Them's fighting words! I can laugh as hard as the next man. Put up your fists!
It's terribly dangerous to accuse a person of having no sense of humour - people may bear many accusations, from depravity to membership of the Greens, but no-one will ever put up with being called humourless. Grim, sour types will be the most vehement of all.
Why? It is evident that some people just do not laugh. They don't want to; they don't know why. They don't know when or how to do it. They are just glum and sullen. Why don't they own up to it?
Because society never forgives them - and rarely forgets. Savonarola and Martin Luther were famous and powerful, but hated. Much of the hate was religious and political, but some of it was society's horror of a sad clown turned sad ruler. You can supply your own hate-object here from modern offerings, but consider putting some money down on Joe McCarthy or the true-believer members of the British Labour Party. It won't be for a laugh, I can assure you.
It would be unfair to say why some do not have the sense - pathology or mental illness might be the root cause and it is cruel to mock the afflicted. It is also crueller to leave them untreated and out of society - even if their inclusion is like spending a wet weekend in Winnipeg.
If you ever want to unsettle someone, apologise to them for making a tasteless joke about them. Be sincere. The fact that you have not made it in their presence is the important part of the apology.
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