(Our happy hour fact to amaze your drinking buddies with.)

New research shows those who tell a bad joke can be subjected to intense hostility.

Washington State University linguist Nancy Bell tested reactions to the joke, "What did the big chimney say to the little chimney?" with the punchline, "Nothing, chimneys can't talk," by having her students drop it in normal conversation and then record the results.

According to Bell, 44 percent of the responses "were basically attacks intended to result in the social exclusion or humiliation of the speaker, punctuated on occasion with profanity, a nasty glare or even a solid punch to the arm."

Bell speculates one of the reasons bad joke tellers are punished is because they have insulted their audiences by suggesting they would find the joke funny.

Unfortunately, these findings lead us to believe the random acts of violence suffered by Asylum staff members may not be so random.