ABSTRACT
Humour has been defined as that which is amusing, comical, ridiculous, or ludicrous, and often connotes playfulness or fun (Berger, 1993). Humour is insidious-it pervades our day, yet we hardly notice it. Humour has been described as a process-the perceptual and cognitive ability to pick out something unexpected or funny about a situation (Wooten, 2001). Laughter is the behavioural response to humour. Laughter can be a mild pleasure or a hysterical whole-body response-the proverbial “laugh till you cry”. Mirthful laughter is sometimes difficult to stifle once it starts and flows through the body like a current. In fact, the word “humour” derives from the word “fluid” (Merriam-Webster, 1995). In the Middle Ages it was believed that the body fluids or humours flowed through a person as aspects of feeling, mind, and spirit (Wooten, 2001). Thus, humour carries a sort of metaphysical feel to it-a union of the body and spirit.
