English Humor Research Articles

A Pragmatic Analysis of Humor Words in English Advertisements

<p>As an independent discipline, pragmatics was through out thirty years’ development. It is also a young discipline. As a medium emerging commonly in advertising language art, humor has attracted wide attention of many producers. Previous scholars analyzed more from the perspective of grammar, vocabulary, rhetoric, etc. But the research of advertising language humor is lacking from the aspects of pragmatic rules. Our collection of data is quite open. Any advertisement that can be transcribed in to written form is our interest. They are excerpted from magazines, advertisement, collecting books, newspapers, TV and radio commercials. As we only focus on language humor, situational humor produced by visual performance is not involved this thesis. The advertising language art of humor has been widely paid attention. Based on the existing theories of humor research, author of this paper used many kinds of pragmatic theories to analyze English advertising humor language, and including reference, deixis, anaphora, presupposition, speech act theory, the cooperative principle, conversational implicatures, and the politeness principle. It can not only provide reference for the research of this field for later scholars, but also provide theoretical guidance for the AD makers of using humor language to produce a good advertising effect.</p>

An Analysis of English Verbal Humor Based on Language Memes

<p>Memetics introduces information replication to the language analysis and discusses the origin, replication, variation and usage of language. Based on memetics this paper will explore English verbal humor. First, the article explains the phenomenon of language memes. Then it discusses the trigger force, manifestation of verbal humor. Finally, it studies the functions of verbal humor.</p>

Some Questions of Linguocultural Specificity Communication at the English Humour Translation

This problem is relevant today because it is necessary to study the issues of the correlation of language, culture and translation, so far as translation is a link between linguistic cultures speakers. Obvious lack of researches in the field of linguocultural specificity affects the quality of the translation and the adequacy of reflection of ethno-linguistic worldview in the minds of other languages speakers. The objective of the article is to identify the degrees of interaction of language and culture in the translation process to provide a deep penetration in the national associated meanings of original literary works. Leading approach to the study of this problem is the analysis that was carried out on basis of descriptive, comparative methods, on the method of a literary text description, involving elements of linguistic and cultural analysis. Methodological basis became researches in linguistics, intercultural communication and translation studies. The paper revealed that linguocultural humour study suggests the priority coverage of the values that are relevant for the compared cultures. These values may get different expression in humorous texts. English humour includes relevant characteristics of universal humour and humour of those social groups that make up the English nation. The article materials may be useful for further research in this area, for effective translation techniques development.

Klaus Vieweg, James Vigus, and Kathleen M. Wheele: Shandean Humour in English and German Literature and Philosophy

Klaus Vieweg, James Vigus, and Kathleen M. Wheele: Shandean Humour in English and German Literature and Philosophy

Microstrategies Employed for Translation of English Humor Subtitled into Persian: A Case Study of The Simpsons Movie

Humor is a universal concept. It is widely used in many different forms of literature. It is not surprising then, that in translation practice, the translator often comes across this phenomenon. This study was an attempt to identify the strategies employed to translate United States’ humor into Persian subtitle in a comic genre, and to determine their frequency, as well. Based on Ross’s (1998) classification of humor and Gottlieb's (1997) microstrategies, this study examined The Simpsons Movie. The results indicated that the most frequently used strategy was “transfer” and the least frequently used strategies were “decimation”, "deletion", "imitation", "resignation" and "substitution". The results of the study were in line with Gottlieb’s (1992) finding, who found by using strategies 1-5 (expansion, paraphrase, transfer, imitation and condensation) we get a more or less adequate rendering of the source text material into the target language, whereas strategies 6-8 (decimation, deletion and resignation) involve some degree of semantic and stylistic loss.

Incongruity-resolution in English Humor

Humor is a common phenomenon in language. One importance prerequisite of its humor effect lies in its incongruity, in the framework of relevance theory that is, the deviation from relevance expectations. According to the features of incongruity-resolution, the article makes the following classification of the humor: garden-path, cognitive contrast and inferring the implication.

