"Analyzed contextually and comparatively, humorous expressions emerge as forms of human communication whose implications are startling, engaging, and profound. Engaging Humor explores Freud's theory that every thought contains a joke. Elliott Oring suggests that racist humor is not rooted in repression and offers a new perspective on other forms of humor seemingly based on hatred. He also addresses the use of jokes as commentaries on the conversations in which they are embedded and considers the similiarites in the humorous traditions of the United States, Australia, and Israel - each formed through colonization in modern times."--BOOK JACKET.