor worship is central to Chinese folk religion. Other than the Qingming and Chongyang festivals, descendants should pay tributes to ancestors during the Zhongyuanjie, more commonly known as the Ghost Festival. Traditionally, other than the tombstones or urn-covers, descendants are expected to install altar (神台) in their homes to which they would pay homage regularly in the day, with joss sticks and tea. The ancestors, parents or grandparents, are worshiped or venerated as if they are still living. See also Chinese ghosts, Ghosts in Malay culture, ghost money, Hell bank note.
Ghosts in Bengali culture are a recurrent motives both in fairy tales and in modern day Bengali literature as well, references to ghosts may be often found. It is believed that the spirits of those who cannot find peace in the afterlife or die unnatural deaths remain on Earth. The common word for ghosts in Bengali is bhut ( ভূত).
In Central and Northern Asia, Shaman spirit guides play a central role.
Near East and Mediterranean
The Greek underworld (Tartarus) from its Near Eastern templates (compare Hebrew Gehenna and Babylonian Kurnugia), depicts the spirits of the deceased as "shadows" languishing underground. They can be visited by heroes venturing a descent to the underworld, or they can be conjured as apparitions by seers or necromancers. The Christian Hell is a direct continuation of these underworlds. The Greek Hero cult involved the apotheosis of selected individuals after their death.
Ishara was a Near Eastern goddess associated with the underworld. Her name may continue a Proto-Indo-European notion, cognate to Welsh Gwen-hwyfar (Irish Find-abair, from Proto-Celtic *windo-seibaro- "white ghost".
Pre-Columbian Americas
In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo were the spirits of human women who died in childbirth. They haunted crossroads at night, stealing children and causing sicknesses, especially seizures and madness, and seducing men to sexual misbehavior.
European folklore and modern Western culture
Further information: Revenant (folklore), Necromancy, Samhain, Halloween, and All Souls' Day
Further information: Ghosts of the American Civil War and Shadow people
"spirit photography" by William HopeBelief in ghosts in European folklore is characterized by the recurring fear of "returning" or revenant deceased which may harm the living. This includes the Scandinavian gjenganger, the Romanian strigoi, the Serbian vampir, the Greek vrykolakas, etc. British folklore is particularly notable for its numerous haunted locations.
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Ghost
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Ghost (disambiguation).
It has been suggested that Wraith be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (March 2009)
"Hamlet and his father's ghost" by Henry Fuseli (1780s drawing)A ghost is popularly held to be the disembodied spirit or soul of a deceased person. [1][2] Popularly described as insubstantial and partly transparent, ghosts are reported to haunt particular locations that they were associated with in life or at time of death. A revenant is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied ghost or alternatively as an animated ("undead") corpse.
Phantom armies, ghost-animals, ghost trains and phantom ships have also been reported.[3][4]
A poll conducted in 2003 showed that more than half of adults in the United States believe in ghosts and/or demons.[5] To date, there is no solid empirical evidence of the existence of ghosts.
Ghosts or similar paranormal entities appear in film, theatre, and literature; legends and myths, and some religions.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 Typology
2.1 Anthropological context
2.2 Ghosts and the afterlife
2.3 Common attributes
2.4 Locale
3 History
3.1 Antiquity
3.2 Middle Ages
3.3 Renaissance to Romanticism
3.4 Modern period
4 By culture
4.1 Asia
4.2 Near East and Mediterranean
4.3 Pre-Columbian Americas
4.4 European folklore and modern Western culture
5 In modern culture and fiction
5.1 Literature
5.2 Film and television
6 Paranormal and scientific explanations
7 See also
8 References
Etymology
Further information: spirit, soul, anima, and genius
The English word ghost continues Old English gást, hypothetical Common Germanic *gaisto-z. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North and East Germanic (the equivalent word in Gothic is ahma, Old Norse has andi m., önd f.). The pre-Germanic form would have been *ghoizdo-z, apparently from a root denoting "fury, anger", cognate to Sanskrit hedas "anger", reflected in Old Norse geisa "to rage". The Germanic word is recorded as masculine only, but likely continues a neuter s-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been an animating principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation and fury (compare óðr). In Germanic paganism, "Germanic Mercury", and the later Odin, was at the same time the conductor of the dead and the "lord of fury" leading the Wild Hunt.
Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of Latin spiritus also in the meaning of "breath, blast" from the earliest (9th century) attestations. It could also denote any good or evil spirit, i.e. angels and demons; the Anglo-Saxon gospel refers to the demonic possession of Matthew 12:43 as se unclæna gast. Also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the "Holy Ghost". The now prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" emerges in Middle English (14th century) only.[6]
The synonym spook is also a Germanic word, although it was introduced into American English only in the 19th century, apparently as a loan from Low German spôk, of uncertain etymology. Alternate words in modern usage include spectre (from Latin spectrum), the Scottish wraith (of obscure origin), phantom (via French ultimately from Greek phantasma, compare fantasy) and apparition. The term shade in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά,[7] or Latin umbra[8], in reference to the notion of spirits in the Greek underworld.
The term poltergeist is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects.[9]
Also related is the concept of a fetch, the visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive, a notion widespread[citation needed] in shamanistic[citation needed] cultures. The word "ghost" may also refer to any spirit or demon.[2][10][11]
Typology
Anthropological context
Further information: Animism, Ancestor worship, Origin of religion, and Anthropology of religion
A notion of the transcendent, supernatural or numinous, usually involving entities like ghosts, demons or deities, is a cultural universal shared by all human cultures.[12] In pre-literate ethnic religions, these beliefs are often summarized under animism and ancestor worship.[13]
In many cultures malignant, restless ghosts are distinguished from the more benign spirits which are the subject of ancestor worship.[14]
Ancestor worship typically involves rites intended to prevent revenants, vengeful spirits of the dead, imagined as starving and envious of the living. Strategies for preventing revenants may either include sacrifice, i.e. the provision of the dead with food and drink in order to pacify them, or the magical banishment of the deceased, preventing them from returning by force. Ritual feeding of the dead is performed in traditions like the Chinese Ghost Festival or the Western All Souls' Day. Magical banishment of the dead is present in many of the world's burial customs. The bodies found in many tumuli (kurgan) had been ritually bound before burial,[15] and the custom of binding the dead persists, for example, in rural Anatolia.[16]
Nineteenth-century anthropologist James Frazer stated in his classic work, The Golden Bough, that souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body.[17]
Ghosts and the afterlife
Further information: Soul, Psyche, Underworld, Hungry ghost, and Psychopomp
Further information: Ghost Festival, All Souls' Day, and Day of the Dead
Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.
Common attributes
Another widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they were composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Anthropologists speculate that this may also stem from early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person, most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.[13] This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as the Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which by analogy became extended to mean the soul. In the Bible, God is depicted as animating Adam with a breath.
In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or "fetch" is a related omen of death.[18]
A White Lady were reported to appear in many rural areas, and supposed to have died tragically or suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with an individual family line, as a harbinger of death. When one of these ghosts is seen it indicates that someone in the family is going to die, similar to a banshee.
Legends of ghost ships have existed since the 18th century; most notable of these is the Flying Dutchman. This theme has been used in literature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.
Locale
Amityville House is portrayed as a haunted house in the filmSee also: Haunted house
A place where ghosts are reported is described as haunted, and often seen as being inhabited by spirits of deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Supernatural activity inside homes is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide — sometimes in the recent or ancient past. Amongst many cultures and religions it is believed that the essence of a being such as the 'soul' continues to exist. Some philosophical and religious views argue that the 'spirits' of those who have died have not 'passed over' and are trapped inside the property where their memories and energy are strong.
