English
absurd
Nearest English gloss
out of tune with reason, or with what we expected
What the gloss loses
Reducing the absurd to Camus alone, or to a poster of Sisyphus smiling, loses the older sense: something that simply does not sound right. History is under no obligation to be plausible.
Etymology
From Latin absurdus, out of tune, harsh-sounding. The philosophical career (Kierkegaard, Camus, and many who are neither) is later. The word begins in the ear.
History
Adams put an ordinary number where an answer was demanded. Australia sent machine guns after emus. Both belong here. Not everything that is absurd is a lesson.
Where does humor clarify, and where would a lesson be disrespect?