This is the essence of slyness. It
follows, moreover, that a thing which was comical for one of the reasons
assigned may become comical for the other, by a simple change in the
point of view regarding it. For the behavior which first pleased us
because it was unconventional tends itself to become a new convention,
with reference to which the old convention then becomes the object of
a laughter which is scornful. The tables are turned: the rebel laughs
at the king.
The foregoing explanation of why we find the comical pleasant also
explains why so many of our other pleasures are intermixed with the
comical--why so often we not only smile when we are pleased, but laugh.
For, in the case of all except the most elementary enjoyments, our
pleasures are connected with the satisfaction of definite expectations
regarding the actions or events of our daily lives. But, owing to the
dulling effect of habit, the pleasure attendant upon these satisfactions
gradually becomes smaller and smaller or even negligible; until, as
a result, only the novel and surprising events which surpass our
expectations give us large pleasure; but these are comical. With the
child, whose expectations are rigid and few in number because of his
lack of discrimination and small experience, almost all pleasures,
like almost all events, are of the nature of surprises. The child
almost always laughs when he is pleased. The slang phrase "to be highly
tickled" expresses with precision this close connection between laughter
and pleasure.
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