Gourt > Society > Folklore > Literature > Jokes and Anecdotes
An anecdote is a brief tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always based on real life, an incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, in real places. However, over time, modification in reuse may convert a particular anecdote to a fictional piece, one that is retold but is "too good to be true". Sometimes humorous, anecdotes are not jokes, because their primary purpose is not simply to evoke laughter, but to reveal a truth more general than the brief tale itself, or to delineate a character trait or the workings of an institution in such a light that it strikes in a flash of insight to their very essence. A brief monologue beginning "A man walks into a bar..." will be a joke. A brief monologue beginning "Once J. Edgar Hoover walked into a bar..." will be an anecdote. An anecdote thus is closer to the tradition of the parable than the patently invented fable with its animal characters and generic human figures— but it is distinct from the parable in the historical specificity which it claims. An anecdote is not a metaphor nor does it bear a moral, a necessity in both parable and fable, merely an illustrative incident that is in some way an epitome.
Note that in the context of Russian humor anecdote may at times incorrectly refer to any short humorous story without the need of factual or biographical origins.
The word anecdote ("unpublished", literally "not given out") comes from Procopius of Caesarea, the biographer of Justinian I, who produced a work entitled Ανεκδοτα (Anekdota, variously translated as Unpublished Memoirs or Secret History), which is primarily a collection of short incidents from the private life of the Byzantine court. Gradually, the term anecdote came to be applied to any short tale utilized to emphasize or illustrate whatever point the author wished to make.
More on [ Anecdote ]
JOKE RE: About blog...: Hello, friend! This blog is intended for publication jokes, anecdotes and funny pic... http://tinyurl.com/yfo6r78
stupidjoke (goofy foreigner) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:45:30 -0000
JOKE RE: About blog...: Hello, friend! This blog is intended for publication jokes, anecdotes and funny pic... http://tinyurl.com/yfo6r78
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE - Moms Jokes, Quotes And Anecdotes 2010 Day-To ...: Moms Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes 2010 Day-to... http://bit.ly/8X7lTR
_KimberlyFlores (Kim Flores) Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:34:10 -0000
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE - Moms Jokes, Quotes And Anecdotes 2010 Day-To ...: Moms Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes 2010 Day-to... http://bit.ly/8X7lTR
RT @davidhallstrom: Animal Jokes, Humor, Satire And Humorous Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/Cw5rt
INeedInfoTips (Antoni Fidel) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:46:43 -0000
RT @davidhallstrom: Animal Jokes, Humor, Satire And Humorous Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/Cw5rt
RT @davidhallstrom: Animal Jokes, Humor, Satire And Humorous Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/Cw5rt
BePsSs (Roberta) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:01:39 -0000
RT @davidhallstrom: Animal Jokes, Humor, Satire And Humorous Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/Cw5rt
Animal Jokes, Humor, Satire And Humorous Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/Cw5rt
davidhallstrom (david hallstrom) Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:49:21 -0000
Animal Jokes, Humor, Satire And Humorous Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/Cw5rt
Air Travel Jokes And Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/51kegL
davidhallstrom (david hallstrom) Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:51:51 -0000
Air Travel Jokes And Anecdotes: http://bit.ly/51kegL
Jokes - Includes introduction to this juvenile English-language word-play humor.
Jokes - One of the most common juvenile humor forms in English.
20 Years of Political Humor - Treatise of political jokes form Alan Dundes' collection.
Anecdotes - Funny stories about famous people from Yeats to Gates, arranged by theme.
Meta Description: [ Thousands of true funny stories about famous people. Anecdotes from Gates to Yeats ]
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Bluejay's Review of Jokes - Discussion by Michael Bluejay on the psychology of the traditional and the absurd joke.
Humor Reference Guide A Comprehensive Classification and Analysis - Prepared and illustrated by Warren Shibles, University of Wisconsin.
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Laughing Under the Covers - Russian oral jokes and anecdotical tales compiled, edited, translated from the Russian and supplied with an introduction and commentaries by Mark Perakh.
Making a Big Apple Crumble - Monograph by Bill Ellis studying the emergence of WTC humor as a phenomenon.
Meta Description: [ New Directions In Folklore, 2003 ]
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Mexican Women's Sexual Jokes - Article by Rafaela Castro discussing erotic jokes among Mexican and American Mexican women.
Rationale of the Dirty Joke - Excerpts from the section on foreigner jokes.
Selections from Pissing in the Snow - Excerpted from Vance Randolph's classic Pissing in the Snow, and other Ozark Folktales.
Senator Johnson's Great Speech - Anecdote excerpted from Vance Randolph's classic Pissing in the Snow, and other Ozark Folktales, with comment.
The Use and Abuse of Humor - Essay by Ed Reber, Dixie State College, looking at theories of humor, with examples.
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