Why bad jokes are easier to remember London (PTI): Ever wondered why bad jokes are easier to remember than the good ones?
Well, scientists claim to have finally unravelled the reason. A new study has revealed that the best jokes are the hardest to remember as they work by subverting usual thought patterns, making them less memorable but funnier moreover, a final twist and surprise in the joke makes people remember the punchline, but forget the run-up to the gag. But, on the contrary, the structure and punchlines of cliched gags are so predictable that they make the jokes easy to recall, the study found. According to the study’s author, Prof. Robert Provine of Maryland University, “What makes a joke successful is also what makes it difficult to remember. The punch line involves an unexpected turn. “If someone tells you a list of flowers, like roses, daffodils, petunias and brick. That was unexpected and funny. You remember ‘brick’, but not probably the correct list of flowers.” Prof. Provine said that he believed good jokes “work in the opposite way to a poem or piece of music”. “It’s easier to follow a so
