Humour. The fitness of subjects thereof. Opinions?

[Hullygully]

Mine is often unsuitable, apparently.

So, I am genuinely interested to know, what subjects do you think shouldn't be joked about?

I don't think any subject is off limits when it comes to humour.

Jokes can be offensive, hideously offensive, and funny. It's not one or the other.

Besides, humour is subjective- any attempt to find an absolute is futile.

What was your thread about???

peoples sense of humour differs so widely.

An there is a mentality in society now just to get offended by anything near enough.

I'm Austrian born and get many , come up from the basement have we slurs etc, I've never actively got offended. Or when Ive had new places 'hope you don't have a cellar' maybe I'm too laid back.

Right found it, no point starting threads in the evening when I'm not here is there?

Ah well, I've had plenty of threads backfire meself. Mind you those were mainly in the days when Mumsnetters were more understanding and would kindly point out your error and suggest you deleted the thread and start a new one. No flaming, not really, more of an embarrasing silence which was worse. I won't tell you the thread title, it shames me even now!

Nope you cannot make a joke on Mumsnet because someone will take offence and then others will be offended on their behalf and before you know it there is an orgy of offence happening right under your nose.

I don't think it backfired. Just a few morons turned up to froth

I'M IN WITH THE IN CROWD
I GO WHERE THE IN CROWD GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dead murdered neighbours, dogs being attacked in the park. That kind of fing

HTH

"If a deaf person signs a deafist joke to other deaf people and they find it funny then I have no right to feel aggrieved as a hearing person."

You would if they'd called you a cunt

Point is, even though you were aggrieved, it could still conceivably be funny.

Oh now see I HATE general jokes as in "how many blondes does it take to change a lightbulb?" I HATE that. Normal jokes are NOT funny and I never remember any of them anyway. Well apart from the infamous one concerning two nuns and a bar of soap but only because of the length of time it took me to actually 'get' it.

That's why Jimmy Carr isn't that funny, not so much cause he's a dick but because his routine consists of a repertoire of jokes that have no connection to each other and are just told systematically. When he's just making quips to something people have said then he can be quite funny, despite being a dick.

I thought Frankie Boyle was funny (although Tramadol Nights was just weird and dull). He made some uncomfortable jokes about Afghanistan and Iraq that were only funny because they made an uncomfortable truth that people didn't like to hear and that's why I think the tide turned against him.
I still think he's funny.

oh yes thank you!

It's exactly what I'm looking for!

"a repertoire of jokes that have no connection to each other and are just told systematically."

Tim Vine does this and he's hilarious...

There are no rules.

We laughed ourselves stupid for 2 days after FIL died in awful circumstances. They were very "sick" jokes.

Tim Vine is DREADFUL Hully. Really, really DREAD. FULL.

I watched a thing of his and literally poked myself in the eye so that I could leave the room and not have to watch it anymore.

But sometimes it is the inappropriate-ness of the joke that makes it funnier.

Again, the company and the medium also decide the tone. Many times some posters have posted things that are really firmly done in a tongue in cheek way and have been totally misconstrued by other posters ...

Sorry, TETHERS not HULLY.

When my brother tried commiting suicide a few years ago off a bridge in London, I joked with him about sending him a CD to cheer him up. The songs I came up with were:

Underneath the Bridge - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Hurt - Johnny Cash
Everybody Hurts - REM
etc. I had quite a list actually! But in your own family environment that's probably fine and a good way of dealing with it. If I suggested those songs to someone feeling suicidal on Mumsnet I guess that would not be as funny.

Problem on Internet forums is that the joke can be lost in translation unless you 'know' a persons style quite well. Plus add to that the amount of people on MN then the joke has to be fairly obvious (which is a shame).

I have a very dark sense of humour, it gets me by. I make jokes about very serious situations but I only do so in the company of people who would get my humour, I'd avoid certain jokes in front of people if I knew they were experiencing stress and would be likely to take offence.

Unfortunately you tend not to be able to tailor that type of thing on MN. Don't change your posting style though Hully, it's not worth it, just invest in good armour

"apart from the infamous one concerning two nuns and a bar of soap but only because of the length of time it took me to actually 'get' it."

Had to explain that one at length to a friend. We still tease her about it now

My FIL had a massive heart attack and collapsed and died on the kitchen floor. MIL (dementia) an ambitious but unaccomplished cook in her time, had tried to "feed" him in the 18 odd hours before it was discovered. Much hilarity ensued about the actual dish that killed him.
.. asked DH to do a playlist for me for labour. I got Rod Stewart and the "First Cut is the Deepest" at the episiotomy (sp) and he selected inappropriate music for each stage of labour. Midwife was very bemused.

Shirley, HOW DARE YOU. I will pretend I've not read that.

You know what makes my blood boil?

Crematoriums.

"I meant if they found a joke about deafness funny then that is fine and I can't be telling them that is offensive."

Of course you could tell them it was offensive, Lunatic; after all, another deaf person may be offended by it. In the same way, you can point out to two women telling a misogynistic joke that their joke is offensive.

My point is that the potential offensiveness of the jokes would not stop them being funny.

I think context is everything in humour. I found the murdered neighbours thread hilarious. I saw this joke a while back:

A man goes into a bar, and says, "I could have sex with any woman in this room." Barman says, "Yeah, how come?" Man says, "I'm a rapist."

I find that funny, even though I (obviously) find rape appalling. But, as with most jokes, it's the element of surprise that makes it funny, isn't it? (Though I suppose some people will disagree.)

I know no of the nun joke of which you all speak, i'm offended no one has explained it you are all a bunch of meanies.

lesley33 will explain as I'll cock up the punchline - even though there isn't really a punchline as such.