History
Antiquity
Further information: Shade (mythology)
Ghost stories date back to ancient times, and can be found in many different cultures. The Chinese philosopher, Mo Tzu (470-391 BC), is quoted as having said:
"The way to find out whether anything exists or not is to depend on the testimony of the ears and eyes of the multitude. If some have heard it or some have seen it then we have to say it exists. If no one has heard it and no one has seen it then we have to say it does not exist. So, then, why not go to some village or some district and inquire? If from antiquity to the present, and since the beginning of man, there are men who have seen the bodies of ghosts and spirits and heard their voices, how can we say that they do not exist? If none have heard them and none have seen them, then how can we say they do? But those who deny the existence of the spirits say: "Many in the world have heard and seen something of ghosts and spirits. Since they vary in testimony, who are to be accepted as really having heard and seen them?" Mo Tzu said: As we are to rely on what many have jointly seen and what many have jointly heard, the case of Tu Po is to be accepted."[19] (note: King Hsuan (827-783 BC) executed his minister, Tu Po, on false charges even after being warned that Tu Po's ghost would seek revenge. Three years later, according to historical chronicles, Tu Po's ghost shot and killed Hsuan with a bow and arrow before an assembly of feudal lords.)
Many other Eastern religious traditions also subscribe to the concept of ghosts. The Hindu Garuda Purana has detailed information about ghosts.[20]
The Hebrew Torah and the Bible contain few references to ghosts, associating spiritism with forbidden occult activities cf. Deuteronomy 18:11. The most notable reference is in the First Book of Samuel (I Samuel 28:7-19 KJV), in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the spirit of Samuel. In the New Testament, Jesus has to persuade the Disciples that he is not a ghost following the resurrection, Luke 24:37-39 (note that some versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term "spirit"). In a similar vein, Jesus' followers at first believe him to be a ghost (spirit) when they see him walking on water.
A celebrated account of a haunted house, from the ancient classical world, is given by Pliny the Younger (c. (50 AD).[21] Pliny describes, in a letter to a friend, how Athenodoros Cananites (c. 74 BC – 7 AD), a Stoic philosopher, decided to rent a large house in Athens, to investigate widespread rumors that it was haunted. Athenodoros staked out at the house that night, and, sure enough, a disheveled, aged spectre, bound at feet and hands with rattling chains, eventually appeared. The spirit then beckoned for Athenodoros to follow him; Athenodoros complied, but the ghost soon vanished. The philosopher marked the spot where the old man had disappeared, and, on the next day, advised the magistrates to dig there. The man's shackled bones were reportedly uncovered three years later. After a proper burial, the hauntings ceased.[22]
One of the first persons to express disbelief in ghosts was Lucian of Samosata in the 2nd century AD. In his tale "The Doubter" (circa 150 AD) he relates how Democritus "the learned man from Abdera in Thrace" lived in a tomb outside the city gates in order to prove that cemeteries were not haunted by the spirits of the departed. Lucian relates how he persisted in his disbelief despite practical jokes perpetrated by "some young men of Abdera" who dressed up in shrouds with skull masks in order to give him a fright.[23]
Middle Ages
From the medieval period an apparition of a ghost is recorded from 1211, at the time of the Albigensian Crusade[24]. Gervase of Tilbury, Marshal of Arles, wrote that the image of Guilhem, a boy recently murdered in the forest, appeared in his cousin's home in Beaucaire, near Avignon. This series of "visits" lasted all of the summer. Through his cousin, who spoke for him, the boy allegedly held conversations with anyone who wished, until the local priest requested to speak to the boy directly, leading to an extended disquisition on theology. The boy narrated the trauma of death and the unhappiness of his fellow souls in Purgatory, and reported that God was most pleased with the ongoing Crusade against the Cathar heretics, launched three years earlier. The time of the Albigensian Crusade in southern France was marked by intense and prolonged warfare, this constant bloodshed and dislocation of populations being the context for these reported visits by the murdered boy.
Renaissance to Romanticism
John Dee and Edward Kelley evoking a spiritRenaissance magic took a revived interest in the occult, including necromancy. The Child ballad Sweet William's Ghost (1868) recounts the story of a ghost returning to beg a woman to free him from his promise to marry her, as he obviously cannot being dead; her refusal would mean his damnation. This reflects a popular British belief that the dead would haunt their lovers if they took up with a new love without some formal release.[25] The Unquiet Grave expresses a belief even more widespread, found in various locations over Europe: ghosts can stem from the excessive grief of the living, whose mourning interferes with the dead's peaceful rest.[26] In many folktales from around the world, the hero arranges for the burial of a dead man. Soon after, he gains a companion who aids him and, in the end, the hero's companion reveals that he is in fact the dead man.[27] Instances of this include the Italian fairy tale Fair Brow and the Swedish The Bird 'Grip'.
