Do you think that the kinds of things some people find funny are based on their maturity level?

Absolutely, some people laugh when you say things like “shit”,“poo”,“penis”,“vagina” etc, it all depends on your sense of humor :D

@Muertoz But do you think what we find funny depends on our maturity level too? I don’t see how a 40 year old male, who knows the score, would find talking about vagina’s and penises as something to giggle about….

No, not always. Different things “tickle” different people for a whole host of reasons and need not be determined by maturity (or intelligence, or any other classification for that matter).

Take the kind of humour where people fall over, get hurt – Home Alone – My Dad laughs histerically at that film. He is 52 and if anyone is mature, intelligent and grounded, it is him. He does, however, like to chill out, laugh and have fun in his life.

I can’t help but find the notion that if a person laughs at “childish” things, then he is immature, is a little condescending.

I consider myself mature but have no taste at all for bland dry humor like that of the British variety. I laugh at what makes me laugh and my age or life experiences have yet to make me uppity.

Not all burps and farts are funny, but some burps and farts are funny regardless of age.

Groin shots are almost never funny.

I think some people always find certain things funny, no matter the age – we just provide different excuses for them – oh he’s just a teenager, oh grandma’s loony, etc.

@Val123 Re. vaginas: it depends on the context and who and how something is said. A list of words, including vagina isn’t going to make me laugh, but I’ll give you a ferinstance: I was watching an old episode of King of Queens – the one where it’s about Carrie finding this amazing gynaecologist. The whole episode is about how amazing he is and how comfortable he makes the woman feel etcetera – at one point Doug calls him The Vagina Whisperer. I thought that was funny.

I have no limits to what I’ll laugh at :))
Some people do need to get hit in the doo-dads to “lighten up” alittle ;P

@Zen_Again LOL! Yes, that is funny! Agreed, there are times when references to body parts and functions CAN be funny, just as there are times, at the right time, in the right context, that references to one’s knees or feet can be funny.

But there are those who, if you even say the word “fart’ get all giggly…..

Not always. My in-laws are very mature (and I don’t mean age) but they find the Austin Powers movies to be funny. My husband is mature but finds stuff like “Ricky Bobby” and “Old School” to be funny.

Nope. There are these things called anchors. Anchoring is a neuro-linguistic programming term for the process by which memory recall, state change or other responses become associated with (anchored to) some stimulus, in such a way that perception of the stimulus (the anchor) leads by reflex to the anchored response occurring.

This phenomenon is Pavlov’s “classical conditioning”. So it depends on what experiences you’ve been through.

Stuff like farts and burps for the sake of farts and burps is just rude but I also think farting can be pretty hilarious in that if one sneaks out in a formal social situation you know that person has been suffering greatly trying to keep it quiet and that makes me giggle.

@Cruiser I actually have a personal story, that, after the first blush of mortification wore off, and we were alone, we laughed till we cried! For about 20 minutes! And the giggles kept coming in fits and starts, you know….

That is sooo funny! When it is not me.
But a painful sort of humor.

I believe the more humor you can see in things the more sophisticated you are.

Children seem to see humor is most anything. Ahhhh to be a child again.

@VAL123 mine involved my entire high school wrestling team watching the coach demonstrate a move…room was dead silent…I was sitting on a metal folding chair…the rest is legend LOL!

I laugh when people get frustrated past control, like Fawlty Towers, and I like British humor, but I don’t like slapstick or toilet humour. Those women comedians that try to make jokes about ovaries and pushing out a watermelon are just boring.

For me, it also depends on which type of friend you are around. The very second me and my best friend Joey are in the same room with each other we are the ones cracking up laughing to the awkward jokes people normally don’t laugh at.
Yes, we get awkward stares.
Yes, we feel a bit embarassed.
But life’s too short..it’s time to laugh as much as we can.

@Cruiser LOL!

Funny is as funny does. No need to calculate or chew over peoples sense of humour.We’re all different thank god.

@ucme well said, I agree. I love older programes like “The Thin Blue Line” and “Blackadder” (both with the wonderful Rowan Atkinson) but I’ve never been a fan of Mr Bean, don’t know why. I love “The Big Bang Theory”, “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “King of Queens”, and animated stuff like “Family Guy” and “King of the Hill”. I suppose its just what makes me laugh at the time?
hugs xx

Yes, I think that it does have something to do with maturity, at least a little bit. Of course, it’s not everything. I consider sense of humor to be mostly based on intelligence. That is, a person who can find humor in just about anything would probably be smart (despite how that person looks laughing at what you might consider to be inane things).

@bunnygrl I’d have thought you would have given Mr. Laurie a shout for his numerous funny roles in each of the Blackadders. I liked him best as the mad King George. Hilarious.

While there are those few that giggle at the most inane jokes or bodily functions, I find that maturity has little to do with true humor. Anon Jihad suggested that life experiences help determine or seed ones sense of humor. Everyone has had certain embarrassing moments or painful slapstick moments when something completely unexpected rears it’s ugly head and the nervous laughter begins. Those types of experiences readily translate into terms that anyone on the planet can relate to.

You all crack me the fuck up.

Maturity will certainly play a role in whether people find childish and adolescent humour funny.
It the mere mention of nudity or anatomical features that differentiate females and males reliably produce uncontrollable laughter in a person I would attribute that to their immaturity.

Some people are easily amused by physical comedy others by word play. That is more a function of personal traits and upbringing than maturity.

People who use language typical of kindergarten to discuss anatomy or bodily functions or secretions are probably immature.

Most snot are fart jokes are more appealing to the immature, but in some situations, even mature adults are brought to their knees with laughter in response to such humour.

I think that covers what I have to offer on the topic.

What do you call a Jamaican Proctologist?

POKEMON

@Zen_Again – Wouldn’t ‘Asstafarian’ be more descriptive?

@ucme I’ve been working my way through the Blackadder dvds during the holidays (because tv here has been dreadful) and I’ve just reached Blackadder goes forth :-) He is amazing in them, as is Mr Fry. I agree about Blackadder the third, he is beyond hilarious as the Prince Regent in those. The episode where Mr Fry turns up as wellington and he trades places with Blackadder to be slapped and kicked about by them both is just such a shame, I really felt for him. Wee lamb is used to it though, four series of “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” and he was continually being slapped and thumped.
hope you’re having a brilliant holiday,
hugs xx

@bunnygrl Why thank you & yes I am. Hope you are too. Did you know he was in one of the boat race crews years ago before he became well known. I forget which. Incidentally, he has a face built for comedy. It’s wore him well.

@ucme yep he rowed for Cambridge, but he got ill thats what led him to join footlights. Just think, if he hadn’t gotten ill we wouldn’t have House. I’m sorry that he got ill of course, but I’m so glad to took to acting. His dad was an Olympic rower You’re right about his face, he can just pull such faces, and is scarily good at playing the upper class twit, like when he played Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and Wooster. Glad you’re having a great holiday, I don’t usually cope all that well this time of year but I’ve been ok this year, I think it might be because of Fluther. I have something to distract me, instead of thinking about, well the stuff I usually think about at this time of year. It’s been great. Have a brilliant new year when it gets here, hugs xx

@bunnygrl I don’t want to rock the boat but I never watch House. Prefer to remember him in the shows we’ve already mentioned. Still each to there own.

@ucme yep :-) I actually only watched House because he was in it. It’s really not the kind of programme I’d normally watch, its a bit “soap opera” know what I mean? I’m ashamed to say, much as I do like the programme, if he left I’d stop watching, mind you, if he left there wouldn’t be a programme at all really <smacks self> lol
hugs xx