Are you becoming a grouchy old fart?

According to this Reuter’s article, a poll of 2000 Britons demonstrated that those over 50 years of age are grouchier than those who are younger. They laugh less and complain more.

I’m not quite sure how they came up with these numbers, but according to the article, infants laugh as many as 300 times a day, those over 60 only laugh about 2 ½ times a day, and men laugh less than women.

Grim statistics indeed.

You’ve probably heard the expression “terrible twos”. Perhaps we’ve uncovered another phenomenon, that of the “sulky sixties”?

Several weeks ago, I posted this meme. In it, I challenged 8 fellow bloggers to share something really funny. Only one person came up with a submission, and I suspect that this person (a grandmother) is one of the few on the list who’s getting near that grumpy age. But I’m wondering if this experience somewhat confirms the findings of the poll in the Reuters article?

The Reuters article theorized that part of the reason for this sad trend is that the older set lacks joke-telling skills. According to the poll, the average Briton only knows two jokes.

I’m pretty sure I laugh significantly more than 2 ½ times a day, but I don’t have long to go before I hit the sulky sixties. I’m going to make a point of exercising my smile muscles this week so they don’t atrophy over the next couple of years.

So each day this week, I’m going to share something funny. And I invite you to share something funny by way of a comment. Maybe by the end of the week, we’ll “up” our daily laugh average just a bit.