Modern period
In 1848, the Fox sisters of Hydesfield in New York State, claimed to have communication with the disembodied spirits of the dead and launched the Spiritualist movement, which claimed many adherents in the nineteenth century.[28] The claims of spiritualists and others as to the reality of ghosts were investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, founded in London in 1882. The Society set up a Committee on Haunted Houses and a Literary Committee which looked at the literature on the subject.[29] Apparitions of the recently deceased, at the moment of their death, to their friends and relations, were very commonly reported.[30][31] One celebrated example was the strange appearance of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, walking through the drawing room of his family home in Eaton Square, London, looking straight ahead, without exchanging a word to anyone, in front of several guests at a party being given by his wife on 22 June 1893 whilst he was supposed to be in a ship of the Mediterranean Squadron, manoeuvering of the coast of Syria. Subsequently it was reported that he had gone down with his ship, the HMS Victoria, that very same night, after it had collided with the HMS Camperdown following an unexplained and bizarre order to turn the ship in the direction of the other vessel.[32] Such crisis apparitions have received serious study by parapsychologists with various explanations given to account for them, including telepathy, as well as the traditional view that they represent disembodied spirits.[33][34]
Summoning or exorcising the shades of the departed is an item of belief and religious practice for spiritualists and practitioners of ritual magic. According to a poll conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization about 32% of Americans "believe in the existence of ghosts".[35]
By culture
Asia
A Japanese depiction of a ghost.Yūrei (幽霊 ?) are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 (yū), meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 (rei), meaning "soul" or "spirit." Like their Western counterparts, they are thought to be spirits kept from a peaceful afterlife. See also Yokai, Obake.
Ancestor worship is central to Chinese folk religion. Other than the Qingming and Chongyang festivals, descendants should pay tributes to ancestors during the Zhongyuanjie, more commonly known as the Ghost Festival. Traditionally, other than the tombstones or urn-covers, descendants are expected to install altar (神台) in their homes to which they would pay homage regularly in the day, with joss sticks and tea. The ancestors, parents or grandparents, are worshiped or venerated as if they are still living. See also Chinese ghosts, Ghosts in Malay culture, ghost money, Hell bank note.
Ghosts in Bengali culture are a recurrent motives both in fairy tales and in modern day Bengali literature as well, references to ghosts may be often found. It is believed that the spirits of those who cannot find peace in the afterlife or die unnatural deaths remain on Earth. The common word for ghosts in Bengali is bhut ( ভূত).
In Central and Northern Asia, Shaman spirit guides play a central role.
Near East and Mediterranean
The Greek underworld (Tartarus) from its Near Eastern templates (compare Hebrew Gehenna and Babylonian Kurnugia), depicts the spirits of the deceased as "shadows" languishing underground. They can be visited by heroes venturing a descent to the underworld, or they can be conjured as apparitions by seers or necromancers. The Christian Hell is a direct continuation of these underworlds. The Greek Hero cult involved the apotheosis of selected individuals after their death.
Ishara was a Near Eastern goddess associated with the underworld. Her name may continue a Proto-Indo-European notion, cognate to Welsh Gwen-hwyfar (Irish Find-abair, from Proto-Celtic *windo-seibaro- "white ghost".
Pre-Columbian Americas
In Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo were the spirits of human women who died in childbirth. They haunted crossroads at night, stealing children and causing sicknesses, especially seizures and madness, and seducing men to sexual misbehavior.
European folklore and modern Western culture
Further information: Revenant (folklore), Necromancy, Samhain, Halloween, and All Souls' Day
Further information: Ghosts of the American Civil War and Shadow people
"spirit photography" by William HopeBelief in ghosts in European folklore is characterized by the recurring fear of "returning" or revenant deceased which may harm the living. This includes the Scandinavian gjenganger, the Romanian strigoi, the Serbian vampir, the Greek vrykolakas, etc. British folklore is particularly notable for its numerous haunted locations.
Donkey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation).
