Fun: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|EnjoymentPleasure, ofenjoyment, pleasureor amusement}}

[[File:Two surfers.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Surfing|Surfers]] enjoying their sport]]

'''Fun''' is defined by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' as "Lightlight-hearted [[pleasure]], [[Happiness|enjoyment]], or [[amusement]]; boisterous joviality or merrymaking; [[entertainment]]".<ref name=def>{{Cite OED|fun|id=75467}}</ref>

The word ''fun'' is associated with sports, entertaining media, high merriment,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bailey|first=Nathan|title=An universal etymological English dictionary: comprehending the derivations ...|url=https://archive.org/details/universaletymol00bail|year=1775|publisher=R. Ware, W. Innys|pages=FU|isbn=978-1-234-36393-2}}</ref> and amusement. Although its etymology is uncertain,<ref name=def/> it has been speculated that it may be derived from Middle English ''{{Lang|enm|fonne}}'' (fool) and ''{{Lang|enm|fonnen}}'' (the one fooling the other).<ref>{{cite book |last=Andreyev |first=Judith |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Wondering_about_Words/yKRqAHhVa0gC?hlid=en&gbpv=1yKRqAHhVa0gC&pg=PA26&printsec=frontcover |title=Wondering about Words: D'où Viennent Les Mots Anglais ? |publisher=Bréal; BREAL |year=2005 |isbn=978-2749503059 |pages=26}}</ref> An 18th century meaning (still used in [[Orkney]] and [[Shetland]]<ref name=def/>) was "cheat, trick, hoax", a meaning still retained in the phrase "to make fun of".<ref>{{cite book|last=Cousineau|first=Phil|title=The Painted Word: A Treasure Chest of Remarkable Words and Their Origins|year=2012|publisher=Cleis Press|isbn=978-1-936740-25-3|pages=156}}</ref>

{{QuotationBlockquote| ''The landlady was going to reply, but was prevented by the peace-making sergeant, sorely to the displeasure of Partridge, who was a great lover of what is called '''fun''', and a great promoter of those harmless quarrels which tend rather to the production of comical than tragical incidents.'' <br />[[Henry Fielding]], ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling]]'' (1749)<ref>{{cite book|last=Fielding|first=Henry|title=The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|year= 1749|publisher=Penguin Books (1966)|pages=458 (Book 9, Ch.6)}}</ref> }}

The way the word ''fun'' is used demonstrates its distinctive elusiveness and [[happiness]]. [[Expression (linguistics)Phrase|Expressions]] such as "[[wiktionarywikt:have_funhave fun|Have fun]]!" and "That was fun!" indicate that fun is pleasant, personal, and to some extent unpredictable. Expressions such as "I was [[making fun of]] myself" convey the sense that fun is something that can be amusing and not to be taken seriously. The adjective "funny" has two meanings, which often need to be clarified between a speaker and listener. One meaning is "amusing, jocular, droll" and the other meaning is "odd, quirky, peculiar". These differences indicate the evanescent and experiential nature of fun and the difficulty of distinguishing "fun" from "enjoyment".<ref>{{cite web |author=Alan Dix |title=Fun Systematically |url=http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/~dixa/papers/ECCE-fun-2004/ecce-alan-fun-panel.pdf |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613021607/http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/~dixa/papers/ECCE-fun-2004/ecce-alan-fun-panel.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-13 |access-date=November 1, 2010}}</ref>

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[[File:"Fun, off the job keeps him on the Job" - NARA - 514789.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[World War II]] era employment poster about the importance of fun]]

According to [[Johan Huizinga]], fun is "an absolutely primary category of life, familiar to everybody at a glance right down to the animal level."<ref>{{citeCite book |authorlast=BruceHuizinga C.|first=Johan Daniels|authorlink=Johan Huizinga|url=https://archive.org/details/homoludensstudyo1950huiz/page/2/mode/2up |title=PuritansHomo atLudens: Play.a Leisurestudy andof Recreationthe inplay Colonialelement Newin England.culture |year=1950 |publisher=St. Martin's Press,Roy Publishers|location=New York,|via=the 1995[[Internet Archive]]|pagep=xiii 3|isbnoclc=978-0-312-12500-41013214672|dateisbn=1995-08-15 9780415175944}}</ref> Psychological studies reveal both the importance of fun and its effect on the [[time perception of time]], which is sometimes said to be shortened when one is having fun.<ref>{{Cite journal

}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Why Time Flies When You're Having Fun|url=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249410.php|first=Sarah|last=Glynn|work=Medical News Today|date=August 2012|access-date=2013-02-06|quote=Just being content or satisfied may not make time fly, but being excited or actively pursuing a desired object can.}}</ref> As the adage states: "[[wiktionarywikt:time_flies_when_youtime flies when you're_having_funre having fun|Time flies when you're having fun]]".

It has been suggested that games, toys, and activities perceived as fun are often challenging in some way. When a person is challenged to think consciously, overcome challenge and learn something new, they are more likely to enjoy a new experience and view it as fun. A change from routine activities appears to be at the core of this perception, since people spend much of a typical day engaged in activities that are routine and require limited conscious thinking. Routine information is processed by the brain as a "chunked pattern": "We rarely look at the real world", according to game designer [[Raph Koster]], "we instead recognize something we have chunked, and leave it at that. [...] One might argue that the essence of much of art is in forcing us to see things as they really are rather than as we assume them to be".<ref>{{cite book |last=Koster |first=Raph |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Theory_of_Fun_for_Game_Design/gIGxSe2MsecC?hlid=en&gbpv=1gIGxSe2MsecC&pg=PA22&printsec=frontcover |title=Theory of Fun for Game Design |publisher=O'Reilly Media, Inc. |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4493-1497-2 |pages=22 |author-link=Raph Koster}}</ref> Since it helps people to relax, fun is sometimes regarded as a "social lubricant", important in adding "to one's pleasure in life" and helping to "act as a buffer against stress".<ref name="Urdang">{{cite book |last=Urdang |first=Esther |url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Human_Behavior_in_the_Social_Environment/_xR7o8hvatkC?hlid=en&gbpv=1_xR7o8hvatkC&pg=PA445&printsec=frontcover |title=Human Behavior in the Social Environment: Interweaving the Inner and Outer Worlds |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7890-3417-5 |edition=2nd |pages=445}}</ref>

With the emergence of [[Entertainment#Industry|entertainment industry]], fun is sold as a consumer product in the form of games, novelties, television, toys and other amusements. [[Marxism|Marxist]] sociologists such as the [[Frankfurt School]] criticise mass-manufactured fun as too calculated and empty to be fully satisfying.{{CnCitation needed|date=September 2022}} [[Bill Griffith]] satirises this [[dysphoria]] when his cartoon character [[Zippy the Pinhead]] asks mechanically, "Are we having fun yet?" In [[Beatles|theThe Beatles]] song "[[She's Leaving Home]]" fun is called "the one thing that money can't buy."<ref name="Sem">{{citation |author=Mark Blythe, Marc Hassnzahl |title=Funology |chapter-url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Funology/?id=QKYPdcI-av8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA91&printsec=frontcover |pages=91–100 |year=2004 |chapter=The Semantics of Fun |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-2966-0}}</ref>

* {{citationcite book |title=Theory of Fun for Game Design |authorfirst=Raph |last=Koster |publisher=O'Reilly Media, Inc. |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-932111-97-2}}