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This article examines the strategic use of humor in sports coaching and its positive effects on athletic engagement and performance. Grounded in empirical research and the synthesis of sports coaching theory, the study highlights humor's critical function in fortifying social bonds, reducing stress, and enhancing information retention among athletes. The incorporation of humor into coaching practices is presented not just as casual amusement but as a sophisticated tactic to navigate the complexities of elite sports environments. With an emphasis on respectful and effective application, humor is identified as a transformative tool within interpersonal and group dynamics. This exploration advocates for the purposeful implementation of humor by coaches to cultivate a coaching atmosphere that nurtures rapport and resilience. The article calls for further investigation into the nuanced interactions of humor within cultural contexts and learning styles, suggesting that such inquiry will benefit ongoing advancements in sports coaching methodologies and contribute to the broader coaching discourse. In essence, the valorization of humor in coaching is recognized as pivotal in developing enriched, athlete-centered coaching approaches., In the intensely competitive realm of elite sports, the symbiosis between athlete and coach is not merely about physical prowess and strategy but is a rich mosaic of interpersonal dynamics, [...]

"I really did try, I tried hard to be a man, to be a good man, and I see how I failed at that. I am at best a bad [...]

Why do clowns appear so frequently in popular culture as frightening and psychopathic figures? When and how did they change from representatives of fun to representatives of menace? This essay argues that we may find the answer in both the notion of the comedian's bifurcated identity inherent in nineteenth-century conceptions of humor and the use of the clown as a representative of cultural exhaustion developed in the wake of the decline of the Georgian pantomime. Through a focus on the career of the British pantomimist Joseph Grimaldi (1778--1837) and a reading of his Memoirs (1838), edited posthumously by Charles Dickens, this essay seeks to demonstrate that what we often term coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) has its origins in a narrative of memorializing that takes place in the midst of rapid social change., At the end of the nineteenth century, a new figure emerged from the ashes of the harlequinade--a clown intent not on laughter, but on awful, bloody revenge. (1) He made [...]

Marianne Moore treats humor as a means of both recognizing commonality and creating mutual understanding between individuals. In two comparatively minor poems, 'A Prize Bird' (1915) and 'The Wood-Weasel' (1942), Moore uses humor as a test of friendship, and suggests that sympathetic laughter constitutes a distinctively American approach to collaborative artistic creation. Humor in 'The Pangolin' (1936), like the artists' tools Moore discusses in the poem, is both an end in itself and a means to ever-greater things: it becomes the marker of shared humanity and a medium for uniting the human with the divine. Throughout Moore's work, her humor can be read as a kind of ars poetica, modeling the synthesis of diverse components that she performs in her poetry. Keywords: Marianne Moore / humor / 'The Pangolin' / 'A Prize Bird' / 'The Wood-Weasel', The moments of playfulness and humor in Marianne Moore's poetry reveal a surprisingly personal picture of the poet. Humor is a rare means to intimacy in the poet's world, a [...]

The article presents the numerous films of Charlie Chaplin wherein he had created an independent philosophy of gesture that was found to supersede his speech. Charlie Chaplin used to create a clear divergence between the Little Tramp and his protagonist in terms of size thereby bringing out the comedy in the films.

Three ways in which suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union, 1903-1914 used humour to their advantage during their campaign are explored. It is revealed that there was a link between humour and social protest and to an extent it was gender specific.

The manner in which humour was used as a form of resistance and political agitation is presented in the National Socialism context. It is found that people favored the all-embracing humour known as the 'German Humour' which was harmonious and non-contentious and sidelined the National Socialist satire.

The various expressions of humour utilized by the rank and file of the Australian Imperial Force in their social protests against their officers and the military regimen during World War I are analyzed. How the use of humour in such protests became the soldiers' identity and how it was maintained by their masculine image are discussed.

The different ways in which humour is used to enable a collective identity formation within autonomous anti-capitalist groups in Madrid is analyzed through ethnographic research. It shows that humour plays a significant role in sustaining groups over time, defusing tensions and resolving conflicts and integrating marginal group members.

The Stockholm Pride parade is analyzed as an effective contemporary political stage that uses laughter and festivity to promote its agenda. The theory of carnival laughter is combined with queer theory to illustrate the way in which humour and politics work together in this situation.

The way in which jokes are used to foster a sense of community among workers of a garment workshop in Hanoi, Vietnam is demonstrated. It highlights the importance of humour in the workers' struggle against management.

The non-materialist, individualistic and libertarian change of society envisioned by the 1960s Spassguerilla (fun guerilla) German student movement through humorous protests is analyzed. It is seen that a responsive environment facilitated the shaping their image and strengthened the impact of their actions.

Critical consensus regards Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 (1966) a failure. Diana Holmes and Robert Ingram, for example, in their 1998 study of Truffaut, complain that the main characters are so [...]

The author explores the passage on bidding contest-featuring food items in Aristophanes' 'Knights' to reveal double entendres based on food items, which are used for male and female sexual parts. Athena is the object of sexual humor.

According to the literature, humor is a critical tool to enhance the counseling process because it can reduce stress, build rapport, and aid in the increase of the client's self-efficacy. In recent years, the critical nature of using humor appropriately from a cultural perspective has been explored. In this article, the authors further explore the cultural foundations, purpose, effectiveness, and implications of using humor when counseling African American college students., Humor has long had its place in daily life. People consistently see its value in shaping their perspective in times of difficulty and in helping them to adjust to stressful [...]

