Wit in English

By Paul Joel Freeman

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 18, 2009
• ISBN: 9781469105895

Paul Joel Freeman

After receiving a PhD from Stanford University, Paul Joel Freeman went into university teaching. There he quickly learned that a sure way to keep students alert during the traditional 50 minute lecture was to use language itself as a stimulant. English with its built-in frailties, foibles, and paradoxes could be used to surprise students with wit and humor, providing welcome breaks in an ordinary staid lecture. While some students did awake refreshed at the end of class, others remained titillated enough to actually stay with the lecture throughout the period. Encouraged by the success of using “wit in language” as a teaching tool, Dr. Freeman became curious as to what underlay wit itself. How was it used in everyday communication? Could it be used to ease the tedium of humdrum jobs? Did it have any role in business, advertising, medicine? Was it an apt subject for investigation in these and other areas, or would it simply defy analysis? Above all, could wit be learned? This book is the result of that inquiry.

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Copyright © 2009 by Paul Joel Freeman.

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

WHAT IS WIT?

CHAPTER II

WHAT IS HUMOR AND HOW IS IT RELATED TO WIT?

CHAPTER III

LANGUAGE—THE VEHICLE OF WIT

CHAPTER IV

HOW WE LEARN A LANGUAGE

CHAPTER V

THE SOUND OF PUNS

CHAPTER VI

IDENTITY IN WORDS—THE BEST OF PUNS

CHAPTER VII

THE ROLE OF CONTEXT

CHAPTER VIII

AMBIGUITY

CHAPTER IX

LOGICAL DIGRESSION

CHAPTER X

PERVERSE

CHAPTER XI

PARALLELS IN ART TO WIT IN LANGUAGE

CHAPTER XII

WIT IN DRAMA

CHAPTER XIII

WHO WAS THAT LADY . . . ?

IN MEMORY

Of Peter De Vries who through his poetry,

New Yorker stories, books and plays

Taught me to look to language itself for

The beauty and excitement that lay there.

Thanks

To my wife, Marian, who made many things possible.

INTRODUCTION

In the past few years there has been a revival of interest in English mainly as a language of international communication. The reasons for this universality are pretty well established. English first began to be promoted everywhere during the 16th century due to the major influence of the British Empire in its many colonies and through its world wide trade practices. This was strongly reinforced in the 20th century by the rise of the United States’ dominance in aviation, economic, political, and military aspects and by the world wide influence of American films and television.

English’s easy acceptance as a universal language is due to a number of factors. It is one of the simplest and easiest natural languages in the world, the only other easy language is a constructed one such as Esperanto. Of course the concept of easiness is only relevant and depends largely on what language one already knows such as one’s native tongue. But there are many additional features that contribute to English’s simplicity. For example, English is based on Latin employing a short basic alphabet of just 26 letters. Regular verbs have only four forms. Verb conjugation is easy—even for irregular verbs. There are almost no inflections. And for adjectives, there is only the comparative and superlative.

The most significant change that has occurred in relation to wit since this book was first published is the rapid rise and influence of the Internet. This pushed English once again, into a dominant role as the language of choice for the Internet largely due to the major influence of computer and software development in the United States. The Internet has been a large contributor to all aspects of wit plus the telling of many witty stories and sayings as we shall find out when we become more knowledgeable about wit in forthcoming chapters.

Most foreign students have some difficulty with English, and there are over three hundred thousand of them enrolled in American schools alone. That’s a small number compared to the people studying English in their own countries, over 200 million in India alone, millions more in China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, all experiencing some degree of bewilderment at the English exchanges that somehow escape them. China especially, recognized that as host for the 2008 summer Olympic Games the importance of learning English for their citizens in all walks of life particularly those involved in some aspect of the games. This resulted in a country wide campaign that centered on Li Yang the founder, head teacher and editor in chief of "Li Yang Crazy English. He has built an empire out of his country’s efforts to try to teach English to as many Chinese as possible. His philosophy is captured by one of his slogans Conquer English to Make China Stronger!"

Wit in English can serve as an adjunct to more formal books, particularly for foreign students studying English as a second language, either in the United States or in their own countries as well as in English courses in colleges and universities. For Wit in English deals explicitly with the How and Why of wit found in the interplay within language. While students may be taught formal English, they know very little about the subtleties of between the lines English." There is ample room for learning how to use wit to invigorate language-exchanges, and help revive the dying art of conversation everywhere English is spoken. Wit in English also provides practice in the form of many examples, exercises, and self tests. It can help enliven the study of English while giving quick insight into many puzzling aspects of the language that students ordinarily might be years in acquiring.

