杏吧原创

On their own there is nothing particularly funny about the words 鈥済nome鈥� and 鈥渂one鈥�, but put them together and it is a different story. Pairings like 鈥済nome bone鈥� seem to make people chuckle, at least according to a study that looked at the funniness of thousands of pairs of words.

at the National University of Singapore and her colleagues generated random word pairings using a list of around 5000 words previously studied for their humour or lack thereof. Then, they asked online study participants to rate each pair as either 鈥渉umorous鈥� or humourless鈥�. Across the survey, around 600 respondents rated about 55,000 different word pairings.

According to the ratings scale, some of the funniest pairs were 鈥減layboy parrot鈥�, 鈥渨easel penis鈥� and 鈥渟pam scrotum鈥�. By contrast, pairs like 鈥渓arge small鈥�, 鈥渟chedule year鈥� and 鈥渟ell bargain鈥� rated low on the humour scale.

Siew and the team found that words that gave people concrete images were funnier than those related to abstract ideas. For example, 鈥渢urnip tramp鈥� was rated as funnier than 鈥渓ife friend鈥�.

Word pairs with similar sounding words like 鈥渇unk fungus鈥� tended to be considered funnier than pairs with varied sounds like 鈥渃onserve health鈥�. People also found pairs containing words related to sex and bodily functions more amusing.

One dominant theory of humour contends that incongruent things and situations are funny. However, Siew says her team鈥檚 research suggests humour is more than just unexpected contrasts. The funniest word pairs contain words that, while different, are connected in a surprising way, she says.