Nancy Bell, a Washington State University linguistics professor, recently asked her students to take one for the team— by telling bad jokes. Her research involved asking students to tell bad jokes, so that she could study the level of hostility expressed to the bad joke teller.

The Boston Globe reports:

Research by a Washington State University linguist found that people who tell bad jokes often endure an astonishing outpouring of hostility from the listeners.

 

"These were basically attacks intended to result in the social exclusion or humiliation of the speaker, punctuated on occasion with profanity, a nasty glare or even a solid punch to the arm," said researcher Nancy Bell.

We're not talking about jokes that contain offensive material, or the type of slurs unleashed by former "Seinfeld" star Michael Richards. The joke that Bell used in her research was:

"What did the big chimney say to the little chimney?

 

 
"Nothing, chimneys can't talk."

The responses to this childish riddle included insults, glares, silence or even blows.

"The predominant verbal reaction to failed humor in our study was oriented exclusively toward attacking the speaker," Bell said.

Since most of us love being glared at, insulted, and punched in the face, we’d like to ask CollegeOTR readers, what is the worst joke you’ve ever heard?