The substance of Improper Family humor kernels are the way things ought to be and how things ought be done. The sense elements are the rules, guidelines, mores and manners themselves, and the nonsense elements are the widely different kinds of deviations.

The word ‘schnoz’ looks silly and sounds silly. It clashes with the sense of what words normally are like. The word ‘schlong’ is similarly silly, but also the word is naughty, and this aspect is additionally detectable as humorous. ‘Naughty’ represents one kind of Improper; a dozen or so others also fall under the umbrella.

Those who find naughty humorous are subconsciously detecting a clash with a sense of what is proper. Those who do not find it funny do not experience this clash. This happens for a variety of reasons explored at length in Why Funny Is Funny. The end result is a greater response disparity between observers of Improper humor when compared to Contrary humor and especially Silly humor.

Three adjectives describe the major subcategories of Improper humor kernels, and within these are additional adjectives that give a taste of further subdivisions. Clash Theory tags all mild or benign rule-breaking violations as INAPPROPRIATE (mischievous, childish, informal, insensitive). Unintentional and embarrassing violations are AWKWARD. This sort of humor is popularly called ‘cringe’. The final group of VULGAR (revolting, profane, risqué) is the source for sophomoric, shock, dark, and related humor categories.

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