Leon Eisenberg - Humor

Humor

Among his friends and professional colleagues, Leon Eisenberg was known for his humor and friendly wit which he shared in lectures, publications, and even as Recording Secretary for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (sometimes in the forum of haiku).

Collecting his humor is difficult (often it was in personal e-mails), but many agree that a few typical scenarios recurred:

  • Several persons of different social backgrounds involved in a difficult, odd, or even humorous situation, usually with a Jewish psychiatrist or a rabbi .
  • A very wise person involved with something very unusual .
  • A well-known historical event .
  • Poetry (often haiku)

Close friends (and fans) described his stories as customized for each occasion (so they never tired of hearing the same stories repeated because, with customization, they never were the same story or joke).

Read more about this topic:  Leon Eisenberg

Famous quotes containing the word humor:

    Affection, indulgence, and humor alike are powerless against the instinct of children to rebel. It is essential to their minds and their wills as exercise is to their bodies. If they have no reasons, they will invent them, like nations bound on war. It is hard to imagine families limp enough always to be at peace. Wherever there is character there will be conflict. The best that children and parents can hope for is that the wounds of their conflict may not be too deep or too lasting.
    —New York State Division of Youth Newsletter (20th century)

    Was ever woman in this humor wooed?
    Was ever woman in this humor won?
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    The comic is the perception of the opposite; humor is the feeling of it.
    Umberto Eco (b. 1932)