About the Book
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. Where a word has multiple meanings or sounds like another, this 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.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
1. The nature of humour
Principles of humour, Fun with words, Grammatical ambiguities, Transpositions, Mixing styles, Language in context, Dashing expectations, Clever connections, Logic, or lack thereof , Satire, parody, irony and sarcasm
2. What do people joke about?
The cultural background, Beliefs and attitudes, Subject matter , Insults
3. Where humour is to be found
Professional humour, Amateur humour
4. Laughs in the lexicon
Compounds, Blends, Prefixes and suffixes, Euphemism, Colourful language, Names
5. Puns
Basic puns, Puns across word boundaries, Puns involving phrases, Cross-language puns, Substituting a similar word
6. Grammatical ambiguities
Which part of speech?, Scope, Participial clauses, Co-ordination, Missing subjects and objects, Pronouns and other problems of reference
7. Jokes
Stories, Books, Book titles, Shortest books, Blonde jokes, Cannibal jokes, Dumb jokes, Definitions, Generalisations and exhortations, Graffiti, Headlines, How many x's does it take to change a light globe?, Knock Knock!, Oxymora and other self-contradictions, Questions, Signs, Stickers, Tom Swifties, Wellerisms, What do you get if you cross x with y?, What is the difference between x and y?
8. Wit
9. Language in context
10. Errors
Slips of the tongue and mispronunciation, Accents and lisps, Malapropisms, Misinterpretations, Misspellings, Mispunctuation, Grammar as she is spoke, Logic or lack thereof
11. Rhymes
Nursery rhymes, Children's verses, Adult verses, Limericks, Clerihews, Verse today
12. Beyond a joke
