Chapter 88 Saying "no" with humor

In life and work, there are often opportunities to say "no". At this time, using humor can not only say "no", but also maintain the face of both parties in the communication and make the communication atmosphere relaxed. When Mark Twain and his friends went to Mrs. Dodge's family dinner, there were a lot of people at the banquet, and there was a scene of talking together in a mess.Mark Twain didn't want to yell to spoil the atmosphere, so he thought of a way and started telling a story to a lady next to him, deliberately lowering his voice to attract others to listen.Everyone didn't know what he was doing, and they were very curious. As a result, they stopped talking one by one, and soon the venue fell silent.

Mark Twain deliberately created this humorous atmosphere, and the result was that the venue became quiet.Just imagine, if he stood on a chair and yelled: "Everyone, be quiet!" Would it still have such an effect? Sarcasm using allegorical humor is a very effective way to give advice to your boss.An allegory is a story that is full of wit and humor and embodies profound philosophy to clarify a certain truth. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty hoped that he would live forever.One day he chatted with Dongfang Shuo: "It is said in the photo book that the longer the 'renzhong' under the nose of a person, the longer the life span; if the 'renzhong' is one inch longer, he can live a hundred years. I wonder if it is true or not?"

After hearing this, Dongfang Shuo knew that the emperor was dreaming of immortality again, so a sneering smile appeared on his face.Seeing Dongfang Shuo's sarcasm, the emperor shouted, "How dare you laugh at me!" Dongfang Shuo replied respectfully: "How dare I laugh at the emperor? I'm laughing at how ugly Peng Zu's face is." Emperor Wu of Han asked, "Why are you laughing at Peng Zu?" Dongfang Shuo said: "It is said that Peng Zu lived to be 800 years old. If it is true that the emperor said that the "human middle" is one inch long, Peng Zu's "human middle" should be eight inches long. Then, how is his face? Isn't it too ugly?"

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty couldn't help laughing when he heard this. In this story, Dongfang Shuo used humorous language to persuade the emperor by laughing at Peng Zu.The whole criticism was witty, subtle, witty and witty, which made the furious emperor happy and accepted the criticism happily. Li Hongzhang had a distant relative who was illiterate but keen on imperial examinations, and wanted to take advantage of Li Hongzhang's relationship to get an official position.He opened the test paper in the examination room, but was unable to write.Seeing that the test paper was about to be handed in, he "had an idea" and wrote "I am the wife (relative) of Mr. Li Hongzhang Zhongtang" on the test paper, hoping to be admitted by the chief examiner.When the examiner was reviewing the examination paper, he found that he had written "Qi" as "wife" by mistake. He couldn't help but smiled, and picked up a pen to write on the paper: "That's why I dare not marry you." "Marry" and "Take" Homophony, the examiner made a pun on his typo, which is both ironic and interesting.

When expressing dissatisfaction, it can also be done in a humorous way.When Ronald Reagan ran for governor of California, he lashed out at rising prices in response to the state of California's economy at the time. He said: "Ladies, you all know that lately when you stand in front of the asparagus counter in the supermarket, you feel hungry. Bills are cheaper than asparagus." Who would eat bills?Reagan used the comparison between eating banknotes and eating asparagus to criticize rising prices to the point. Mark Twain once took a train to give a lecture at a university.Because there was not much time left for the lecture, he was very anxious, but the train was moving slowly, so he came up with a way to vent his grievances.When the conductor came to check the tickets, Mark Twain handed him a child ticket.The train conductor was also very humorous, looked carefully on purpose, and said, "It's really interesting, I can't see that you are still a child." Mark Twain said: "I am not a child now, but I was a child when I bought the train ticket. The trains are really slow." It is true that the trains are slow, but not so slow that a child grows into a man.Here, Mark Twain exaggerates the slowness without limit, which produces a special humorous effect, which is hilarious.

Humor can also make criticism tactful, leaving room for the other party while letting the other party know where they are wrong. Once, a student handed in a plagiarized article.The teacher did not mark it.After the composition was sent out, the student saw that his composition had not been corrected and shouted: "Teacher, everyone else has corrected, why don't you correct mine?" Writer Liu Yong, I really don’t know Mount Tai with my eyes!” Middle school students have relatively strong self-esteem and rebelliousness. If you directly accuse and criticize the students for their mistakes, it will not only hurt the students' self-esteem, but also sometimes lead to students' antagonism towards the teacher.The teacher's subtle and humorous criticism made the other students laugh, and the student smiled shyly.

When criticizing others, humor is by no means sharp-edged. It always points out people's shortcomings tactfully, so that people can see their own or others' inadequacies in laughter, and they can realize and repent.In a restaurant, a customer is sorting out the sand in the meal one by one and placing it on the table.Seeing this, the waiter shyly said: "Is it all sand?" The customer smiled, shook his head and said, "No, there is still rice." The customer did not directly criticize the quality of the rice.He seized on what the waiter said "it's all sand" to make a fuss, affirming that there is a lot of sand in the rice in a negative form, which is very euphemistic, so as to express his dissatisfaction with the excessive sand in the rice without arousing the other party's anger disgusted.

Not only can you use humor to criticize others, but you can also use humor to resolve unreasonable criticism. Little John came back from school and handed the report card to his father. When his father saw that he had failed two subjects, he shouted angrily at John, "You know what? Washington was the best student in the school when he was your age. "John replied calmly: "Did you know? Dad, Washington was already the President of the United States when he was your age." Educating children can be done in a calm manner, but John's father is full of anger. How can this attitude be accepted by children.Faced with his father's anger, Little John used his father's words to refute on the spot, but instead criticized his father.