Generative Creativity Lecture 5:
Jokes

Introduction

• What do you call a X that Ys?
• shaddy dog stories,
• englishman/irishman/scotsman,
• how many Xs does it take to Y?,
• knock knock,
• word play,
• cultural humiliation (irish/kiwi/norwegian...)

Punning riddles

• Question: What do you call a chav in a box?

• Answer: init!

• Question: what do you call a chav in a filing cabinet?

• Answer: sorted

STANDUP riddles and puns

Simplified riddling

• Question: what do you call a flat surface that wags?

• Answer: a tailplane.

In Java

WhatDoYouCall.java provides a very simple illustration of this approach.

Ritchie's STANDUP system is a more advanced application.

WhatDoYouCall applet

   import javax.swing.*;
   import java.awt.event.*;
   import java.awt.*;


   class JokePanel extends JPanel {
      String string;

      public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
         super.paintComponent(g);
         if (string != null) g.drawString(string, 10, 20);
      }
   }


   public class WhatDoYouCall extends JApplet implements MouseListener {
      String answer = null;
      int index = 0;
      JokePanel jokePanel = new JokePanel();

      String map[][] = {
         {"tail", "pursuer", "wags"},
            {"plane", "flat surface", "flies"},
            {"motor", "power source", "vibrates"},
            {"bike", "cycle", "has pedals"},
            {"car", "vehicle", "has four doors"},
            {"park", "nature reserve", "is open to the public"},
            {"ice", "glacier", "freezes"},
            {"box", "case", "you can keep things in"}
      };

      public void init() {
         this.addMouseListener(this);
         jokePanel.setBackground(Color.white);
         getContentPane().add(jokePanel);
      }

      public void mousePressed(MouseEvent event) {
         if (answer != null) {
            jokePanel.string = "Answer: " + answer;
            answer = null;
            index += 2;
            if (index >= map.length) index = (index+1) % map.length; }
         else {
            int i = index, j = i-1;
            String thing = map[i][1], desc = null;
            if (i % 2 == 0) j = i+1;
            desc = map[j][2];
            jokePanel.string = "Question: what do you call a " + thing + " that " + desc + "?";
            answer = map[Math.min(i,j)][0] + map[Math.max(i,j)][0]; }
         repaint();
      }

      public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent event) { }
      public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent event) { }
      public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent event) { }
      public void mouseExited(MouseEvent event) { }

  }

Applet in action

More complex riddles

Relationships exploited

For example

• murderer SYNONYM killer

• fibre ATTRIBUTE person

• person SUPERCLASS killer

• cereal HOMOPHONE serial

• serial ATTRIBUTE murderer

Riddle template

A similar approach produces

• Question: What to you call a strange market?

• Answer: a bizarre bazaar

Summary

• Jokes often involve specific structural characteristics.

• These can be used for generative purposes.

• Punning riddles are a simple case but even here it is difficult to reliably generate riddles which are considered funny.

Exercises

• Work out a structural template which would generate `what do you call a killer with fibre' from the answer `cereal killer'.

• One of the problems with the applet is that, as it stands, it cannot cope with pseudonyms starting with a vowel. In these case the question form should use `an' rather than `a'. Modify the code so that this situation is recognized and the question modified appropriately.

• Extend the applet by adding entries to the 'map' for the compound words `jailbird' and `braindrain'.

• Modify the applet so that it generates questions in a random order.

• Modify the program so that it is capable of generating questions featuring imaginary compound words, i.e., words which make use of one or more pseudonyms.

Reading

A draft report on the STANDUP system (successor of JAPE-1 and JAPE-2) is at here. This is due to appear in Applied Artificial Intelligence.

See also Graeme Ritchie's recent book: `The Linguistic Analysis of Jokes'

Try Ritchie's by-hand joke-generation task: instructions here, worksheet here