What is fun?

Funny fun is what produces fun: recreation, entertainment. The fun makes a person in a good mood or feel joy. For example: "Ernesto's birthday was very funny: we stayed singing and dancing until dawn", "The Chilean writer's last book is fun thanks to the absurd and hilarious situations he presents throughout his pages", "Voy to look for some fun program to watch on TV before bedtime. "Human beings usually try to have fun because it is an emotion or pleasant feeling. When someone is fun, they do not usually worry or think about their problems, and in fact it is often that remoteness of the difficult to solve issues that drives us to seek fun. It goes without saying that we are not the only living beings who know how to have fun. If we observe the day to day of an individual of another species we will also notice that he devotes part of his time to relaxation and entertainment, although his culture is different from ours. Whether we talk about a wolf, a horse or a crow, animals can set aside their obligations for a while to have fun in the company of their friends.!

It is important to mention that the fun adjective can refer to a particular situation or an inherent or own characteristic. That is, a subject can "be" fun or "be" fun. The fact of being fun is linked to an external and temporary stimulus (attending a party, watching a funny movie, talking with friends), while, when a person tends to entertain others or have fun, it is described as fun : "I'm enjoying watching how kids argue about soccer", "My uncle is a funny man who always has a smile", "Why are you so funny?".

Since each person has the possibility to develop their own tastes, the same activity may seem fun for some but boring for others. The same goes for products such as books, movies and video games. In other words, we can not define a closed set that includes all the elements considered "fun".

Despite this, conventions and common sense help us to intuit what things are not fun, or should not be. In the first place we should place the damage to others: no one in their right mind should enjoy hurting another living being, regardless of whether they do so arbitrarily or in self-defense. Violence, therefore, is not a form of entertainment. Sleeping and eating are not actions that can be considered fun, although this does not mean we can not have a fun dream or a funny conversation while having lunch with a person of our liking.

If we ask a hundred people chosen at random what causes them fun, probably some of them mention reading, video games, movies, competitive sports or table games, although the diversity that characterizes our nature prevents us from knowing for sure.

While fun is valued, there are contexts where it does not take place. In the workplace, to cite a case, fun is usually not a priority, but actions pursue other effects (efficiency, accuracy, etc.). Looking for a fun component in a funeral or war, on the other hand, is misplaced.

In Argentina and Peru, on the other hand, saying that someone is "fun" may mean that they are in a slightly drunken state. The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines the expression to be or to walk badly funny, it gives like «to take a life given to the vices».