Wit та/або гумор

The article analyzes interconnection of the main English terms wit and humour, and proves their untranslatability into French language. Indeed, their traditional French analogues, esprit and humour, do not have similar set of connotations. Thus, the English wit, as used by Hobbes and Locke, denotes some synthetic ability of mind to remark similarity in different things, i.e. fundamentally different from judgment, as, first of all, analytical difference in ideas. Just like the German Witz it denotes knowledge, but a creative and individual one, initiated by the developed abilities, inventiveness etc.; thus, wit is mostly close to ingenium as that of Cicerō and humanists. But these peculiarities of wit inevitably associate it with pleasure which an individual feels if having realized his/her exceptional intellectual faculties, ingenious discussion, play on words (pun), drollery (joke). As for its effect, i.e. pleasure, wit assimilates with good humour. English humour simultaneously embraces the meaning of general temper of mind, “state of heart” a such, “joyful frame of mind” as well as raillery, irony, ridicule and “humour-joke”, and therefore, following the opinion of the author of the paper, may not be adequately reproduced by one and the same French analogue, since the first and the second meaning are more appropriately translated into French by humeur, and the third – by loan translation le humour. References CARROLL Lewis, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [Les Aventures d’Alice au pays des merveilles], ed. bilingue angl./fr., trad. fr. M. Merle. – Paris: Librairie generale francaise. – «Le Livre de Poche». – 1990. HOBBES Thomas, Leviathan [1651]. – London: Penguin Books. – 1968. HOBBES Thomas, Leviathan, trad. fr. F. Tricaud. – Paris: Sirey. – 1971. HUME David, A Treatise of Human Nature [1739–1740]. – Oxford: Clarendon Press. – 1978. HUME David, Traite de la nature humaine, trad. fr. J.-P. Clero. – Paris: Flammarion. – «GF». – 1991. JOHNSON Samuel, Dictionary of the English Language. – London: T. Payne et fils. – 1755. LOCKE John, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. – Oxford: Oxford UP. – 1975. LOCKE John, Essai sur l’entendement humain, trad. fr. P. Coste, reprint de la 5e ed. (1755), ed. E. Naert. – Paris: Vrin. – 1972. SHAFTESBURY Anthony Ashley Cooper, Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times [1711]. – Hildesheim, New York: Georg Olms. – 1978. SHAFTESBURY Anthony Ashley Cooper, Exercices, trad. fr. L. Jaffro. – Paris: Aubier. – 1993.

A Left Handed Compliment: A newly discovered, early nineteenth-century lithograph by John Lewis Marks

A newly discovered, early nineteenth-century lithograph by John Lewis Marks (b. ca. 1795–1796, d. ca. 1857–1861), entitled A Left Handed Compliment, is described. In this humorous print a young boy is using his left hand to draw the face of an elderly woman who is his grandmother, and she is shocked at the boy's suggestion that he will, “just see if I can't touch off your old Phizog left handed”. The source of the joke about the left-handed compliment is obscure, but more than likely it is sexual in origin. Glued to the verso of the print are early versions of two prints by Robert Seymour (1798–1836), the illustrator of Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, suggesting a possible link between Marks and Seymour. From the hatch patterns on the Seymour engravings, it appears that Seymour may himself have been left-handed and perhaps therefore the butt of the joke. An alternative possibility is that Phizog is a reference to Dickens’ later illustrator whose pseudonym was Phiz. It is also just conceivable that the young boy is Marks's own young son, Jacob. The print can be placed in the context of a scatological English vernacular humour that extends from Shakespeare through to Donald McGill and into the present day.

The Fawlty Rhetoric of National Character

While the connection between English humour and national character continues to be debated nostalgically or critically in England, several examples of ‘English humour’ have meanwhile been exported, adopted, and adapted by other nations. In this article, we trace a few examples of the specific uses (national as well as trans-national) to which the shared knowledge and enjoyment of a key scene in the situation comedy Fawlty Towers has been put by Danish TV viewers. A mélange of prejudice, politics, parody, and farce surrounding a young Danish MP's public behaviour in April 2007, while under the influence, was interpreted and made popularly intelligible (or was it?) through the familiar prism provided by John Cleese in the role of Mr. Basil Fawlty pretending to be Adolf Hitler in order to entertain an unfortunate group of German hotel guests. We conclude with some methodological reflections on stereotype and humour.

Between English Humour and National Stereotypes – Translating Stephen Clarke’s Novel Merde Happens into Italian

This paper discusses translation of texts about nonprofit organizations from English into Italian as a case study of intercultural communication. Firstly, we note the importance of adaptation as a valuable strategy for translation of nonprofit texts from English into Italian. Secondly, we describe the intercultural difference between the nonprofit sector in Italy and the United States in terms of paradigms, following Kuhn’s theory of interparadigmatic translation and Gramsci’s idea of translatability. Thirdly, we show the connection between these epistemological frameworks of translation and interlinguistic translation by selecting a number of keywords in the language of American philanthropy which do not have a direct equivalent in Italian, or whose equivalent may prove to be a "false friend" if translated literally (stewardship, philanthropy, charity): we show that despite the alleged "incommensurability" between Italian and American philanthropy, translation is still possible, and we suggest practical strategies that translators may adopt. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Joint ACLA/ AAAL Conference in Montréal (Canada) in June 2006.

