Finding things funny that other people don't

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I would have thought that literal-minded people would be even more likely to be able to tell that cartoon animals were not the same as real animals.

Yesterday a complete stranger began talking to me in line. One of her topics of conversation was poinsettias. She told me that the only present her mother routinely asked for was poinsettias, so that is what she uses to decorate her mother's grave. This led to my remembering what gift my mother routinely asked for: ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen. I almost laughed out loud at the thought of leaving them on my mother's grave.

Some survival instinct kept my face composed into a neutral expression...at least until she was gone.

I'm still giggling over it.

Does this make me a Bad Person.

I've had this happen at times in my life. I start to smirk over something funny that is not funny at all. It was a split-second moment of humor, then the humor immediately went away.

It wouldn't be funny while it happened, but afterwards I would've retold it as a funny story.No harm was done, and that old lady was overly dramatic IMO.

Once when my mother was walking our dog Viggo, he ran off. She hurried after him and saw him stand in the middle of the road, stopping traffic in both directions. He then ran into a garden. She waited for him at the gate because that was the only way he couldn't get past her. When he finally slowly made his return she took him on a leash and he walked very nicely next to her on the way home, aware of how angry she was.
When it happened, she was scared for him and angry of course, but when she retold it to me, while she was still angry she saw the humor in it. The story made me laugh from the start, and we've laughed about it several times later.
Once when I was walking him he also ran off. (Just gotta point out that he wasn't generally disobedient but at times his ears seemed to malfunction a little.) At first I was ticked off at him. Then I became worried, then afraid. I worried he had been hit by a car. I worried he could have been taken. He also had epilepsy and since he got really confused after his seizures, I worried he might be stumbling around disoriented. Then he came running towards me, whole and safe, cheerful. I just wanted to strangle him lol! I had been afraid, but once we got home I told it as a funny story and my mother laughed about it. In retrospect I found it funny, just not when it happened.

I think anyone who can't see the humor in it in retrospect needs to lighten up.

I get that the old lady wasn't there yet, but she really should have been IMO.

In the same way I had a chair that was about to fall apart. This summer it did, while I was on it. As it collapsed, I was just confused and flailing. Afterwards we've gotten good laughs about that and I have done impressions of my flailing dance a few times because it was fun in retrospect.

In the same way a sound that made me jump through the ceiling was terrifying when it happened, but was just funny when I retold it the next day.

As long as no harm is done, it's okay to see the humor in it afterwards. Maybe she lacked the ability to laugh at herself?

I never found it the least bit confusing as a child to distinguish between cartoon violence and the real thing. Cartoon are just entertainment.

The difference between cartoon /movie and the real thing has always been obvious to me. In the same way I could never understand how children could watch Superman and then take on a cape and think they could fly. I also could never understand how children could see someone get shot on TV and pick up a real gun and shoot someone for real. IMO someone has to be pretty spaced out to not get the diff between firing a real gun and a toy gun, even at a young age I got it perfectly.

I don't think people not thinking it's funny that a person's beloved pet came close to being seriously injured or killed means that they need to "lighten up".

Nothing happened, making it a storm in a water glass. The cat just got trapped and was rescued and was safe and unharmed. I loved my pets dearly, and any real harm to them wasn't and wouldn't be fun, but potentially dangerous situations like the ones I mentioned where it all turned out well are humorous.

That cat could have died.

Laughing at it to the old lady it happened to is just completely disrespecting her and her feelings.

Don't many of us tend to shy away from dramatic situations, and when we can't avoid them, we tend to alter them to be less dramatic. Could humor found at such things not be a side-effect of coping mechanisms we've learned?

I myself see nothing wrong with finding something like this funny, because I think it helps to lighten the mood and show people that they don't have to take things so seriously. You need to be less pessimistic and look for the humor and good things of all things that happen.

As for an early comment "would you like others to find your misfortunes funny" well my answer would have to be YES on that one, because at least something good came out of my misfortune and it wasn't all for the bad.

Don't get me wrong, if the cat had been harmed then humor would've been inappropriate. But the cat wasn't, and the distress was just emotionally-generated drama that does not benefit the teller nor the listener, so levity was indeed appropriate. (at least from my logical opinion)

I laugh at my own misfortunes as much as I laugh at the misfortunes of others.
It's a coping mechanism.
It's simply better to laugh than to cry.

....Besides, I can only do my very cool really evil laugh when I really mean it and if I only laughed at things that were funny but not terrible, I'd never get to use it...

Yes. An acting teacher explained to me:"We tend to laugh, when it hurts". It is like when a cat purrs to calm itself through unpelasant situations.

1 question: Was the cat ok?

If the cat was ok, it was hilarious.

If the cat was hurt but only in a minor way it could still be amusing (although I'd feel concern for the cat whilst trying to suppress my giggling)

If the cat was seriously injured it won't be funny until either the cat has healed or mourning has taken place (which ever is applicable), following which, in hindsight one might be able to see the funny side of the event. Because it is funny...in a way.

But it didn't die.

You can't understand the anxiety of the old lady... or the pain of the cat? What if it was your cat... would you be grinning?

Had I have been the old lady, I wouldn't have panicked, I'd have sat back down and lifted the foot rest back up so the cat could get back out again.

It has two sides and it is possible to feel concern in regards to any suffering that took place and still be amused simultaneously by the fact that the cat got comically trapped but was ultimately unharmed.

I preferred scooby doo personally.

I can related. There's been plenty of jokes that I didn't laugh to. And I've had to hold back laughter in regards to things that others do not find amusing. One time my friend told me a joke. I didn't laugh at all, and he thought I was too stupid to understand the joke. That really pissed me off.