Paul Schleifer

Jocularity is a noun derived (using a derivational suffix) from the adjective jocular. Jocular, in turn, means “given to, characterized by, intended for, or suited to joking or jesting; waggish; facetious” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/jocular).

The word comes into the language in the 1620s from the Latin iocularis (“funny, comic”), from ioculus (“joke”), which is a diminutive of iocus (“pastime,” “joke”) (https://www.etymonline.com/word/jocular?ref=etymonline_crossreference).

March 4, today, is the birthday of Muhammad Ali. Okay, not that Muhammad Ali, but the Ottoman military leader who was born in 1769 and died in 1849.

On this date in 1861, the Confederate States of America adopted the “Stars and Bars” as its first national flag.

Oddly, on this date in 1865, the Confederate States of America adopted its third and final national flag. Maybe the rebels should have spent a little less time on flags and a little more time on human rights.

On this date in 1966, the Beatles’ John Lennon declared, in an interview in the London Evening Standard, that the group was “more popular than Jesus.” He might have been wrong even then.

In 1974, People Weekly, later reduced to just People, is published for the first time. This is kind of a “who cares”?

On this date in 2009 the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002. This is actually a “we should care,” but al-Bashir is still in power.

90 years ago on this date, the author of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was born in Nottinghamshire. He died in 2010. His name was Alan Sillitoe!

Patricia Heaton was born on this date in 1958.

And today is the 10th anniversary of the designation of March 4 as National Grammar Day. It was established by Martha Brockenbrough, founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Grammar_Day) and author of “Things That Make Us [Sic]” (2008). Amazon.com describes the latter in this way:

This book is for people who experience heartbreak over love notes with subject-verb disagreements…for anyone who’s ever considered hanging up the phone on people who pepper their speech with such gems as “irregardless,” “expresso,” or “disorientated”…and for the earnest souls who wonder if it’s “Woe is Me,” or “Woe is I,” or even “Woe am I.”

Of course, while the book may be funny, I doubt that it can be as funny as a United States National Grammar Day. How jocular!

The image is of Sigmund Freud, the famous psychiatrist. If you go to Google Images and search for jocularity, and then limit your search using Tools and “Labeled for Reuse,” the very first image you see is this one. Is that in itself a joke?