funny bone

Related to funny bone: tickle my funny bone

funny bone

1. A point on the elbow that causes a peculiar and painful tingling sensation when struck. This meaning of "funny bone" is thought to be a play on the homophones "humorous" and "humerus" (the arm bone that connects the elbow and shoulder). A: "What's wrong?" B: "Ugh, I just hit my funny bone against the wall."
2. A sense of humor. I'm starting to suspect that that dour fellow was born without a funny bone.
See also: bone, funny
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

funny bone

 and crazy bone
a spot near the elbow bone that is very sensitive to the touch. Ouch, I hit my funny bone. Effie bumped her crazy bone and made a horrendous face.
See also: bone, funny
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

funny bone

1. A point on the elbow where the ulnar nerve runs close to the surface and produces a sharp tingling sensation when knocked against the bone. For example, Ouch! I just banged my funny bone. The expression is a pun on humerus (pronounced the same as humorous), the Latin name for the long bone of the arm. [Early 1800s]
2. A sense of humor, as in That comedian really tickles my funny bone. This expression is derived from def. 1.
See also: bone, funny
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • crazy bone
  • funny peculiar
  • funny-peculiar
  • peculiar
  • get pins and needles
  • have pins and needles
  • on pins and needles, to be
  • be on pins and needles
  • pins and needles
  • Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response
References in periodicals archive
When you bump your funny bone, it's often these areas that get the tingling sensation.
Host of the Funny Bone, Steven Davidson is a stand-up comedian, published writer, voiceover artist, radio host and sketch comedy creator.
From her run-in with the Kardashians to her not-so-subtle smackdown of noted homophobe Michele Bachmann, Griffin has our back and tickles our funny bone in equal measure.
WHAT is the funny bone and how does it get its name?
BOMAN Irani and Riteish Deshmukh have been hosting the International Indian Film Academy ( IIFA) Awards successfully for more than four years now with their trademark gags tickling everyone's funny bone.
TOP TV comedians have hit the Teesside funny bone - and will have to return to the area by popular demand.
Ladbrokes Casino.com, in the huff about a banned ad after one complaint, have launched a new ad campaign searching for Anyone Missing A Funny Bone. Why don't they try BBC's Hogmanay host Hardeep Singh Kohli?
With about a dozen funny bone poking short stories and commentaries, Levin looks at the world from the way it should be looked at--with an eye that cannot take anything too seriously.
But a quote related to Lake Ouachita touched our funny bone.
The smaller-market Funny Bone chain, majority-owned by managing partner Mitch Kutash, is quickly expanding, using the same movie theater-lifestyle center strategy: With former Improv prexy Tony Baldino, Kutash last December opened a Funny Bone club in Cincinnati, anchored by an AMC theater.
ONE youngster who has been tickling the funny bone of hundreds of people in Liverpool is now to make his mark on radio.
This is not for the faint-hearted or the easily offended, but I defy anyone with a funny bone, however small, not to be tickled by this delightful comedy couple.
In a talk titled "Americana and Martha's Funny Bone," at the Library of the Performing Arts, several Graham company elders skipped those topics and dwelled on Martha's famous ferocity.
The former tickled Radford's funny bone. The latter offered adventure and was simply written.
The pain you feel when you bump your funny bone (its real name is humerus) isn't caused by a bone.