steve kwan user experience designer

Humour journal, entry #2

(February 19th, 2007 - 10:01AM)

I found this funny. Sorry if it's too naughty.

Image originally from here.

This picture reminds me of a guy I went to school with years ago. A scrawny white guy. He had a Japanese symbol tattooed on his body, and on his computer desktop as wallpaper. "It means 'wolf,'" he once explained to me. "It's a symbol with which I can really relate." I nodded my head, attempting to look impressed, or at least interested. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking, "YOU DON'T KNOW THAT! YOU DON'T SPEAK JAPANESE! HOW CAN YOU KNOW WHAT IT SAYS?"

I think I find the cartoon funny because it reminds me of this guy. It confirms what I'm already thinking: it's pretty silly to tattoo a symbol on your body if you aren't completely sure what it means.

Perhaps we find things funnier if we can relate them to events from the past. Having a previous context for humour makes us more likely to find it funny.