Why do certain words seem to inherently ‘sound funny’? This applies equally to real words & made-up words. It would appear that humour isn’t as personal as we think—it can actually be predicted with maths.
A study led by Chris Westbury at the University of Alberta explored why certain non-words (like snunkoople) consistently make people laugh. The researchers found that humour in nonsense words can be measured using Shannon entropy, a mathematical concept that calculates how predictable or “ordered” something is.
The Experiment
The study involved two tests:
1️ Participants were shown two nonsense words & asked which was funnier.
2️ They then rated single nonsense words on a scale from 1 to 100.
The results? The more unpredictable the word’s letter combinations, the funnier people found it. Incredibly, the most accurate participant predicted the “funnier” word 92% of the time—a level of predictability rarely seen in psychology.
This aligns with Schopenhauer’s 19th-century theory that humour arises from violated expectations. Just as puns play with meaning (Why did the golfer bring two pairs of trousers? In case he got a hole in one!), funny nonsense words disrupt our phonological expectations.
What Does This Mean?
The findings suggest humour is more universal than we assume & may have evolutionary roots. Westbury links this to the baluba/takete effect [worth a post all to itself- watch this space], where people consistently match sounds to shapes. Laughter, he argues, may have evolved as a social signal—helping us communicate that a perceived threat (like a shadowy figure in the garden) is actually harmless (just a cat).
Some words just sound funny because of their unusual letter combinations. Consider:
Dr. Seuss-style words – Yuzz-a-ma-tuzz, Zizzer-zazzer-zuzz
Made-up words that “sound funny” – Snunkoople, Finglam, Gloobity, Zafflebop
Real words with inherently funny sounds – Wobble, Befuddled, Gobbledegook, Kerfuffle
Why do these work? Their low-entropy structure makes them feel unexpected, disrupting our usual phonetic expectations—just like a good joke plays with meaning.
Teacher Takeaways?
Phonetics matters in engagement – Playful, low-entropy words might boost classroom engagement, whether in storytelling or pronunciation drills. Try using funny-sounding nonsense words in warm-ups or tongue twisters to make pronunciation practice more enjoyable.
Expectation & surprise drive humour – Jokes, puns & unpredictable language can enhance students’ understanding of meaning & context. For example, when teaching homophones or idioms, introduce puns to show how language plays with expectations (e.g., Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana).
Language “feels” a certain way – Words aren’t just semantic; they evoke reactions. Experiment with funny-sounding vocabulary to explore the feel of language. Have students create their own nonsense words & guess their meanings based on how they sound—this can be a fun way to discuss phonetics & morphology.
What’s the funniest word your students have come across in a lesson?
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