A Funny Thing Happened

There is a definate feeling I get when I have an idea that tells me it is right. Vic Reeves when asked about why he made such and such a surreal artwork said that he didn't know why he did it... because it was funny. That's exactly it, the feeling is like humour, like the object combination or idea is funny, but also exactly right.

Surrealism, particularly in Britain, has an uneasy relationship with comedy. The best British comedy is surreal, from The Goons to Monty Python to the aforementioned Mr. Reeves, but this also makes people regard surrealist art as frivolous or silly, and think that such a feeling makes the artwork rubbish. Being surreal, even in the "funny" sense is not the same as being silly, but I think that humour is an essential part of surreal art, as equally essential as humour is in the mind. This feeling of a surreal idea being funny is a very specific feeling, not sillyness, but something a bit more like quirkyness, a feeling of "right" or "correct" that is "funny" too. A new word is needed for this feeling to separate its correctness from the appreciative sillyness felt when experiencing a joke, and so I picked "mimsy" from the Jabberwocky. Although apparently the word means miserable and flimsy, I think the sound of the word is too lighthearted for such a definition and so I redefine it thus:

Mimsy is the funny, pleasant feeling of correctness when contemplating a surreal idea.

I now half suspect that Lewis Carroll was intercepting this definition from the future and genuinely thought that his Borogoves were mimsy. Lewis Carroll probably felt mimsy quite often.

Mark Sheeky, 17 August 2008