Reverse engineered humour
Published: Thu, 02/21/19
I saw a cartoon the other day. Two people are talking and one of them has a dog on a lead. The other person asks. “Does your dog bite?”
The person holding the lead replies. “No, but he can hurt you in other ways.”
The dog says. “Londonderry.”
And the other person cries out in anguish.
If you are Irish, and especially if you come from that particular city in the north west of Northern Ireland, then this joke may be funny, or just rather painful. If not, then then I will have to explain: It if you have Irish republican sympathies then you will feel strongly that the name of this city is Derry. For the rest of the UK and for Ulster loyalists this city is called Londonderry. Londonderry is a title so offensive to Republican ears that to hear it hurts more than a dog bite. I think that this is quite a good joke. I also realise that reverse engineering a joke until it makes sense somewhat blunts the humor.
I share this example to show that effective communication is about more than just language. My description of the dog cartoon was, I presume, easy enough to read and understand on a linguistic level. However you would need a fairly deep understanding of Irish culture and the history of Northern Ireland to actually get the joke.
So, was it even worth sharing this joke with you? For pure amusement value almost certainly not. However, I am interested in the limits of communication.
It is easy to communicate with people if you use words, references and shared experiences in common with the audience. Sooner or later you will run out of anything new to say and most of your audience will lose interest. You are also working with existing thought patterns which also makes communication predictably easy. It is easy to tell people things they already know using concepts and language that they already understand.
What if you are trying to teach something new? Einstein is supposed to have said something like. ‘You can’t solve a problem with the same level of thinking that caused the problem in the first place.’
Different thinking is only possible with new information, new concepts and developed language. If you are going to encourage someone towards a higher level of thinking then that person is going to have to learn something new. They may need new facts, concepts or words or a combination of all three. The same things you needed to grasp to get the joke I started with.
When I discovered Stav I was confronted with a lot of new information, especially to do with the runes and their associations. I can’t claim to know Old Norse as a language in the sense of being able to speak or even read it, but I do know a lot of the words and what they mean. I also had to grasp various concepts such as Orlog which I am still wrestling with. I was particularly impressed with the idea of the bind-rune as we use it in Stav. Creating a symbol with six runes around the Hagl actually creates a whole different structure of non-linear thinking. I guess this is why I am still interested in Stav. This is also why it is so difficult to communicate what Stav is about. Like the joke I started with, the concept is simple enough. However, you do need to learn new words and concepts in order to grasp what Stav is about.
So, if you have read this far you now have a new joke to share. Sorry that most people are not going to get it. Of course just explaining something, however interesting, is no substitute for direct experience. Which is why I am leading the Runes and Trees Retreat in June. Spend three days living with the trees, discover their associations with the runes and find out what trees can do for us and what we can do for them. Early booking discount ends in one week and we can discuss a payment plan if that helps you afford the event. Full details at http://rr.stavcamp.org/
regards
Graham
PS Next training event in Beverley is on the 23rd of March when we will look at Close Quarter Weapon training with the cudgel and tein. More details here http://iceandfire.org.uk/train.html