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For Freud, humour denotes the capacity of the individual to control the superego for the ego, thereby designating the illusory triumph of the latter and escape melancholy. Yet it is through witticism that the subject may escape the psychopathology of humour by introducing a third person and the dimension of language. Jewish humour is explored in this paper from both an anthropological and psychoanalytical stance, along with the role of Yiddish witticisms and their connection with linguistics and psychoanalysis.