HUMOUR (or HUMOR)

Noun.
1. The quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech.
2. A mood or state of mind.
Archaic: an inclination or whim.
3. Historical: Each of the four chief fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile (melancholy) that were thought to determine a person's physical and mental qualities by the relative proportions in which they were present.

The title of my forthcoming book, to be published by Faber & Faber in the autumn, will be Humour. Or Humor. It will be a collection of miserable stories, all of which have been published before, but in a fancy-assed new volume. Despite my grumpy face I'm actually really excited about this, and will endeavour to furnish you, my patient reader, with further information as I receive it. Bon nuit.