You hear the word humor a lot. People talk about office humor, sense of humor, a guy named Hugh Moore–but what does it really mean? Before reading on, see if you can think of the definition. Got a guess?

No seriously, think of something, I’ll wait.

…

Ok, so the word humor, as defined by Random House Dictionary, means

a comic, absurd, or incongruous quality causing amusement. [1]

Were you close? I know the first time I looked it up, I was way off. I mean the definition doesn’t mention anything about laughter or jokes, how can it be humor? I had to find out.

Humor vs Comedy vs Jokes

To better understand what humor is, lets look at two other words most people relate to humor–comedy and jokes. The House of Random says comedy is

any comic or humorous incident or series of incidents. [2]

And a joke is

something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement. [3]

Do you remember when you were studying for the SATs and you had to do those logic problems which tested if you understood that all lions are cats, but not all cats are lions? That’s what the relationship of humor, comedy and jokes is like: all jokes are comedy, and all comedy is humor, but not all humor is comedy and certainly not all jokes.

So What is Humor?

As the definition states, humor is anything that causes amusement. The joke “A leader of an orchestra was recently electrocuted, proving after all, he was a good conductor” is humorous (to some at least), but so is a smile.

Humor in the workplace could be watching episodes of The Office during lunch or taking a break to play some foosball–it’s whatever can cause amusement.

The important thing to remember is that humor, in it’s many forms, is beneficial to the work and life. Office humor makes the “9-5” more enjoyable.

Humor and Laughter

Many people assume that in order for something to be deemed humorous, it must evoke laughter. And while stand-up comedians may use that as a measure of success, that’s not the case for humor at work. Anything that relaxes the body, gets people to breathe, causes a smile, or elicits happiness is humor.

In fact, the tendency in the corporate world is to suppress laughter. And as silly as it seems, there are a number of reasons why people don’t laugh at work. But the use of humor can help change that.

Humor At Work

With our new understanding of humor, you start to see how easy it can be to bring it into the workplace and have some fun at work. Fun at work? Isn’t that an oxymoron? First, don’t call me a moron, and second, of course not. As Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, said

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

Humor That Works

Now that you understand humor, its’ time to start using it to help yourself, your team, and your entire company. You can find some ideas to get you started under How-To Humor. If you’re still not sold on the benefits, sign up for the humor newsletter to get a free eBook on the 12 Ways Humor Makes you a Better Employee.