The first nine chapters dwell on wit, humor, and language. The four remaining chapters seek to demonstrate applications of wit in various fields such as poetry, drama, and art. Art offers a particular challenge in that most of its expressions are hardly verbal, yet striking parallels to the wit we find in language can be recognized in many different art forms. The final chapter uses one language situation as a form of summary to demonstrate the many applications of the wit devices studied in the initial nine chapters.

Paul Joel Freeman

Lahaina, Hawaii 2009

CHAPTER I

WHAT IS WIT?

Was I clever enough? Was I charming? Did I make at least one good pun?

John Updike

Thoughts while driving home.

Suppose you go to a cashier in a restaurant and ask her to change a twenty-dollar bill. Sure, she says, I’ll just draw a mustache on Jackson. How would you react to this woman’s attempt to use language to enliven her otherwise dull stint at the register? Would you be pleased to find a twinkling light in the grayness of interchanges between human beings? Well, I hope so, because play in language is what this book is all about.

Given the dominant role that language plays in our everyday lives, it seems that with a little encouragement and practice we could easily learn to juggle and bounce amusing words and phrases back and forth to brighten our days and make more pleasant our relations with one another. Dull routines can be sharpened, vapid lectures made to sparkle, and demanding reading relieved when occasional wit is used.

Patient: I have trouble breathing, Doctor.

Doctor: Well, we will soon put a stop to that.

I have decided to give you a raise on one condition.

What’s that? That you won’t accept it.

I see nobody on the road, said Alice. I only wish I had such eyes, the King remarked in a fretful tone. To be able to see Nobody! It’s as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

A bicycle can’t stand on its own because it’s two tired.

Each of the foregoing examples seems at first to be setting about the job of communication in a businesslike way. Only on hearing or reading them more thoroughly does one realize there have been liberties taken with language and logic. There is a sudden twist, a turn, a departure from the sense of the real world that our language is supposed to try to reflect—a harmless respite from the rigor of reality.

A gentle surprise at recognizing the resemblance between things that differ, and the difference between things that are similar—essentially this is what is meant by wit! It almost always is accompanied by a brief euphoria, a sense of delight at discovering quiet surprises couched in language. The foregoing examples stand stiff and cold, but give them the benefit of a mood and a context and they come to life, imparting a lift and zest to our daily use of language. There is no better exponent of this than William Shakespeare. To him, word play was the spice in writing, a lagniappe, a means of reconciling opposites, and a method of giving a sentence a parole. Let’s look at a few excerpts from his plays.

The mad Lear to the blinded Gloucester: You see how the world goes?

Gloucester: "I see it feelingly."

(King Lear)

The dying Mercutio: "Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man."

(Romeo & Juliet)

Gratiano: "Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew. Thou makest thy knife keen."

(Merchant of Venice)

The continuing wide appeal of the oft-quoted Alice books rests mainly on Lewis Carroll’s deft penchant for wordplay. This ranges from straight nonsense as in:

"’Tis the voice of the Lobster, I heard him declare,

‘You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair.’

As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose

Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes."

To equivocation such as,

I give you fair warning, Shouted the Queen, "either you or your head must be off."

James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake continues to be a towering example of how serious literary intent can be combined with outrageous wordplay. Other instances are e. e. cummings’ eccentric typography, Gertrude Stein’s verse and the constant wordplay in Vladimir Nabokov’s and Peter DeVries’ works of fiction.

Wit originally meant the center of consciousness, or the mind in general. Later, it came to connote the faculty of thinking and reasoning. This connotation is still used, as in the expression Living by one’s wits, implying dependency on mental capacity to survive. But today, the more common understanding of wit is intellectual cleverness with language. More particularly, it is that quality of speech or writing which consists in the apt association of thought and expression, calculated to surprise and delight by its unexpectedness. So it can make a major difference whether one lives by his wits or wit.

Informative, logical communication is obviously the chief function of language and, of course, it serves in poetic, dramatic, ceremonial, and purely emotive roles as well. But what is often overlooked is that bound up inextricably with language, part and participle, is wit. When language is turned to wit, words are granted relief from the constraint of just communicating. They are set out to play, to explore the numerous delicate nuances and shades of meaning possible in verbal exchange.