ABSTRACT When a new member is trying to gain acceptance into an organization that s/he is working for, it can be difficult as the organization is an unfamiliar place with [...]

ABSTRACT Today's leaders, whether they are in business, education, the military, or in religious institutions, face a multitude of challenges to meet the mission of the organization. Keeping employee morale [...]

This study explored humor production and communicator style within the dyadic communicative relationship between organizational managers and subordinates. Research questions considered positive, expressive, and negative humor functions and manager-subordinate relational style, communication style, sex, and dyad characteristics. Results indicated that both organizational managers and subordinates report using conversational humor, mostly positive and expressive humor. Results also indicate communicator image, dominant or affiliative communication style, and sex are related to the type of conversational humor initiated by organizational managers and subordinates. It appears that organizational power/dominance and sex are better predictors of humor usage than other characteristics. Overall, results suggest that relational factors, such as one humor, may be important to the enactment of organizational citizenship behaviors among subordinates.

As perhaps the highest profile group of management speakers in the world, so-called management gurus use their appearances on the international management lecture circuit to disseminate their ideas and to build their personal reputations with audiences of managers. This article examines the use of humour by management gurus during these public performances. Focusing on video recordings of lectures conducted by four leading management gurus (Tom Peters, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Peter Senge and Gary Hamel), the article explicates the verbal and nonverbal practices that the gurus use when they evoke audience laughter. These practices allow the gurus to project clear message completion points, to signal their humourous intent, to 'invite' audience laughter, and to manipulate the relationship between their use of humour and their core ideas and visions. The article concludes by suggesting that the ability of management gurus to use these practices effectively is significant because audience laughter can play an important role with respect to the expression of group cohesion and solidarity during their lectures. KEYWORDS group cohesion * humour and laughter * management gurus * management ideas * public speaking

The current study examined student perceptions of instructor humor orientation, assertiveness, and responsiveness as antecedents of out-of-class communication (OCC) between instructors and students. Perceptions of instructor humor orientation were positively associated with the frequency of formal as well as informal OCC, student satisfaction with OCC, and three topics of student-instructor conversation. Perceptions of instructor responsiveness, but not assertiveness, were positively associated with frequency of informal OCC and with satisfaction with OCC. Overall, humor orientation was superior as a predictor of formal and in, final OCC frequency, while instructor responsiveness best predicted student satisfaction with OCC. Findings imply that instructors can increase the frequency of OCC with their students, especially informal OCC, by exhibiting humorous dispositions. By using a responsive manner, instructors can promote student satisfaction with OCC. Keywords: out-of-class communication, humor, socio-communicative style

Summary The purpose of this article is to discuss and evaluate the employment of humour in the depiction of characters in the prose works of S. M. Burns-Ncamashe, as humour [...]

Participant observation of a 6-week Executive Development Course suggests that humor provides a key mechanism for enacting a sense of community for group members. Specifically, the study examines the process through which putdown humor helps foster group identity and cohesion in a temporary group. Putdowns followed a pattern of development that signaled increasing trust and inclusion, and was regulated by implicit rules that incubated the emergent solidarity. The meaning of certain humorous episodes was equivocal, but the act of laughing together glossed over the equivocality so that the sense of community was reaffirmed. Further, social identity dynamics appeared to strongly affect perceptions of the appropriateness of humor. The authors conclude that shared putdown humor and the implicit set of rules regarding its use may facilitate solidarity, and they attempt to reconcile why 'inclusionary putdowns' were found here when 'exclusionary putdowns' are usually reported in the literature.

This study examined 359 business school graduates' self-reported sense of humor, the use of humor at work, and perceptions of their supervisors' use of humor. Regression analyses indicated subordinates' reported use of positive (unoffensive) humor was best predicted by Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale scores, while reported use of negative (sexual and insult) humor was best predicted by their supervisors' use of negative humor. Negative humor may stimulate responses-in-kind more than does positive humor. Alternatively, respondents may have exhibited self-serving bias, blaming others for their use of negative humor but crediting themselves for use of positive humor. The results suggest supervisors' use of humor is associated with subordinates' use of humor and with various attitudes toward the work setting.

Student engagement continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing academia today. Educators often possess the knowledge needed to teach a class but lack the technique or approach with which to make the content engaging. In addition, students face myriad distractions as part of their everyday lives, complicating our ability to better connect with them. One way to cut through the distraction and reach the student is the use of humor, which has an empirical positive effect on the student learning experience. That being said, not all educators feel comfortable integrating humor into their classes. Often times they feel they either lack the ability to be funny or believe it is inappropriate to their classes. This paper discusses the positive impact humor can have on student learning and recommends ways all educators can apply it. Beyond simple joke telling, faculty can employ funny videos, assignments, and assessments which can be used to enhance the student learning experience. Through anecdotes and personal examples, this article provides techniques that all teachers can use to liven up their classroom and improve their evaluations., Class begins at 7:30 in the morning and the mood is bleak. The students trickle into the barren classroom looking as if they had just wrestled themselves out of bed. [...]

An informal poll of science and science-related journals showed only a small number of these publications printing humorous articles. Specialized journals have been found never to publish humorous articles while less specialized publications, such as Science or Nature, occasionally publish a witty article. Recent attempts to lighten the mood of scientific researchers have produced the specialist humor journals Journal of Irreproducible Results and The Annals of Improbable Research, whose aims are to parody researches.