A joke is something spoken, written, or done with humorous intention. Jokes may have many different forms, e.g.

, a single word or a gesture (considered in a par ticular context), a question-answer, or a whole short story. The word "joke" has a number of synonyms. To achieve their end, jokes may employ irony, sarcasm, word play and other devic es. Jokes may have a punch line, i.e. an ending to make it humorous. A practical joke or prank differs from a spoken one in that the major component of the humour is physical rather than verbal (for example placing salt in the su gar bowl). [edit] Purpose Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired response is generally laughter; when this does not happen the joke is said to ha ve "fallen flat" or "bombed". However, jokes have other purposes and functions, common to comedy/humour/satire in general. [edit] Antiquity of jokes Jokes have been a part of human culture since at least 1900 BC. According to res earch conducted by Dr Paul McDonald of the University of Wolverhampton, a fart j oke from ancient Sumer is currently believed to be the world's oldest known joke .[1] Britain's oldest joke, meanwhile, is a 1,000-year-old double-entendre that can be found in the Codex Exoniensis.[2] A recent discovery of a document called Philogelos (The Laughter Lover) gives us an insight into ancient humour. Written in Greek by Hierocles and Philagrius, i t dates to the third or fourth century AD, and contains some 260 jokes. Consider ing humour from our own culture as recent as the 19th century is at times baffli ng to us today, the humour is surprisingly familiar. They had different stereoty pes: the absent-minded professor, the eunuch, and people with hernias or bad bre ath were favourites. A lot of the jokes play on the idea of knowing who characte rs are: A barber, a bald man and an absent minded professor take a journey together. They have to camp overnight, so decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it's the barber's turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says "How stupid is that barber? He's woken up the bald man instead of me." There is even a joke similar to Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch: a man buys a slave, who dies shortly afterwards. When he complains to the slave merchant, h e is told: "He didn't die when I owned him." Comic Jim Bowen has presented them to a modern audience. "One or two of them are jokes I've seen in people's acts n owadays, slightly updated. They put in a motor car instead of a chariot - some o f them are Tommy Cooper-esque."[3]