A shocking Revelation

[DMonkey]

the word of the day is "witty"

Totally this. A good come back can be as devastating as any punch.

 

[Ham_authority95]

It's not that being hurtful to other people is funny. It's just like any other joke: it's all about timing and cleverness. Take for example the classic Winston Churchill comeback:

"You sir, are drunk!"

"Yes madam, but you are ugly. And I shall be sober in the morning."

If Churchill had just said "Yeah, well you're ugly, *****!" it wouldn't have been funny, and no one would have remembered it.

Exactly.

The wrong "joke" at the wrong time delivered in the wrong way is just idiotic and even hurtful.

 

[Zer_]

Humans are jerks. That is why.

Well I know that but we didn't always do it how did it become so open, we use insults more than the word hello

Insults existed since the dawn of time. Kids were being picked on at school for all of history...

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I don't know. Why is anything funny?

Seriously, think about. Humor almost never makes sense.

 

[Mordwyl]

Schadenfreude.

 

[SimuLord]

Humans are jerks. That is why.

Well I know that but we didn't always do it how did it become so open, we use insults more than the word hello

Because it used to be that you'd be socially shunned for being a dick. Now it's considered culturally normal.

 

[Lullabye]

Avenue Q take it away:
Simply put, we find situations in which others may suffer amusing. Or even simply we laugh at the display of wit on the part of the insulter.

 

[Caligulove]

Ounce of truth.