What is so practical about Practical Jokes? From my experience some of the most efficient and effectively funny 'jokes' were most decidedly impractical, involved a lot of work, and sometimes balanced on the precarious edge of being illegal if the matter was more closely examined.
What is it exactly that is in our psychic that allows us to think that cheap, simple and easily done trickery imposed on other human beings is so dang enjoyable and repeat worthy?
For instance, why does hiding behind a door and jumping out shouting BOO create such a sense of superior self satisfaction when one is rewarded with the consequential look of paled shock and dismay, especially combined with the inevitable scream of terror emitting from the target? What is it about putting cotton balls in someone's bed in a University Dormitory that would cause one to giggle hysterically until an almost too late mad dash to the bathroom is required--indeed demanded?
Sometimes a scream isn't necessarily the desired outcome. Sometimes it is simply the blank look of jaw dropping surprise that is the aimed for effect--that look a deer gets in the glare of the headlights-- stunned confusion between flight and fright.
Some Practical Jokes are benign. Harmless. Some are more inconvenient for the perpetrator(s) than for the target. I hesitate to use the term victim because of the lack of ulterior motive involved and as the goal is usually nothing other than some infliction and observation of another's character revealing confusion.
True Practical Joke's are the manifestation of a usually not necessarily well thought out idea concocted to inject a little bit of surprise and novelty to an otherwise humdrum world of both the perpetrator and the target. I would classify the putting of a walnut or pebble in someone's shoe as benign, as is Frenching some one's bed--startling perhaps , surely confusing, but little harm done.
Somewhere further up the Practical Joke ladder of the 'not so harmless' plots are those that involve substituting flour for bath salts, flour for sugar and /or salt for sugar. Pushing the legal boundaries might be described in the sneaking (some might say breaking and entering) into the apartment of 6 young bachelors by 2 young bachelorettes ( who lived above them like the angels they weren't) while said young bachelors were out working. These 2 young bachelorettes having gained entrance, proceeded to switch clothes from one bedroom to another, move dishes from one cupboard to another, and yes, even substituted flour for salt in the shaker. The sounds of wonder and dismay upon the targets'(victim's?) arrival home could be clearly heard by the angel ears which were pressed in anticipation on the cold tiled floor above.
The stuffing of pantyhose, high heeled shoes, and not so fashionable dress with newspaper and the placing a balloon with a painted face and wig on a string, and attaching this all to a broom stick, and the consequential dangling of the puppet type character dubbed "Mona" out of the third floor apartment window until the tips of her shoes gently tap tap tapped at these above named same bachelors' bedroom window directly below , until the sudden flying open of the window and grabbing of 'Mona" (wig and balloon face et al) by an oh so masculine and muscular hairy arm which pulled her loveliness into the dark recesses of this second floor unkempt lair of malodorous maleness, could have been considered hovering on the edge of harassment in some circles and courts of law. Luckily, Mona was found a few days later outside our apartment door lying prone , absent of shoes or wig, balloon face all askance-- totally ravished and literally in pieces. She was never the same.
Then there are the Practical Jokes that are not so practical, not so funny, and not so smart. I am talking Practical Jokes that have almost the opposite desired effect predicted by the perpetrators because the targets in this case either by their own interpretation or action in response to the Practical Joke, or because of the lack of good planning or 'plottery', the targets truly do become victims.
Some examples being:
-- The placing of a firecracker inside of a cigarette so that when the cigarette was lit it explods in the smoker's face.
-- Placing a stuffed 'dummy' into your roommate's bed so when said roommate returns home from late night shift she is given such a 'start' that she screams in terror and then cries and hyperventilates hysterically.
-- Sending a much cherished Silver Tea Pot along with two Turkey feet stuffed inside through the mail --mail delivery is MUCH too slow for this to be considered sanitarily successful.
... Sending a professional looking one page letter in the mail with the words "..if this is not corrected immediately legal advice will be sought" which has had Page 2 written at the top. (Potential to wreck a good roommate relationship).
-- Being guests at a 25th Anniversary Party and taking the master bed apart, then dragging it down to the basement where it was reassembled to be discovered by the 'bride and groom' after all the guests had left. While not really harmful to the targets , it was harmful to the perpetrators as their backs were victims of their own creative musings.
--Having two preschoolers lie down behind a parked car and then run to the house to tell the mother that you drove over them. Totally BAD!
Pshaw! Practical Jokes are pretty much practiced with pleasantries planet-wide . Plots are planned and performed to please the perpetrator. These people playfully put preposterous plans in place to perform their precious and precocious ploys designed to placate the prankster's profound preference and proclivity for buffoonery.
