What makes you laugh?  What brand of humor do you call your own?  Are you a punner, sarcastic, a lover of pratfall and slapstick?  Do you appreciate dark humor? Does bawdy, dirty humor crack you up?  Perhaps you laugh in secret at the misfortune of others – do you worry about what that might say about you?  Should you try to cultivate a more sophisticated funny bone? Is it even possible to change what you find funny?  And has that changed for you in your life?

I married a man whose brain and heart lights up with a “good” pun.  Somehow he passed that love to his daughter. I am surrounded by punners at work. They inflict their humor on me gleefully as I roll my eyes dramatically and groan at the word play that delights them.  I must admit that there are times I laugh for real at the joke and not just at them – for finding the pun funny to begin with.

I have been watching carefully, with great interest to see what makes others chuckle or smile or double over with mirth.  I have been wondering if my sense of humor is unkind and if I should try to change it somehow. I find people funny in general.  I like to see people react to things in surprising ways or try to play off their discomfort or embarrassment in Pee-wee Hermanesque ways.  “I meant to do that!” Those kind of things crack me up.

I recently cited children’s “serious” conversations as a source of humor for me.  I love to engage a three year old, or a six year old in a conversation and hear them say things that they sincerely believe and have given great thought too.  Usually the perceptions they hold are quite different from mine and the results charm and capture my sense of wit and amuse me.

I don’t want to be mean or hurtful or small but I enjoy laughing at the dumb things people do that they aren’t aware of.  I have friends who know how to point those things out and it makes us laugh and we find it funny. But then I feel just awful.  I feel unkind and insensitive. I feel like a middle-schooler, mean-girl and it is unpleasant.

I honestly don’t know what category my humor falls into.  Human foibles just make me laugh. What gives you a sense of glee?