We Are Not Amused: Failed Humor in Interaction

A Review

The primary question Nancy Bell seeks to answer in We Are Not Amused: Failed Humor in Interaction is why humor fails. Her approach is broad and limited. Despite the neglect the topic of failed humor has suffered from scholars, Bell pulls from the work of different scholars from different fields to answer his question. The conceptual limitation brought about by her academic field (applied linguistics) takes nothing away from the book. She introduces and defines the linguistic terms for readers without a background in linguistics.

For readers with little or no knowledge of the different theories of humor, the author gives a summary of the theories and their limitations concerning the subject of humor and failed humor.

The author spends time laying a foundation before treating the questions she started with. This is however a time well spent. It aids a better understanding of the latter part of the book. 

We Are Not Amused: Failed Humor in Interaction is the rigorous study of a scholar. A scan of the first few pages makes this evident. The author has specific readers in mind. They are

those interested in the study of humor and those interested in the study of conversational interaction.

However, anyone who had intended humor people did not find funny, those offended by the intended humor and those who want to know what to do in a situation where humor has failed will find this book helpful. Finally, intending humor with a limited risk of failure should be the business of every human. We Are Not Amused: Failed Humor in Interaction promises to help readers do this.