A Few Good Yuks

You need serious conversations in life.

That's what pubs were made for.

Series conversations with sensible people.

A two-way dialogue. Or two plus. Just talking. About stuff. And mixing it with other stuff.

When you work through the meat and drink of the serious, you can start to find the funny in it.

But sometimes you need to earn a licence to laugh something off.

Do it too early and you are dismissive.

Ask someone else to do it too early and you may appear insensitive.

You probably haven't consider the situation fully.

Somebody might take your laughter as derogatory. Which is exactly what it is, even if you don't realise it.

You need to earn your chuckle spurs.

A laugh isn't a laugh unless it's a laugh shared.

Focus.

Remember.

It's the (absurd) situation you're laughing at.

There's always something funny because if you say enough words something amusing is bound to come up. And then you're away...gently gently, catchy monkey.

Say no words at all. And those funnies may remain hidden in the shadows forever. Unseen sidestreets.

Then you need a better strategy than laughter. Which means you're in big trouble.

And in fact let's not call it "laughter". It is an overused term. Just like the idea of any crappy sitcom being called hilarious by a TV reviewer. 

It never is.

So how about searching for just a little bit of "quizzical amusement" instead.

There plenty of things you find perfectly funny without the need to laugh like a drain.

If stand-up comedians don't bother inconveniencing themselves to tell jokes anymore, lets not let it worry the likes of us.

Let's redefine the laugh. 

To help us neutralise the serious.

Don't miss any opportunity to search for the snigger, harness the ha-ha, achieve that chortle and grab that giggle. 

Just go for it. 

Bigtime.

Track down that titter.