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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
There are literally thousands of websites dealing with humor.
Today I am wondering about superstition and perhaps gossip that is humorous. For instance, suppose you hear a funny anecdote about someone who makes modest, but determined, efforts in avoiding the path of a black cat traveling over his own. If the anecdote is told without great exaggeration--more a comical tale of an understandable, realistic amount of exaggeration--it wouldn't qualify quite exactly as hyperbolic humor. Would it simply be a humorous tale because of its controled (even understated) exaggeration--or is there perhaps a specific kind of brand name for humor dealing with superstitions?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
I'm not sure if I quite get what you are talking about, but the concept of "understated exaggeration" seems to capture what I think of as "British Humor" -- a vast generalization to be sure -- encompassing (for me, anyway) people like the Pythons, Douglas Adams, and PG Wodehouse and shows like Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Yes Minister. Their humor (I suppose it should be "humour") seems to be centered around creating incredibly ridiculous situations that people tend to react rather calmly towards. An illustrative counter-example might be Fawlty Towers -- in which the humor is created by Basil completely over-reacting to the most mundane situations.
Anyway, analysing comedy is about as easy and effective as herding cats, so I'm going to stop now. Are we even on the same page here, DubDub?
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
We're on the same page, Flatlander. Absolutely. I suppose I'm trying to gain some sense of when I would say exaggeration ends and hyperbole begins. Yes, I think I'd enjoy herding cats, especially when missing forests for being blinded by trees. Speaking of being on the same page, there is a website I just discovered a few minutes ago that is dedicated to the analysis of humor--well worth at least a skimming for those who like to categorize and classify ideas--and also to think about why we laugh (or smile, which is sometimes better even than laughing): http://facstaff.uww.edu/shiblesw/humorbook/index.html
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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It's a rather taxing site, really ...
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
In reply to:
It's a rather taxing site, really ...
If so, it's at least ironic.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
I didn't find a "went right over her head" category of humour on it, but.
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