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It has often been remarked that jokes involve some form of distorted logic, but the details of this joke logic have not been fully explored. We offer a contribution to the methodology of this exploration by clarifying some abstract theoretical distinctions. Firstly, we separate two crucially different notions of “reasoning” which are relevant to joke comprehension: internal logic and audience inference...
In order for joking to actually have a function in the workplace, it must have a forum. There are many pieces of empirical research on humour in the workplace, however the notion of the appropriateness of joking behaviour is often overlooked. The time, place, and circumstances of when joking does or does not occur is related to the situated and contextual nature of humour and issues linked to the...
This paper presents and discusses the forms of humour employed by New Zealand primary school teachers when talking about children’s safety in the outdoor classroom. A discourse analysis, guided by the notion of interpretative repertoires (Potter & Wetherell 1990, 2004), suggests a tension between safe practice and enjoyment with humour as a mediating factor. Three repertoires were named from analysis:...
By taking a pragma-rhetorical approach, this article characterises the genre of Géza Hofi’s political humour, developed during the communist Kádár era in Hungary, and investigates implicature as his main rhetorical device for conveying politically sensitive messages to the audience. Three of his most popular and representative performances from the mid-1970s and early 1980s are selected for a thorough...
This review presents Hungarian Humour (Humour and Culture 3) edited by Anna T. Litovkina, Judith Sollosy, Péter Medgyes and Dorota Brzozowska and published by Tertium in Krakow, in 2012. 384 pp.
Book review: Weingärtner, T. (2013). Comedy-Boom in Japan: Performative und mediale Rahmung von Humor in der aktuellen Populärkultur [Framing of humour through performance and medium in current popular culture.] Munich: Iudicium. 430 pp.
Through characters who openly express distress over imagined pains, “Jerome at the BBC” treats BBC’s Three Men in a Boat as a playful critique of heroic masculinity, or what the paper defines as confident cognisant agency. Airing in 1975, BBC’s adaptation is released after the media ascension of James Bond and in the heyday of tough Hollywood heroes, bold figures who refuse to complain about, let...
The growing interest in humour within the field of Cognitive Linguistics during the past few years has led to the conclusion that humour exploits inferences through linguistic imagery and is highly creative. Following Yus (2003: 1299), we assume that humour uses discourse markers that allow the audience to see that what is being said should not be taken seriously. In this study, based on a large corpus...
This paper gives a definition and historical background of the Tom Swifty, addresses different types of punning employed in Tom Swifties, and discusses topics emerging in them. It also treats the occurrence of proverbs, proverbial phrases, idioms, and aphorisms in Tom Swifties. What is typical for Tom Swifty? It might be considered the twentieth century development of the form of folklore called wellerism...
Clowning is a form of humour. It is an art form that invites play, interaction, and laughter. Clown Care is a programme in hospitals and medical centres involving visits from specially trained hospital clowns. The aim of this paper is to describe the benefits and barriers associated with the clown care programme. A qualitative phenomenographical study was performed using a semi-structured in-depth...
Book review: Ruiz Gurillo, L. & Alvarado Ortega, M. B. (eds). (2013). Irony and Humor: From Pragmatics to Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. vi+270 pp.
Book review of Schmidt, S. (2014). Seriously Funny: Mexican Political Jokes as Social Resistance. Translated by Schmidt, A. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press. 296 pp.
Humourisation of the offensive occupies a position of distinctive prominence in our study of how we experience humour. The offensive is often found to be closely linked with obscene expressions and the mind’s response towards them. This correlation between the obscene and the offensive is explored. “Being offended” is treated as a psychological state that comes into being when a sacrosanct mental...
In this research, I am trying to define a new concept which I shall call Enjoyment Reducer, referring to verbal or visual content, incorporated into comic situations, which may offend or disturb the viewer’s enjoyment. There are comic situations that are only partially enjoyable and, at times, even cause embarrassment to the point of adversely affecting our enjoyment. These types of comic situations...
A corpus of 750 product reviews extracted from Amazon.com was analyzed for specific lexical, grammatical, and semantic features to identify differences between satirical and non-satirical Amazon.com product reviews through a statistical analysis. The corpus contained 375 reviews identified as satirical and 375 as non-satirical (750 total). Fourteen different linguistic indices were used to measure...
This article analyses a sports-related satirical-parody television series as a generator of preferred meanings that may be associated with an ideological context of a stateless nation such as Catalonia, where the symbolic aspect is fundamental to the imaginary-building process. In this case, the research focuses on identifying whether representations of difference exist in the humorous content of...
This paper studies the evolution of political humour in media in the United States after 9/11. Previous research has identified patterns in the evolution of jokes on the Internet but a study of patterns of humour in mainstream media remain scarce. This paper looks at late night television shows and cartoon strips in post-9/11 United States, and tries to plot a pattern in their evolution. Television...
Socialism produces distinct forms of humorous ridicule that are relatively rare in capitalist, bourgeois democracies. These forms are arranged in a hierarchy that reflects the distribution of power in this type of social and political order, one which differs markedly from a bourgeois democracy or indeed even a traditional or dictatorial authoritarian society. Merely authoritarian societies lack the...
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