For our theoretical explanation of the nature of wit, harmless wit must be of greater value to us than tendency-wit and shallow wit more than profound wit. Harmless and shallow plays on words present us the problem of wit in its purest form, because of the good sense therein and because it has no tendency nor underlying philosophy to confuse the judgment. With such material our understanding can make further progress. At the end of a dinner to which I had been invited, a pastry called Roulard was served; it was a culinary accomplishment which presupposed a good deal of skill on the part of the cook. “Is it home-made?” asked one of the guest. “O, yes,” replied the host, “it is a Home-Roulard” (Home Rule). As I remember, this improvised joke delighted all the guests and made us laugh. In this case, as in countless others, the feeling of pleasure of the hearer cannot have originated from the tendency or the thought-content of the wit; so we are forced to connect the feeling of pleasure with the technique of wit. The technical means of wit which we have described, such as condensation, displacement, indirect expression, etc., have therefore the faculty to produce a feeling of pleasure in the hearer, although we cannot as yet see how they acquired that faculty. By such easy stages we get the second axiom for the explanation of wit; the first one states that the character of wit depends upon the mode of expression.  

Let us remember also that the second axiom has really taught us nothing new. It merely isolates a fact that was already contained in a discovery which we made before. For we recall that whenever it was possible to reduce the wit by substituting for its verbal expression another set of words, at the same time carefully retaining the sense, it not only eliminated the witty character but also the laughableness that constitutes the pleasure of wit. We are taught above all by an observation not to put aside tendency wit when we are investigating the origin of the pleasure n wit. The pleasurable effect of harmless wit is usually of a moderate nature; all that can be expected to produce in the hearer is a distinct feeling of satisfaction and a slight ripple of laughter; and as we have shown by fitting examples at least a part of this effect is due to the thought-content. The sudden wit without tendency. As the technique may be identical in both, it is fair to assume that by virtue of its purpose, tendency-wit has at its disposal sources of pleasure to which harmless wit has no access. It is not easy to survey wit-tendencies. Wherever wit is not a means to its end, i.e. harmless, it puts itself in the service of but two tendencies which may themselves be untied under one viewpoint; it is either hostile wit serving as an aggression, satire, or defense, or it is obscene wit serving as a sexual exhibition.

Again, it is to be observed that the technical for of wit—be it a word- or thought-witticism—bears no relation to these two tendencies. We all know what is meant by a smutty joke. It is the intentional bringing into prominence of sexual facts or relations through speech. It must be added that the smutty joke is directed toward a certain person who excites one sexually, and who becomes cognizant of the speaker’s excitement by listening to the smutty joke, and thereby in turn becomes sexually excited. Instead of becoming sexually excited the listener may reaction to the smutty joke with shame and embarrassment, which merely signifies a reaction against the excitement and indirectly an admission of the same. The smutty joke was originally directed against an individual and may be comparable to an attempt at seduction. If a man tells or listens to obscene jokes in male society, the original situation, which cannot be realized on account of social inhibitions, is there by also represented. Whoever laughs at a smutty joke does the same as the spectator who laughs at sexual aggression.  The sexual element which is at the basis of the obscene joke comprises more than that which is peculiar to both genders, and goes beyond that which is common to both genders, it is connected with all these things that cause shame, and includes the whole domain of the excrementitious. However, third person, who now as a listener is bribed by the easy gratification of his own libido. It is curious that common people so thoroughly enjoy such smutty talk, and that it is a never-lacking activity of cheerful humor.