See gallows humor in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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This is middle European humour, a response to hopeless situations. It's what a man says faced with a perfectly hopeless situation and he still manages to say something funny. Freud gives examples: A man being led out to be hanged at dawn says, 'Well, the day is certainly starting well.' It's generally called Jewish humour in this country. Actually it's humour from the peasants' revolt, the thirty years' war, and from the Napoleonic wars. It's small people being pushed this way and that way, enormous armies and plagues and so forth, and still hanging on in the face of hopelessness. Jewish jokes are middle European jokes. And the black humourists are gallows humourists, as they try to be funny in the face of situations which they see as just horrible.", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "2005, Kurt Vonnegut, A Man without a Country, →ISBN, page 5:", "text": "True enough, there are such things as laughless jokes, what Freud called gallows humor. . . . While we were being bombed in Dresden, sitting in a cellar with our arms over our heads in case the ceiling fell, one soldier said as though he were duchess in a mansion on a cold and rainy night, \"I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight.\"", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened, →ISBN, page 142:", "text": "Mattis, it turned out, was meeting with Trudeau at NATO headquarters. Already engaging in gallows humor, I wondered if Mattis was defecting.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "Comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of, and in response to, a tragic or hopeless situation." ], "id": "en-gallows_humor-en-noun-aEpLEMKr", "links": [ [ "Comedy", "comedy" ], [ "funny", "funny" ], [ "tragic", "tragic" ], [ "hopeless", "hopeless" ] ], "raw_glosses": [ "(American spelling, idiomatic) Comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of, and in response to, a tragic or hopeless situation." ], "related": [ { "word": "black humor" } ], "synonyms": [ { "tags": [ "Commonwealth" ], "word": "gallows humour" } ], "tags": [ "US", "idiomatic", "uncountable" ], "translations": [ { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "roman": "jiǎojià yōumò", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "絞架幽默 /绞架幽默" }, { "code": "da", "lang": "Danish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "nl", "lang": "Dutch", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "nl", "lang": "Dutch", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "groen lachen" }, { "code": "fi", "lang": "Finnish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "hirtehishuumori" }, { "code": "fr", "lang": "French", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "humour de potence" }, { "code": "fr", "lang": "French", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "humour de gibet" }, { "code": "de", "lang": "German", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "Galgenhumor" }, { "code": "de", "lang": "German", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "neuter" ], "word": "grünes Lachen" }, { "code": "el", "lang": "Greek", "roman": "chioúmor anchonón", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "χιούμορ αγχονών" }, { "code": "he", "english": "humor shakhor", "lang": "Hebrew", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "הומור שחור" }, { "code": "hu", "lang": "Hungarian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "akasztófahumor" }, { "code": "is", "lang": "Icelandic", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "gálgahúmor" }, { "code": "it", "lang": "Italian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "humor patibolare" }, { "code": "it", "lang": "Italian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "feminine" ], "word": "risata verde" }, { "code": "ja", "lang": "Japanese", "roman": "kōshudai-no hyūmoa", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "絞首台のヒューモア" }, { "code": "ko", "lang": "Korean", "roman": "gyosudae yumeo", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "교수대 유머" }, { "code": "lv", "lang": "Latvian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "karātavu humors" }, { "code": "nb", "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "nn", "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "pl", "lang": "Polish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "wisielczy humor" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "víselʹnyj júmor", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "ви́сельный ю́мор" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "čórnyj júmor", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "чёрный ю́мор" }, { "code": "sv", "lang": "Swedish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "galghumor" }, { "code": "tr", "lang": "Turkish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "kara mizah" } ], "wikipedia": [ "gallows humor" ] } ], "sounds": [ { "audio": "en-au-gallows humor.ogg", "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/ba/En-au-gallows_humor.ogg/En-au-gallows_humor.ogg.mp3", "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/En-au-gallows_humor.ogg" } ], "word": "gallows humor" }
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While we were being bombed in Dresden, sitting in a cellar with our arms over our heads in case the ceiling fell, one soldier said as though he were duchess in a mansion on a cold and rainy night, \"I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight.\"", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened, →ISBN, page 142:", "text": "Mattis, it turned out, was meeting with Trudeau at NATO headquarters. Already engaging in gallows humor, I wondered if Mattis was defecting.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "Comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of, and in response to, a tragic or hopeless situation." ], "links": [ [ "Comedy", "comedy" ], [ "funny", "funny" ], [ "tragic", "tragic" ], [ "hopeless", "hopeless" ] ], "raw_glosses": [ "(American spelling, idiomatic) Comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of, and in response to, a tragic or hopeless situation." ], "tags": [ "US", "idiomatic", "uncountable" ], "wikipedia": [ "gallows humor" ] } ], "sounds": [ { "audio": "en-au-gallows humor.ogg", "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/ba/En-au-gallows_humor.ogg/En-au-gallows_humor.ogg.mp3", "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/En-au-gallows_humor.ogg" } ], "synonyms": [ { "tags": [ "Commonwealth" ], "word": "gallows humour" } ], "translations": [ { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "roman": "jiǎojià yōumò", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "絞架幽默 /绞架幽默" }, { "code": "da", "lang": "Danish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "nl", "lang": "Dutch", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "nl", "lang": "Dutch", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "groen lachen" }, { "code": "fi", "lang": "Finnish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "hirtehishuumori" }, { "code": "fr", "lang": "French", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "humour de potence" }, { "code": "fr", "lang": "French", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "humour de gibet" }, { "code": "de", "lang": "German", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "Galgenhumor" }, { "code": "de", "lang": "German", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "neuter" ], "word": "grünes Lachen" }, { "code": "el", "lang": "Greek", "roman": "chioúmor anchonón", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "χιούμορ αγχονών" }, { "code": "he", "english": "humor shakhor", "lang": "Hebrew", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "הומור שחור" }, { "code": "hu", "lang": "Hungarian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "akasztófahumor" }, { "code": "is", "lang": "Icelandic", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "gálgahúmor" }, { "code": "it", "lang": "Italian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "humor patibolare" }, { "code": "it", "lang": "Italian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "feminine" ], "word": "risata verde" }, { "code": "ja", "lang": "Japanese", "roman": "kōshudai-no hyūmoa", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "絞首台のヒューモア" }, { "code": "ko", "lang": "Korean", "roman": "gyosudae yumeo", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "교수대 유머" }, { "code": "lv", "lang": "Latvian", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "karātavu humors" }, { "code": "nb", "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "nn", "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "galgenhumor" }, { "code": "pl", "lang": "Polish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "wisielczy humor" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "víselʹnyj júmor", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "ви́сельный ю́мор" }, { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "čórnyj júmor", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "masculine" ], "word": "чёрный ю́мор" }, { "code": "sv", "lang": "Swedish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "tags": [ "common-gender" ], "word": "galghumor" }, { "code": "tr", "lang": "Turkish", "sense": "comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation", "word": "kara mizah" } ], "word": "gallows humor" }
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