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Hi there I once researched a bit about humour in 1994 as a slight digression to other research I was doing and there may be some mileage in looking at some of the writers on humour who look at how humour in society has evolved. Unfortunately they do not make for the most exciting reading as they can be a bit dry. I did a quick search and came up with this, but have not read it myself Humour in society : resistance and control / edited by Chris Powell, George. - Basingstoke : Macmillan, 1988. - 0333440706 Also you might be interested in the concept of bisociation, this is the jump from one plane of thought to another different plane, the intersection being the eureka moment. Koestler uses this concept to compare humour, science and art to show similarity between them. On page 84 in Koestler, A. (1964). The Act of Creation. London: Penguin books. He cites an example from Freud: The Prince, travelling through his domains, noticed a man in the crowd who bore a striking resemblance to himself. He beckoned him over and asked: "Was your mother ever employed in my palace?" "No, Sire," the man replied. "But my father was." This shows the divergence from one line of thought to another completely differing line which is the moment that you laugh. Also seem to remember reading that the start of the act of laughing and that of shock are very similar but they end up then diverging, but cannot remember where I read that! When I get chance I will dig through my joke archives and send you some off-line. cheers marcus ________________End of message______________________ Archives and tools for the Disability-Research Discussion List are now located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.