Page 2 Identifying Humour
Completion requirements
Identifying Humour
Strategies used to add humour to text
Readers enjoy a good laugh because laughter helps to release tension and have fun. Writers use the techniques of humour to increase the enjoyment of a text.
What are the two meanings of the sign in the boat windows?
We laugh when we encounter something that does not fit our expectations, and the element of surprise produces humour.
However, keep in mind that a writer is trying to convey a message using humour rather than a more straightforward or serious method.
When you have finished laughing, think about that message.
The following are techniques of humour often used in short stories:
Exaggeration or Overstatement: Exaggeration intensifies some aspect of a character or situation, such as a physical trait, a behaviour, or manner of speech.
Examples:
I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse.
That man is as skinny as a toothpick.
Understatement
Understatement: A writer can choose deliberately to understate the obvious.
Example:
In the film "Jaws" after the boat has been attacked by the shark, one of the characters says, "We're going to need a bigger boat."
Puns
Puns: The humour in puns depends on using words that sound similar but have different meanings. Often, puns play on words. Knock-knock jokes often use puns to produce humour.
Example:
Why doesn't the elephant use the computer? Because it is afraid of the mouse!
Comic Irony
Comic Irony: Similar to other irony, the writer states one thing but means another. Consider these actual headlines:
Reversals
Reversals: The reversal takes a recognizable phrase or character, provides just enough detail to set up the expectation, and then surprises the reader with a contradictory conclusion.
Example:
The image is the reverse of what we expect. Usually the cat catches the mouse.
Parody
Parody: In parody, the style of an author or a literary or musical work is imitated closely for comic effect. A type of parody is spoof. Spoof is affectionate;
it’s humour that plays on the form not the content.
Example:
The familiar songs of Weird Al Yankovic are parodies.
Satire
Satire: In satire, a writer uses ridicule to point out foolish behaviour in hopes of bringing about change. Satire is humour with an agenda, with a reason.
Example:
Cartoons often use satire to comment on aspects of human behaviour with the hope that pointing out the behaviour will cause change.
cartoons courtesy of mooselakecartoons.com
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Read "The Biggest Moccasins in the World", by Richard van Camp, page 83 of Language Arts 9 Anthology. |
Go to Assignment 5-4 and complete it now.
When you have completed Assignment 5-4,
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