Should Women Vote?

Should Women Vote? E. Thomas Ewing (bio), Heather L. Gumbert (bio), David Hicks (bio), Jane L. Lehr (bio), Amy Nelson (bio), and Robert P. Stephens (bio) On 13 July 1910, the English humor magazine Punch published a cartoon depicting a woman pushing a rock labeled “Women’s Suffrage” up a steep hillside labeled “Parliament (Figure 1).” A caption under the picture exclaims “Excelsior!” It is followed by this statement: Suffragist: “It’s no good talking to me about Sisyphus; he was only a man!” The well–dressed woman pushes the rock in a pose suggesting strength, while she gazes directly at the viewer with a determined look on her face. The landscape behind her fades into distant mountains and clouds, leaving no means to judge whether she is approaching the summit.1 A brilliant device for teaching about women’s suffrage, this cartoon provides numerous access points for engaging students in discussion and analysis. The cartoon visually illustrates the central issue: could suffrage advocates persuade Parliament to alter voting statutes? This conflict is illustrated by the determination of the suffragists (symbolized by the woman pushing the boulder up the hill) and the resistance created by Parliament (that is, the force required to push this boulder against gravity up a seemingly unconquerable slope). At the same time, the caption, with its ironic statement (“he was only a man”), validates the larger claim of the suffrage movement that women were not just proving their rights as citizens, but also demonstrating their superior moral and ethical standards. The references embedded in the cartoon thus provoke a more in–depth analysis of multiple meanings. Contemporary students are likely to have some familiarity with the myth of Sisyphus, who was punished for his cleverness by spending eternity in Tartarus pushing a rock up a mountain only to have it fall to the bottom, forcing him to begin all over again. Yet the invocation of this myth in a different historical and political context raises the question of whether women’s struggle for equal rights was a Sisyphean sentence of endless frustration or whether, as the caption suggests, a woman might achieve what a mythical man could not. The title “Excelsior!” represents an even more subtle teaching challenge. Standard dictionary definitions, i.e. “wood shavings used for packing,” [End Page 144] make no sense in this context; it is only by referencing a dictionary with an extensive etymology that the “right” meaning can be found: in Latin, “still higher.” This additional knowledge clarifies the cartoon’s perspective, exhorting women to push still higher to achieve their desired goal. Exposing students to these multiple layers of meaning, from the most obvious images through symbolic references to more obscure textual elements, demonstrates how reading primary sources can yield complex understandings of significant historical processes. Recognizing that these amalgams of text and image are not self–explanatory or simply illustrative requires that students employ the methodologically advanced reading skills acquired through the study of primary sources in a history course. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. “Excelsior!” Punch, 13 July 1910. This cartoon offers a useful place to begin this discussion of teaching about the women’s suffrage in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The suffrage campaign achieved considerable visibility throughout Europe during this period as women mobilized to pressure their governments to expand the rights denied by sex to one–half of the adult population. At the same time, as this cartoon suggests, resistance to suffrage became a significant political force as both governments and organized groups sought to preserve restrictions on women’s rights. To [End Page 145] understand this subject, students need to know about historical context, the contributions of important leaders, the differences between countries, and the chronology of campaigns. Just as important, however, students need the analytical skills to identify point of view, to explain processes of change, and to connect historical examples to contemporary situations. This pedagogical approach teaches students that, in the words of historian Sandra Stanley Holton, the history of women’s suffrage, “like all history, is contested ground, and remains always a provisional and partial form of knowledge.”2 To pursue the objective...

An Empirical Approach to the Reception of AV Translated Humour

The successful reception of audiovisual productions depends heavily on the quality of the translation of the audiovisual text. Audiovisual translation has been dealt with in depth by a number of studies in the last few years. However, most studies seem to ignore the key question of reception. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature by analyzing some questions relating to the level of reception of AV translated humour in English. The emphasis is on empirical testing, through an experiment designed to examine the degree of positive transfer of AV translated humour. To this end, a case study of one of the best well-known Marx Brothers’ films, Duck Soup, is presented.

