Tweet dreams are made of this: Appropriate incongruity in the dreamwork of language

Abstract

Metaphors and jokes are spectral cousins, residing at different points on a scale of appropriate incongruity. To evoke laughter with a metaphor, or suggest profundity with a joke, one needs to recalibrate the delicate balance of incongruity and appropriateness. In this paper we present a systematic approach to the generation of comedic narratives from a seed metaphor that a system can also generate for itself. We provide empirical support for our claim that when the incongruity of a seed metaphor is heightened through the jarring integration of vivid detail, the resulting stories are judged significantly higher on the dimensions of entertainment, laughter, drama and imagination. Our story teller, whose knowledge resources are made publicly available for others to exploit, is embodied in a software robot, or bot, that operates autonomously on Twitter.