What is it exactly that is in our psychic that allows us to think that cheap, simple and easily done trickery imposed on other human beings is so dang enjoyable and repeat worthy?
For instance, why does hiding behind a door and jumping out shouting BOO create such a sense of superior self satisfaction when one is rewarded with the consequential look of paled shock and dismay, especially combined with the inevitable scream of terror emitting from the target? What is it about putting cotton balls in someone's bed in a University Dormitory that would cause one to giggle hysterically until an almost too late mad dash to the bathroom is required--indeed demanded?
Sometimes a scream isn't necessarily the desired outcome. Sometimes it is simply the blank look of jaw dropping surprise that is the aimed for effect--that look a deer gets in the glare of the headlights-- stunned confusion between flight and fright.
Some Practical Jokes are benign. Harmless. Some are more inconvenient for the perpetrator(s) than for the target. I hesitate to use the term victim because of the lack of ulterior motive involved and as the goal is usually nothing other than some infliction and observation of another's character revealing confusion.
True Practical Joke's are the manifestation of a usually not necessarily well thought out idea concocted to inject a little bit of surprise and novelty to an otherwise humdrum world of both the perpetrator and the target. I would classify the putting of a walnut or pebble in someone's shoe as benign, as is Frenching some one's bed--startling perhaps , surely confusing, but little harm done.
Somewhere further up the Practical Joke ladder of the 'not so harmless' plots are those that involve substituting flour for bath salts, flour for sugar and /or salt for sugar. Pushing the legal boundaries might be described in the sneaking (some might say breaking and entering) into the apartment of 6 young bachelors by 2 young bachelorettes ( who lived above them like the angels they weren't) while said young bachelors were out working. These 2 young bachelorettes having gained entrance, proceeded to switch clothes from one bedroom to another, move dishes from one cupboard to another, and yes, even substituted flour for salt in the shaker. The sounds of wonder and dismay upon the targets'(victim's?) arrival home could be clearly heard by the angel ears which were pressed in anticipation on the cold tiled floor above.
The stuffing of pantyhose, high heeled shoes, and not so fashionable dress with newspaper and the placing a balloon with a painted face and wig on a string, and attaching this all to a broom stick, and the consequential dangling of the puppet type character dubbed "Mona" out of the third floor apartment window until the tips of her shoes gently tap tap tapped at these above named same bachelors' bedroom window directly below , until the sudden flying open of the window and grabbing of 'Mona" (wig and balloon face et al) by an oh so masculine and muscular hairy arm which pulled her loveliness into the dark recesses of this second floor unkempt lair of malodorous maleness, could have been considered hovering on the edge of harassment in some circles and courts of law. Luckily, Mona was found a few days later outside our apartment door lying prone , absent of shoes or wig, balloon face all askance-- totally ravished and literally in pieces. She was never the same.
Then there are the Practical Jokes that are not so practical, not so funny, and not so smart. I am talking Practical Jokes that have almost the opposite desired effect predicted by the perpetrators because the targets in this case either by their own interpretation or action in response to the Practical Joke, or because of the lack of good planning or 'plottery', the targets truly do become victims.
Some examples being:
Warning:
Children and/or Would Be Adults
Do Not Try These at Home
-- The placing of a firecracker inside of a cigarette so that when the cigarette was lit it explods in the smoker's face.
-- Placing a stuffed 'dummy' into your roommate's bed so when said roommate returns home from late night shift she is given such a 'start' that she screams in terror and then cries and hyperventilates hysterically.
-- Sending a much cherished Silver Tea Pot along with two Turkey feet stuffed inside through the mail --mail delivery is MUCH too slow for this to be considered sanitarily successful.
... Sending a professional looking one page letter in the mail with the words "..if this is not corrected immediately legal advice will be sought" which has had Page 2 written at the top. (Potential to wreck a good roommate relationship).
-- Being guests at a 25th Anniversary Party and taking the master bed apart, then dragging it down to the basement where it was reassembled to be discovered by the 'bride and groom' after all the guests had left. While not really harmful to the targets , it was harmful to the perpetrators as their backs were victims of their own creative musings.
--Having two preschoolers lie down behind a parked car and then run to the house to tell the mother that you drove over them. Totally BAD!
Pshaw! Practical Jokes are pretty much practiced with pleasantries planet-wide . Plots are planned and performed to please the perpetrator. These people playfully put preposterous plans in place to perform their precious and precocious ploys designed to placate the prankster's profound preference and proclivity for buffoonery.
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