| Title: | Joke, Joking |
| Original Title: | Plaisant, Plaisanterie |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 12 (1765), pp. 688–689 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Malcolm Eden [University of London] |
| Subject terms: |
Grammar
Ethics
|
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.923 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Joke, Joking." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Malcolm Eden. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2008. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.923>. Trans. of "Plaisant, Plaisanterie," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 12. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Joke, Joking." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Malcolm Eden. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.923 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Plaisant, Plaisanterie," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 12:688–689 (Paris, 1765). |
Joking, Joke, a way of amusing oneself that is so dangerous that the safest thing is to avoid it. Religion, affairs of state, great men, serious matters in private life, in short, everything that is worthy of respect or pity, should be avoided as subjects for joking . Its success in cliques depends less on its perpetrators’ wit than the care they take to make fun only of people and things that are disliked by the group whose oracles they are. What is true of joking is true of party political publications: they are always admired by cliques, and that is why the philosopher is always played by the worst clown.
As for joking in style, it is never a good idea in a serious text, since it only ever plays on an aspect of an object that is not under consideration, and almost always results from false relations and quibbling. This is also why the humor of practically all self-proclaimed wits is false and superficial.