Those of us, who feel we lack the talent to mine language for the treasure of wit, may be quietly envious of someone else’s facility in this regard. Exposed to verbal ripostes and rapid repartee, we may retire to the aside lines mumbling to ourselves the long cherished belief that wits are born, not made. But to let the chat out of the bag, most of those who enjoy the reputation of being witty work very hard at it. What is even more important is that wit can be learned when one is alerted to what to look for and to practice in language situations.

The basis of wit is always the manipulation of or the tinkering with language. Its major aim is not necessarily to use language to communicate, but to take advantage of its flaws and foibles to have fun. Essentially, it is a mind-set that regards language less as an absolute vehicle of truth and more as a delightful plaything of the spirit. However, a frivolous form does not necessarily enclose a frivolous thought. Wit can have a deadly aim and it is possible to prick a large pretense with a small pin. People who deem themselves important are prone to believe that one can only treat of serious things in a serious way. In many cultures there is a tendency to distrust wit and equate the unserious with the insincere.

This is particularly regrettable, because any place and any time that language is being used, which is almost every waking minute for most people, a potential for wordplay exists. It would seem that when possible, wit should be used to say things differently and refreshingly. When apropos, it should illumine an observation, twist a conversation, or call attention to human frailties and foibles in a harmless but perceptive way. At times, what is said may be so at variance with what the normal expectation might be that we are surprised in a pleasant enough way to smile, chuckle, or even laugh out loud.

How is wit produced?

The way in which wit is produced is deceptively simple. It rests upon just a few major elements that are always present, although not necessarily easy to identify. Of these, the most crucial is an understanding of how language situations are turned or twisted into something quite unexpected. Wit arises in tracing connections where none seemed to be. Immanuel Kant reflects on this in his succinct definition of wit as The mind being wrenched from a path normally leading to an expected goal and redirected to an unexpected alternative.

Let us take as an example the maxim Where there is a will there is a way. Stated as such, it is an old tired saying, but its real value for our purpose is that it is well known, hence can be exploited for its allusion potential. When we hear Where there is a will there is a . . . our minds can’t help but race ahead to the expected word . . . way. But what we may hear instead is lawsuit. This is an unexpected jolt, for lawsuit forces us to think of will in an entirely different way, that is, in its legal sense. Will of course, is the key word, for it is one sound with two meanings, one of which we were expecting but not the other. Hence, we are pleasantly surprised, for now a worn-out saying has been twisted into new life containing a gem of truth.

Telling a funny story or anecdote is not necessarily wit, for in the main, there are two kinds of humorous stories. In one, language is used as forthrightly as possible to portray events. The point in such stories results from the relation of the events, not in anything taking place within language itself. For example,

First floor occupant: Did you hear me banging on the ceiling last night?

Second floor occupant: No, I didn’t, but don’t worry—I was making quite a bit of noise myself.

Such stories, to be humorous, must have that essential ingredient—a sudden unexpected twist—a surprise! The second kind of funny story also must contain the element of surprise, but here the twist takes place in language itself, not in events. For example,

Father McCully, a Catholic priest, rather late in years gave in to a long-repressed desire to write detective novels. However, this proved to be so demanding on his time that he knew he must give up either writing or the priesthood. But if it were to be writing, how to live? What it comes down to, he told himself, "is either publish or parish."

Here we are dependent on the allusion especially familiar to the faculty of colleges and universities, publish or perish. But instead of the expected perish we are served up its sound-alike parish.

In the broad area of humor any kind of a funny story is commonly referred to as a joke. Sigmund Freud was probably among the first to appreciate how the reaction of people to various kinds of jokes gave some insight into their personality differences. The joke has now become an important tool of research in testing for senses of humor. For example, in a university psychology laboratory a subject might be asked: What does a grape say when you step on it? A marvelous play on words would be: "Nothing, it just gives a little whine." Researchers claim how you react to jokes reveals something about you. But more about this later.

Wit may deliberately take advantage of certain flaws inherent in language that lead either to not communicating at all or at best indirectly. For example, logic is the basis of meaning in language; there is a compelling necessity to use words to make sense. All communication is based on this assumption. What happens then, in a digression from logic? Note this verbal play between the Marx Brothers.

Groucho: Maybe the stolen painting is in the house next door.

Chico: But there isn’t a house next door.

Groucho: Then we will build one.

The