EMBARK
|
DATA SHEET
Contains
consonant
plus le
Contains
oo
Contains
k
Contains
y
Low-
probability
letters
Sexuality Profanity Bodily Insults Partying
functions
Animals
95*
61
97
129
55
210
97
162
202
185
41
NUMBER OF
WORDS WITH
ATTRIBUTE
WORD-FORM CATEGORIES SUBJECT CATEGORIES
bozo
twerp
turd
jackass
dude
fanny
schmuck
y
poop
slobbering
booger
b
juju
buzz
hubbub
juicy
pizzazz
fizzy
fuzzy
frumpy
jazzy
puffy
bubbly
f
flapjacks
yummy
fluffy
howdy
cutest
y
cuddle
y
playful
marshmallows
frolic
schmooze
whoop
droopy
woozy
puny
yy
boozy
f
booby
puking
schmoozing
bb
drool
tootle
waddle
wiggle
gobble
jiggle
jiggling
hh
amble
toddle
yy
gurgle
d
tinkle
dd
wiggly
H
O
W
I
T
L
O
O
K
S
A
N
D
S
O
U
N
D
S
WHAT IT MEANS
*WORDS LABELED AS CONTAINING A CONSONANT PLUS LE INCLUDE VARIATIONS SUCH AS -LING, -LY, AND OTHER WORDS WITH SIMILAR MEANINGS.SOURCE: CHRIS WESTBURY AND GEOFF HOLLIS, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTAIT CAN BE HARD TO GUESSwhat might make a stranger laugh. Now
researchers at the University of Alberta, in Canada, have developed
a formula. After reading a study in which participants rated the
humorousness of some 5,000 English words, psychologists Chris
Westbury and Geoff Hollis wanted to break down what makes a
word intrinsically comical. They expanded the list to almost 45,000
words, then generated a complex statistical model to score the
funny factors and analyze the humor of each one.
WHAT’S
SO
FUNNY? BY RYAN MORRIS AND ALEXANDER STEGMAIER
RECIPE FOR LAUGHTER
A closer look at the 500 words that Westbury and Hollis ranked as funniest reveals common ingredients.
“Puking,” for example, has a funny-word form—the oo sound and the letter k—as well as associations with
profanity, bodily function, and partying, three of the six funny-word categories in the study.
ANATOMY OF A SIDESPLITTER
Westbury and Hollis discovered there
are two main predictors of what makes
a word funny: how it looks and sounds,
and the meaning behind it. “Pizzazz”
is comical for its unusual combination of
letters, but typically it’s the definition
of a word that tickles us the most. Try
not to smirk when you say “booger.”
Words associated
with a consonant
plus le*
Contains
the letters
or sound oo
Contains
letters used
less frequently
Larger
type reflects
a higher
composite
humor score
Strong
emotional
association
Humorous
meaning