joke: jok NOUN: 1. Something said or done to evoke laughter or amusement, especially an amusing story with a punch line. 2. A mischievous trick; a prank. 3. An amusing or ludicrous incident or situation. 4. Informal a. Something not to be taken seriously; a triviality: The accident was no joke. b. An object of amusement or laughter; a laughingstock: His loud tie was the joke of the office. *

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

Humor is one of the most subjective disciplines out there. Ask anyone's who's ever tried to do stand-up comedy; what might have one person falling out of their chair, laughing so hard they can barely catch their breath, may just elicit the dreaded groan in someone else.

Humor tends to be divided by many factors...age, gender and region being only a few. And yes, the subject has been studied. Someone actually got paid to discover that men generally lean more towards more aggressive and racier jokes.

Women, while appreciative of the racy joke themselves, seemed to prefer more subtle jokes that involved word play or puns.

Children were the easiest of all to please, appreciating physical humor and riddles along with the ever-popular 'knock-knock' jokes. The sillier, the better. The more outrageous, the better. The more embarrassing, the better:

"Knock, knock"

"Who's there?"

"Thatcher."

"Thatcher who?"

"Thatcher idea of a knock-knock joke?"

However there was one joke that appealed to all the study groups, regardless of age or gender:

"A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing; his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator, 'My friend is dead! What can I do?' The operator, in a calm soothing voice says, 'Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.' There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: 'OK, now what?'"*

*From wisegeek.com

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