Article Version of Record

Three holy men get haircuts: The semiotic analysis of a joke

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Berger, Arthur Asa

Abstract / Description

This article deals with a typology of 45 techniques of humor that I found when doing research on the mechanisms that generate humor in texts, lists the techniques and applies them to a Jewish joke. It references the work of Vladimir Propp on folktales as analogous in that both are concerned with mechanisms in text that generate meaning. It also deals with four theories about why people find texts humorous, defines the joke as a short narrative with a punch line that is meant to generate mirthful laughter and defines Jewish humor as being about Jewish people and culture as told by Jewish people. It offers a paradigmatic analysis of the joke, and offers some insights into why Jewish people developed their distinctive kind of humor. This article is an enhanced and expanded version of an article which was published in a Chinese semiotics journal (doi:10.1515/css-2015-0022).

Keyword(s)

humor techniques jokes syntagmatic paradigmatic Jewish masochism

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2016-08-19

Journal title

Europe's Journal of Psychology

Volume

12

Issue

3

Page numbers

489–497

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Berger, A. A. (2016). Three holy men get haircuts: The semiotic analysis of a joke. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 12(3), 489–497. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1042
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Berger, Arthur Asa
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-21T09:59:43Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-21T09:59:43Z
  • Date of first publication
    2016-08-19
  • Abstract / Description
    This article deals with a typology of 45 techniques of humor that I found when doing research on the mechanisms that generate humor in texts, lists the techniques and applies them to a Jewish joke. It references the work of Vladimir Propp on folktales as analogous in that both are concerned with mechanisms in text that generate meaning. It also deals with four theories about why people find texts humorous, defines the joke as a short narrative with a punch line that is meant to generate mirthful laughter and defines Jewish humor as being about Jewish people and culture as told by Jewish people. It offers a paradigmatic analysis of the joke, and offers some insights into why Jewish people developed their distinctive kind of humor. This article is an enhanced and expanded version of an article which was published in a Chinese semiotics journal (doi:10.1515/css-2015-0022).
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Berger, A. A. (2016). Three holy men get haircuts: The semiotic analysis of a joke. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 12(3), 489–497. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1042
  • ISSN
    1841-0413
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1006
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1198
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1042
  • Keyword(s)
    humor
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    techniques
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    jokes
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    syntagmatic
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    paradigmatic
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    Jewish
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    masochism
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Three holy men get haircuts: The semiotic analysis of a joke
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    3
  • Journal title
    Europe's Journal of Psychology
  • Page numbers
    489–497
  • Volume
    12
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record