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Cruel jokes is a
Section "Cruel" Jokes, p. 415
/ref> They belong to the category of sick humor. Typical examples:
In American culture, jokes of this kind were recorded as early as in the 1930s as the ''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes''
at
A significant part of them was focused on in-family antagonism, stressing lovelessness and violence. Joseph Boskin attributes them to increased anxiety within families due to severe societal changes: two working parents, frequent relocations, increase in marital separation and divorce.''The Humor Prism in 20th-century America'' ed. Joseph Boskin, Chapter "The Giant and the Child: "Cruel" Humor in American Culture" by Joseph Boskin,
p. 193
/ref> In 1960, Brian Sutton-Smith classified 155 collected "cruel" jokes into categories of murder of friend or relative, mutilation, cannibalism, corpses, beasts, excrement, degenerate parents, indifference to young, afflictions/disease/mutilation, religion, and famous people. He noted that at this time there was no established name for these jokes and they were variously called Cruel Jokes, Bloody Marys, Hate Jokes, Ivy League Jokes, Sadist Jokes, Gruesomes, Grimsels, Sick Jokes, Freddie Jokes, Depression Jokes, Meanie Jokes, and Comedy of Horror. The collected jokes appear to have originated during the 1950s and come both from American and British sources. Brian Sutton-Smith, "'Shut Up and Keep Diggin': The Cruel Joke Series", ''Midwest Folklore'', vol. X no. 1, 1960, pp. 11–22, Sutton-Smith notices the major novelty: all mishaps with Little Audrey (being cooked, crushed, broken, etc.) were due to accidents, while in cruel jokes the macabre acts are intentional. Roger Abrahams pointed out the terse "vignette" form of the joke, akin to a caption to a cartoon, and noticed that some of them have already been known in a more narrative form. "Son, will you quit kicking your sister" – "Oh, that's all right. She's already dead". Compare with: "The boy was walking down the street kicking a baby. A policeman walked up to him and said. 'What are you doing here?' – 'I am kicking the baby down the street'. – 'You are what?' – 'Oh, that's all right, he's dead.'"Roger D. Abrahams, "Ghastly Commands: The Cruel Joke Revisited", ''Midwest Folklore'', vol. XI no. 4, 1961/1962, pp. 235–246, Abrahams noted that this kind of anti-
Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes By Col. D. Streamer (Harry Graham)
Project Gutenberg Joke cycles Cruelty Off-color humor
joke cycle
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...
dealing with cruelty
Cruelty is the intentional infliction of suffering or the inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involv ...
and macabre
In works of art, the adjective macabre ( or ; ) means "having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere". The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death. The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in natu ...
topics.''Encyclopedia of Humor Studies''Section "Cruel" Jokes, p. 415
/ref> They belong to the category of sick humor. Typical examples:
:– Mommy, why is daddy still sleeping? :– Shut up and keep digging.
:– Mommy, why is daddy swimming so fast? :– Shut up and reload.
History
In American culture, jokes of this kind were recorded as early as in the 1930s as the Little Audrey
Little Audrey (full name: Audrey Smith) is a fictional animated cartoon character, appearing in early 20th century comics prior to starring in a series of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She was devised after Paramou ...
jokes, with a larger cycle reported during the 1950s, many with the "Shut up..." punch line. Sutton-Smith remarks that the macabre nature of these jokes may also be compared with even earlier 19th-century Little Willie rhymes
''Little Willie'' rhymes are light verses including an indifferent or cheerfully inappropriate response to a gruesome act of violence in a quatrain form attributed to Harry Graham (1874-1936). The earliest was included among the ''Ruthless Rhymes ...
: "Little Willie with his thirst for gore / Nailed his mommy's baby to the door". The origin of Little Willie poetry and other sick humour is attributed to the 1899 book ''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes'' by minor poet Harry Graham.at
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
p. 193
/ref> In 1960, Brian Sutton-Smith classified 155 collected "cruel" jokes into categories of murder of friend or relative, mutilation, cannibalism, corpses, beasts, excrement, degenerate parents, indifference to young, afflictions/disease/mutilation, religion, and famous people. He noted that at this time there was no established name for these jokes and they were variously called Cruel Jokes, Bloody Marys, Hate Jokes, Ivy League Jokes, Sadist Jokes, Gruesomes, Grimsels, Sick Jokes, Freddie Jokes, Depression Jokes, Meanie Jokes, and Comedy of Horror. The collected jokes appear to have originated during the 1950s and come both from American and British sources. Brian Sutton-Smith, "'Shut Up and Keep Diggin': The Cruel Joke Series", ''Midwest Folklore'', vol. X no. 1, 1960, pp. 11–22, Sutton-Smith notices the major novelty: all mishaps with Little Audrey (being cooked, crushed, broken, etc.) were due to accidents, while in cruel jokes the macabre acts are intentional. Roger Abrahams pointed out the terse "vignette" form of the joke, akin to a caption to a cartoon, and noticed that some of them have already been known in a more narrative form. "Son, will you quit kicking your sister" – "Oh, that's all right. She's already dead". Compare with: "The boy was walking down the street kicking a baby. A policeman walked up to him and said. 'What are you doing here?' – 'I am kicking the baby down the street'. – 'You are what?' – 'Oh, that's all right, he's dead.'"Roger D. Abrahams, "Ghastly Commands: The Cruel Joke Revisited", ''Midwest Folklore'', vol. XI no. 4, 1961/1962, pp. 235–246, Abrahams noted that this kind of anti-
taboo
A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
jokes is a society-level check against the excessive repressiveness of societal norms.
See also
*Dead baby jokes
Dead baby jokes are a joke cycle reflecting dark comedy. The joke is presented in riddle form, beginning with a what question and concluded with a grotesque punch line answer.
History
According to the folklorist scholar Alan Dundes, the dead b ...
*Black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
Footnotes
References
*''Encyclopedia of Humor Studies'', ed.Salvatore Attardo
Salvatore Attardo is a full professor at Texas A&M University–Commerce and was the editor-in-chief of ''Humor'', the journal for thInternational Society for Humor Studiesfrom 2002 to 2011. He studied at Purdue University under Victor Raskin and ...
, 2014, {{ISBN, 9781483364711
External links
Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes By Col. D. Streamer (Harry Graham)
Project Gutenberg Joke cycles Cruelty Off-color humor