It’s snow joke

They say the corniest jokes are the best so Christmas – with crackers galore – must be best time to get out those really cheesy gags and raise a smile.

So I was very amused to learn that, if you get stuck for a really good one-liner, you can enlist the help of a joke-telling computer (sounds like a joke in itself, doesn’t it?)

Researchers have developed sophisticated software to come up with the corniest Christmas cracker gags. After feeding thousands of words and some simple language rules into the computer, its creators have developed a machine that can create hundreds of gags. All the jokes are in the form of a question and answer.

Here’s one example: ‘What kind of a fridge is a Land Rover?’ Answer: A jeep freeze. And ‘What kind of ointment is a boy?’ Answer: A son-screen. (I like that one).

Apparently, hundreds of jokes of a similar standard, including some which would cause some real head-scratching around the dinner table, have been produced.

Joking aside, there’s a serious point to this. Humour is very important in our life, whether at home or at work. Without humour, the days would be very long and dull indeed. When you meet new people, in any situation, humour can be a real ice-breaker (although I’d suggest that a cracker joke isn’t the best opening line!)

As with everything, some people are better at humour – both delivering and receiving it – than others. So, perhaps this piece of software can provide the answer – a few daft jokes could gel a team and help people work together better. If nothing else, they’ll definitely add to the fun at the office Christmas party...

Interestingly, this software was originally devised at the universities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh to help children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, to play with words and phrases to build their phonetic language skills. However, when Debenhams learned about it, they commissioned the team in an attempt to improve the jokes found in crackers. If you want to check it out yourself, go to www.abdn.ac.uk/jokingcomputer to see some of the jokes created.

So, here’s my festive joke for you – a personal favourite: ’What do you get when you cross a frog with a road?’ Answer: a main toad.

Happy Christmas!