Is a Joke Really like a Frog?

Reblogged from Humor in America:

A commonly accepted truth holds that to explain a joke ruins it.

But is it true?

Humor depends upon some level of shared ground -- a shared communal or cultural background that helps give the joke meaning.  Whatever theory of humor you ascribe to, or whichever theory is appropriate to a particular joke (the exposure of incongruities, aggression, assertion of superiority, masked aggression, suspended defense mechanism, surprise, etc.), it is the…

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One of two pieces for today that discuss E.B. White's famous discussion of jokes and frogs.