Chapter 71 Can be ironic, can also be ironic

Humor doesn't have to be expressed in conventional words, it has to be positive, and irony that seems unreasonable but full of irony can also be used.Irony humor is one of the important language means to create a subtle and intriguing humorous mood.In short, it is to deliberately speak irony, or to speak directly, or to speak ironically. I once saw an advertisement promoting smoking cessation in the central square of Manhattan, New York. It did not mention the harm of smoking at all. On the contrary, it listed four major benefits of smoking: saving fabrics: because smoking is prone to tuberculosis, leading to hunchback, body It shrinks, so you don’t need so much fabric to make clothes; two can prevent thieves: people who smoke often suffer from bronchitis and cough all night, the thief thinks that the owner is not asleep, so they dare not steal; three can prevent mosquitoes: the strong smoke smokes mosquitoes I can't stand it, so I have to avoid it far away; Four eternal youth: die before old age.

The four benefits of smoking mentioned here are actually the harm of smoking.This ad is very humorous, let people realize from the laughter what it really wants to explain, that is, smoking is harmful to health. This is the so-called rhetorical statement, where the spoken word expresses the exact opposite of the literal meaning.Such as literal affirmation, but meaning negation; or literal negation, but meaning affirmation.This is also one of the effective ways to develop a sense of humor. The Gilded Age is Mark Twain's masterpiece.When a reporter interviewed him after the novel was published, he answered the reporter's question and said: "In the U.S. Congress, some congressmen are raised by dogs." He is attacking personally, and because he does not know which Members are dogs, everyone is in danger.So there was a lot of clamor, insisting that Mark Twain clarify the facts and apologize publicly, otherwise he would be prosecuted for slander and seek legal protection.

A few days later, in the "New York Times", Mark Twain published an "apologizing message" to federal congressmen: "A few days ago, when answering reporters' questions at a reception, I said, 'Some members of the U.S. Congress are dog-raised. Afterwards, someone asked me to blame me. After thinking about it, I felt that this statement was inappropriate and not in line with the facts. Therefore, I hereby publish a statement in the newspaper, and my words are revised as follows: 'Some members of the US Congress are not raised by dogs.'” This paragraph of "apology revelation" only added a "no" to the original sentence, and said "some are" in front of it, without specifying who it was, so everyone was in danger; it was later changed to "some are not", and the members of parliament thought that they no.As a result, those noisy congressmen stopped asking about this matter.

Here, Mark Twain used the method of telling the truth and saying the opposite, so that the people who were originally hostile to him could understand him, and he quelled the disturbance with his own superhuman wisdom. Abnormal words can always attract the attention of others and produce unexpected effects.Humor can also be a bit colder, with the opposite of the positive, and the opposite of the irony, humor is implied in the solemnity, and there is no lack of seriousness in the funny, and the effect of humor is produced from this.