Social workers can learn much about the uses of humor from workers in
the turbulent and fast-paced atmosphere of a large city hospital emerg
ency room in which it flourishes. This article illustrates staff use o
f five varieties of humor in this stressful and sometimes dangerous se
tting: (1) tension-relieving nonsense, (2) play on words, (3) sense of
the preposterous and incongruous, (4) gallows humor, and (5) foolish
jest. Above all, this article discusses the ability to endure day afte
r day the occurrence of unspeakable trauma.