RE: Always impressive
Koen G > 10-04-2025, 03:44 PM
I find the evolution of humor in society quite interesting. When I was little, there was this set of jokes that were passed on through oral tradition. Nobody really knew where they came from.
We'd come back from school and ask "did you know the one about..." and then my parents would say "oh, that's an old one, it was already told when we were young".
That kind of joke isn't really told anymore these days. Or at least not as broadly. I can't remember the last time someone told me a "preexisting" joke with a setup and a punchline.
I wonder why that is the case. To some extent, loss of local social cohesion in favor of internet-specific phenomena. A quick turnover of specific and visual humor (memes).
Also, I guess these jokes were most attractive when they sought the borders of the permissible and broke taboos. Obscenities, racism, sexism.... So maybe the decline of "the joke" follows societal evolutions.
Just some thoughts... I don't know what this thread is about :p