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Book
Playing with Words
Humour permeates our lives. People tell jokes, make puns, and engage in witty banter. There is written humour in headlines and captions, in ads, on signs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers, and in the form of graffiti. Nowadays humour is available on the web and circulated by e-mail. Playing with Wo... Read more
Published: 2007
Pages: 194
eBook: 9781845533304
Humour permeates our lives. People tell jokes, make puns, and engage in witty banter. There is written humour in headlines and captions, in ads, on signs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers, and in the form of graffiti. Nowadays humour is available on the web and circulated by e-mail. Playing with Words shows how every facet of language is exploited for humour. When a word has multiple meanings or sounds like another is the basis for puns (A boiled egg is hard to beat). The word-building rules are used for clever compounds, smart blends and catchy phrases as in 'circulated by word of mouse'. Ambiguities in the syntax afford further scope for humour (Miners refuse to work after death), and the sounds of words can be exploited in humorous verse. There is also humour to be found in slips of the tongue, malapropisms, and funny misspellings. Playing with Words also covers the subject matter of humour and the part it plays in society. It is an informed account in non-technical language, full of examples, a book to be read for information and for fun.
| Cover | Cover | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | v | ||
| Introduction | viii | ||
| Chapter 1 | 1 | ||
| Principles of humour | 3 | ||
| Satire, parody, irony, and sarcasm | 16 | ||
| Chapter 2 | 22 | ||
| The cultural background | 22 | ||
| Beliefs and attitudes | 26 | ||
| Subject matter | 30 | ||
| Insults | 44 | ||
| Chapter 3 | 48 | ||
| Professional humour | 49 | ||
| Amateur humour | 50 | ||
| Chapter 4 | 54 | ||
| Compounds | 55 | ||
| Blends | 56 | ||
| Prefixes and suffixes | 60 | ||
| Euphemism | 62 | ||
| Colourful language | 63 | ||
| Names | 66 | ||
| Chapter 5 | 68 | ||
| Basic puns | 68 | ||
| Puns across word boundaries | 77 | ||
| Puns involving phrases | 77 | ||
| Cross-language puns | 79 | ||
| Substituting a similar word | 80 | ||
| Chapter 6 | 81 | ||
| Which part of speech? | 82 | ||
| Scope | 85 | ||
| Participial clauses | 87 | ||
| Co-ordination | 88 | ||
| Missing subjects and objects | 89 | ||
| Pronouns and other problems of reference | 90 | ||
| Chapter 7 | 95 | ||
| Stories | 96 | ||
| Books | 99 | ||
| Blonde jokes | 100 | ||
| Cannibal jokes | 100 | ||
| Dumb jokes | 102 | ||
| Definitions | 103 | ||
| Generalizations and exhortations | 105 | ||
| Graffiti | 105 | ||
| Headlines | 107 | ||
| How many x’s does it take to change a light bulb? | 108 | ||
| Knock knock! | 109 | ||
| Oxymora and other self-contradictions | 109 | ||
| Questions | 113 | ||
| Signs | 113 | ||
| Stickers | 115 | ||
| Tom Swifties | 115 | ||
| Wellerisms | 116 | ||
| What do you get if you cross x with y? | 117 | ||
| What is the difference between x and y? | 118 | ||
| Chapter 8 | 119 | ||
| Chapter 9 | 126 | ||
| Chapter 10 | 131 | ||
| Slips of the tongue and mispronunciation | 131 | ||
| Accents and lisps | 134 | ||
| Malapropisms | 136 | ||
| Misinterpretations | 139 | ||
| Misspellings | 143 | ||
| Mispunctuation | 146 | ||
| Grammar as she is spoke | 148 | ||
| Logic or lack thereof | 149 | ||
| Chapter 11 | 155 | ||
| Nursery rhymes | 158 | ||
| Children’s verses | 160 | ||
| Adult verses | 162 | ||
| Limericks | 164 | ||
| Clerihews | 166 | ||
| Verse today | 167 | ||
| Chapter 12 | 168 | ||
| Notes and sources | 171 | ||
| References and further reading | 174 | ||
| Index | 177 |