Monty Python and the Mathnavi: The Parrot in Indian, Persian and English Humor

Cultural diffusion of a partially non-literate kind is intrinsically hard to demonstrate and document. The poles between which cultural currents flow across geographical space are not the simple loci of “high” and “low” cultures or of superordinate and subordinate civilizations. Aspects of elite culture trickle down, features of vernacular culture bubble up, to confound and subvert the orderly progression of literary and religious history beloved of conventional scholarship. And, of course, the key occasions of transfer are usually absent from the record.One such current that is, however, sufficiently documented in general and specific terms to be accepted nem. con. as truly remarkable in volume, longevity and global efficacy is the overwhelmingly one-way traffic of seminal commodities, artifacts and ideas that flowed westward from the South Asian subcontinent between at least 300 B.C.E. and 1400 C.E. Along this stream, from the Punjab via the Iranian plateau and adjacent waterways to Mesopotamia, Syria, the Mediterranean and western Europe, were borne the Gypsies, the game of chess, the mathematical concept of zero and the notation with which to use it, the literary device of the Frame Story, and a flood of stories to stock it.

Amis abroad: American occasions for English humor

Amis abroad: American occasions for English humor

Innocent Barabas

In speaking of The Jew of Malta as “farce of the old English humour, the terribly serious, even savage comic humour, the humour which spent its last breath on the decadent genius of Dickens …” T. S. Eliot set the pitch for modern Marlovian criticism. We are reminded of Coleridge's remark about a critical dictum by Milton: “Speaking of poetry he says (as in a parenthesis), it is ‘simple, senuous, passionate.’ How awful is the power of words! fearful often in their consequence when merely felt, not understood….” When Eliot called Marlowe's play “farce,” he was saying what, in effect, most previous critics had said—the word can be “understood.” But when he added (as in a parenthesis) that this farce is “terribly serious” in the manner of the “decadent genius” of Dickens, the words can be “merely felt.”

SHORT NOTICES

Journal Article SHORT NOTICES Get access The Development of English Humor. Parts I and II. By LOUIS CAZAMIAN. Pp. viii + 421. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1952; London: Cambridge University Press, 1953. 45s. net. V. DE. S PINTO V. DE. S PINTO Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Review of English Studies, Volume V, Issue 20, 1954, Pages 434–436, https://doi.org/10.1093/res/V.20.434 Published: 01 December 1954

The Development of English Humor.

The Development of English Humor.

The Development of English Humor, Parts I and II. Louis Cazamian

<i>The Development of English Humor, Parts I and II</i>. Louis Cazamian

The Development of English Humor. Parts I and II.

Louis Cazamian, The Development of English Humor. Parts I and II Get access The Development of English Humor. Parts I and II. By Louis Cazamian. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1952. Pp. [x] + 422. $6. Karl J. Holznecht Karl J. Holznecht New York University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Shakespeare Quarterly, Volume 4, Issue 1, Winter 1953, Pages 97–99, https://doi.org/10.2307/2866570 Published: 01 January 1953

The Universal Mission of the Church

As I face this audience I am overcome by that compounded feeling of fascinated envy and sheer fury which overtakes, in different proportions, my countrymen when confronted by the quintessence of English cultural achievement, Oxford; so profoundly attractive and so irreconcilably alien. As a child I thought that Englishmen were just the same, Scotsmen with a different accent; but now I know, through experience, that they are different; that environment and tradition have moulded their characters according to a different pattern, a difference which expresses itself in a thousand subtle contrasts of emotional reaction and temperament—perhaps most strikingly emphasised in the contrast (so difficult to define) between English humour and Scottish wit.Such contrasts, deeper experience shows, do not utterly divide. Quite apart from their common history, not always a uniting factor, both peoples recognise that they share a common culture pattern and, more important, that they are the same kind of beings. No doubt a platitude, but one pregnant with significance.Generalise the analogy! Within infinitely greater contrasts, beneath the most diverse cultures, breaking through cleavages due to colour, custom and opinion, which stretch back indefinitely beyond recorded history, man remains irreducibly man. Biologist and theologian are at least agreed in that.Irreconcilably opposed in everything save their humanity! If you doubt it look at the record of history: issues, so easy to settle, so simple at root, twisted and travestied beyond recognition and buried under the bodies of whole generations till the problems they beget are so beset by tension, so clouded by emotion, that they can only be solved by annihilation.