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.UnderstatementJust like exaggeration, understatement works to create emphasis and reaction on the part of the reader.An intentional, softer comment will draw attention when it is contrasted with the expected.If, for example, you were referring to the real summer heat that the local readers know was 98°F with 80% humidity by saying, "It was a little warm outside yesterday," then you have understated the case dramatically and no doubt drawn a reaction from your reader.Novelist Connie Willis feels understatement is as important as exaggeration in creating humor.And you can use them together, she believes: "Don't get the idea you must choose one or the other," Willis (1996, p.33) wrote."Humor is not a decision between More or Less.(Mark) Twain often uses understatement and exaggeration in the same sentence." The concern of writers, she notes, is when to use one or the other.Every author, she observes, seems to use them differently."Things are already funny; you're simply using exaggerationPage 393and understatement and whatever else to bring out the humor that was already there."AsidesMany humor writers like to use asides—short messages in parentheses or other form—to communicate with readers on a quasiprivate level.This is a technique often used in acting that permits the actor to communicate only with the audience.In writing, humorists who use asides are attempting the same technique as if to privately communicate with you (and not the book's editor).Did you notice? The previous sentence contained an aside.You don't have to use parentheses all the time.Some writers prefer dashes "—" or other typographic devices to accomplish the same thing.Some writers will even use footnotes for the same effect.Dave Barry is one contemporary humorist who likes to use asides in his writing.IronySimilar to contrast, irony is a technique that employs contradictions through writing tone and subject.Irony focuses on the direct opposite of what is usual or expected.The outcome of the story is different from what is expected by readers.The distance between what happened and what should have happened or what is said and what is intended is irony.Writers using irony set up the story by leading the reader to expect one type of finish through a combination of circumstances or steps involving the principals of the story.Then the reader is stunned by the opposite or inappropriate conclusion of the episode.This technique is used often in writing short humorous items known as brights.Grammatical and Typographic EmphasisSome writers make points in their humor writing by intentionally overusing and abusing English grammar or typography.One such technique is overuse of exclamation marks (e.g., multiple exclamation marks after a word in the middle of a sentence or a string of typographic symbols such as "*@!(c)!#$%&!!@" to represent bad or strong language).Another is capitalizing improper nouns (e.g., a term such as Campaign Trail) used in generic references rather than specific contexts.These tricks draw reader attention to certain words and terms in an extreme fashion and help place focus where the writer wants it.Other humor writers intentionally invent words or new usPage 394ages of existing words when they cannot find the right word to express their feelings or actions (e.g., the seemingly endless different ways that the characters in the film"Wayne's World" referred to what doctors commonly call "regurgitation").These diversions from the ordinary uses of grammar are functional and help the writer as he or she tells the story.PunsFor many centuries, humor writers have used puns for a good laugh from readers.In recent years, it seems, puns have gained a bad reputation.It seems that some writers (and readers, too) feel puns are categorically bad.However, this is not the case; the use of puns may be the problem.Much of the value of the pun is in its use.A pun is a writer's device that uses plays on words to provide double meaning.One common use of puns by some contemporary humorists is in references to sex.No doubt you can think of countless puns you encounter in everyday conversation, reading, and your own writing.Logic and ConsistencyLogic is the science of correct reasoning and valid thought.Logic involves correct reasoning through induction or deduction.Some successful humor is based on its internal logic.Crazy behavior and absurd conduct by people make up much of modern American humor.But after everything else, the humorous story must maintain its internal logic.One way to do this is to begin a story with an absurd premise and keep that premise throughout the story as it is told.Related to that is internal consistency.Changing the focus in the middle of a story will often hurt it more than help it.Wolfe (1990) calls internal logic and consistency two of the major building blocks of humor writing.Other Humor Writing TechniquesThere are other techniques that humor writers use.For example, Art Buchwald likes to use dialogue in his columns, creating fictitious conversations that might have occurred.Dave Barry also uses conversations frequently.In fact, most humorists find dialogue to be an essential device for their writing and use it often.Washington Post humor writer Tony Kornheiser, who is also an awardwinning sports writer for the newspaper, used dialog in several places for this recent column about his eyesight.Here's a sample:Page 395For some years now my eyesight has been declining to the point where I am unable to read anything in close range—and by ''close range" I mean anything in the same room with me.I suffer from a condition known as presbyopia, an ophthalmological term for "Willard's going to be announcing your birthday soon."I am still excellent at reading large green overhead road signs, so you can take me on trips.Sadly, they don't print the dosage instructions for Zantac on large green overhead road signs.So last year my friend Nancy gave me a pair of nonprescription reading glasses (referred to technically as "oldpeople glasses") that she had bought for herself off a rack in a drugstore.They made me look like a member of a bowling league in Akron, but at least I could read typefaces smaller than TURNPIKE NEXT EXIT 1 MI.When those glasses broke I went for an eye exam to get real glasses.And I was introduced to an "eyewear fashion consultant," who said she would design glasses that would be"customized to my face shape, coloring and lifestyle needs.""How would you describe your face shape?" she asked me."Like a potato," I said."Or possibly an eggplant.""How would you describe your lifestyle?""I spend most of my day obsessed with my own tedious problems, my fear of failure and looming death," I said."You got any glasses that will make me look like Woody Allen in'Annie Hall?' Or perhaps somewhat Norwegian?"I tried on roughly 681 frames.Amazingly, no matter what their shape or color, I still looked like a fat, white, bald guy in glasses."I see you in something sleek and intellectual," the consultant said
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