sense of humour

plural senses of humour · alternative sense of humor

1. A person’s faculty for finding certain things funny.

   I prefer to think that birds have a sufficiently developed sense of humour to enjoy the spectacle of a human being hunched beneath a bush kissing the back of their hand.

   1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 112

   2 more examples

   The man’s right leg had been completely crushed in the crash, and he was losing a lot of blood. “Mr Goodie,” began the doctor as soon as Dad had been rushed into the Accident and Emergency department at the hospital. “I have some very bad news. We have to amputate your leg.” “Which one?” replied Dad, not losing his sense of humour at this dark time. “The right one, of course. If we don’t operate straight away, there is a very real chance you will die.”

   2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], “Crushed in the Crash”, in Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN, page 16

   "No drugs, sorry," I tried to joke. It was a mistake, of course. I didn't know then that one should never test a customs (or immigration) officer's sense of humour. She asked me to open my suitcases.

   2026 February 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A brave new world... pt 2”, in RAIL, number 1054, page 68