Donkey
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Perissodactyla
Family:Equidae
Genus:Equus
Subgenus:Asinus
Species:E. africanus
Subspecies:E. africanus asinus
Trinomial nameEquus africanus asinus
Linnaeus, 1758The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus,[1][2] is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family, and an odd-toed ungulate. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E. africanus. Traditionally, the scientific name for the donkey is Equus asinus asinus based on the principle of priority used for scientific names of animals. However, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has ruled in 2003 that if the domestic species and the wild species are considered subspecies of each other, the scientific name of the wild species has priority, even when that subspecies has been described after the domestic subspecies.[2] This means that the proper scientific name for the donkey is Equus africanus asinus when it is considered a subspecies, and Equus asinus when it is considered a species.
In the western United States, a small donkey is sometimes called a burro (from the Spanish word for the animal).
A male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female a jenny, and offspring less than one year old, a foal (male: colt, female filly).
While different species of the Equidae family can interbreed, offspring are almost always sterile. Nonetheless, horse/donkey hybrids are popular for their durability and vigor. A mule is the offspring of a jack (male donkey) and a mare (female horse). The much rarer successful mating of a male horse and a female donkey produces a hinny.
Asses were first domesticated around 3000 BCE[3], approximately the same time as the horse, and have spread around the world. They continue to fill important roles in many places today and domesticated species are increasing in numbers, but the African wild ass and another relative, the Onager, are endangered. As "beasts of burden" and companions, asses and donkeys have worked together with humans for centuries.
Contents
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Breeding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Donkey (disambiguation).
Donkey
Conservation statusDomesticated
Scientific classificationKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Perissodactyla
Family:Equidae
Genus:Equus
Subgenus:Asinus
Species:E. africanus
Subspecies:E. africanus asinus
Trinomial nameEquus africanus asinus
Linnaeus, 1758The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus,[1][2] is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family, and an odd-toed ungulate. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E. africanus. Traditionally, the scientific name for the donkey is Equus asinus asinus based on the principle of priority used for scientific names of animals. However, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has ruled in 2003 that if the domestic species and the wild species are considered subspecies of each other, the scientific name of the wild species has priority, even when that subspecies has been described after the domestic subspecies.[2] This means that the proper scientific name for the donkey is Equus africanus asinus when it is considered a subspecies, and Equus asinus when it is considered a species.
In the western United States, a small donkey is sometimes called a burro (from the Spanish word for the animal).
A male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female a jenny, and offspring less than one year old, a foal (male: colt, female filly).
While different species of the Equidae family can interbreed, offspring are almost always sterile. Nonetheless, horse/donkey hybrids are popular for their durability and vigor. A mule is the offspring of a jack (male donkey) and a mare (female horse). The much rarer successful mating of a male horse and a female donkey produces a hinny.
Asses were first domesticated around 3000 BCE[3], approximately the same time as the horse, and have spread around the world. They continue to fill important roles in many places today and domesticated species are increasing in numbers, but the African wild ass and another relative, the Onager, are endangered. As "beasts of burden" and companions, asses and donkeys have worked together with humans for centuries.
Contents
[hide]
- <LI class=toclevel-1>1 Breeding <LI class=toclevel-1>2 Characteristics <LI class=toclevel-1>3 Etymology of the name <LI class=toclevel-1>4 History <LI class=toclevel-1>5 Economic use <LI class=toclevel-1>6 Present status <LI class=toclevel-1>7 Donkeys in warfare <LI class=toclevel-1>8 Types of donkeys
- <LI class=toclevel-2>8.1 Domestic donkey breeds <LI class=toclevel-2>8.2 Burro <LI class=toclevel-2>8.3 Donkey hybrids
- 8.4 Wild Ass, Onager, and Kiang
- <LI class=toclevel-2>9.1 Religion and myth <LI class=toclevel-2>9.2 Fable and folklore <LI class=toclevel-2>9.3 Literature <LI class=toclevel-2>9.4 Film <LI class=toclevel-2>9.5 Proverb and idiom <LI class=toclevel-2>9.6 Pub names <LI class=toclevel-2>9.7 Advertising <LI class=toclevel-2>9.8 Insult and vulgarity
- 9.9 Politics
- 13 External links
Breeding
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