[psychologytoday.com]
Is a sense of humor the "Swiss Army Knife" of social skills? -Opinion piece.
I am So thankful i can find humor in Anything that has ever happened to me (okay, sometimes it takes awhile) because without it i might start crying and never stop.
I pulled my swiss army knife on a guy and it didn't help my social skills.......
Growing up, my parents and all four kids had great senses of humor. My humor is ad lib, in the moment. I see the humor in life.
Ten years ago I flew to Michigan where I grew up to visit my best friend Jami.
"When did you and Jami meet?" her husband Richard asked. "Seventh grade," I replied.
"No, it was in sixth grade!" Jami called from another room. She walked to where we were sitting.
"I heard Kathleen making everyone laugh in the girl's restroom and vowed to make her my friend," Jami said. I didn't know that.
Humour is the great leveller. The timeless humour of Voltaire is to be found in his short stories, in particular, Zadig. The incomparable sarcastic humour of Oscar Wilde or the witty humour of James Joyce. The unforgettable humour of Bertrand Russell when he contracted double pneumonia in Peking in 1921, I could go on and on.
My own personal response to an argumentive lawyer, ‘you remind me of my grandfather. My grandfather played the piano in the basement of a whorehouse and he never knew what was going on upstairs’.
Any significant relationship I have had has been with someone who has a great sense of humor. Whether a close friend or lover, humor just deepens feelings quickly for me.
To me, humour is a means of keeping communication light and friendly. It does involve some tuning into what makes the other laugh. To me, it should never be intentionally used maliciously though others use it as such. Being British I tend to self deprecate unlike USA humour which seems to delight in laughing at others, Laughing at oneself or one's sect is far healthier than basically belittling others.