Presents a humorous review of educational jargon. (RL)

Laughing and smiling responses of 12 moderately retarded adolescents were significantly correlated with mental age and with the teacher's prediction of student responses in both situations, with the latter measure providing ecological validity to the findings. (Author)

Investigates three kinds of disparagement variables that had previously been shown to affect funniness in order to explore their effect on resolution as well as funniness. It was predicted that the disparagement variables would affect rated resolution in a way that paralleled their effect on rated funniness. (Author/RH)

A humorous glossary of psycholinguistic terminology. (DD)

Guidelines to reduce the preparation time for talks advocating various specialized types of education; otherwise known as 28 tips on how to sell whatever is the latest thing. (Author/MLF)

English teachers, members of the cult of fanatical seriousness in higher education, need to discover the fundamental comedy of life, as several recent writers have. (DD)

Contains "The Greatest Americanest Novel," a conglomerate of the first and last lines of a number of great American novels; provides a scorecard on which readers can attempt to identify the quotations. (DD)

Briefly discusses theories and techniques of humor. (MH)

Humorous observations and suggestions by W. James Popham regarding the current state of school reform in the United States. (PKP)

Investigates the effectiveness of humor in advertising, comparative advertising, and consumer involvement with the product. Finds that humorous ads are more eye catching but less impressive and less sufficient in information than nonhumorous ads. Finds the performance of comparative ads is generally negative and especially so in the high…

Uses satire to broach the topic of counseling aspects of how to succeed (at failure) in establishing and maintaining a private practice as a counselor. Thirteen mistakes counselors can make are listed and discussed. (NB)

States that humor is dependent on individual perspective, and that the subject matter of "Lolita" (1962), which concerns child abuse and molestation, is difficult to treat with humor. Argues that despite its subject, "Lolita" continues to be funny. Concludes that viewers know the subject matter is not funny, but while watching,…

Discussion of horror fiction for teenagers focuses on the element of humor. Topics include parodies, plots, the element of mystery, cover art, end-of-chapter cliffhangers, and formula books. An annotated list of 10 pertinent titles is included. (LRW)

This descriptive study compared 13 definitions of humor and 11 theories of humor as related to creativity. It found two core definitional themes (integration and incongruity) and three core theoretical categories (play/spontaneity, release/relief, and incongruity/unexpected relationships). Tables provide comparative analyses of definitions and…

Appropriate cartoons in adult education can help learners relax and encourage flexible thinking. Cartoons must be carefully selected and should not be overused. (Contains 16 references.) (SK)