How to be humorous

When you speak, how can you make the listener feel humorous? One of the most effective methods is to make the listener "unexpected". Everyone speaks with a psychological prediction. When you said the last sentence, he was already predicting what you would say next. If what he said is "expected", he will feel dull or even boring; If what he said is "unexpected" and makes him feel fresh and wonderful, then a sense of humor should be born from words. One: Surprise is produced in the sudden turn of meaning.

Using this method, it is often to express a variety of situations of a thing or a situation of a variety of things first, so that the listener can form a clear semantic trend psychologically, and then suddenly turn around and reveal a wonderful meaning different from the previous trend, which makes people laugh unexpectedly. This situation usually emphasizes semantics in the following two ways.

The first is the trend. Semantics, from small to large, from weak to strong, from low to high ... content increases. For example, there is a traditional cross talk saying:

A: When a student has a pen in his chest pocket.

B: Learning tools are essential.

The man with a pen in his pocket is. ...

B: Who is it?

A: Middle school students.

B: How about the one with two pens?

A: College students.

How about the one with three pens?

A: International students!

Then, how about the one with four pens?

That's a man who repairs pens! (Audience laughs)

The humor of this dialogue lies in the use of the listener's incremental psychological prediction. The students put pens on their chests and pockets. The more pens they put, the more things they learn, the higher their educational background, and the greater their audience's psychology. When the increase reached "four strokes", there was a sudden reversal of contrast-"that was a pen repair." At first glance, it was unexpected, but on second thought, it was reasonable. The humorous effect is excellent.

Second, the semantic trend level is decreasing. The levels of meaning are from big to small, from strong to weak, from high to low ... layer by layer, small to exceed the accident. For example, in the stands of a football match in the United States, three young men just sat behind three nuns. Because the nuns are wearing tall nuns' hats, which block the view. These young people are very unhappy. One of them said, "Guys, there are too many people wearing tall hats here! I wish I lived in Ohio, where there are only 25 churches. "

The other said, "Oh, I wish I lived in Idaho, where there are only 20 churches."

The last one said, "I wish I lived in Oregon, where there are only 15 churches."

Just after that, a nun in front suddenly turned around and said, "Why don't you die?" There is no church there at night! "

Some of the three boys shrugged their shoulders, others stuck out their tongues and snickered. People around you are also very happy to hear it.

This dialogue takes advantage of the sudden turn of semantic decline and forms humor. The number of churches mentioned by those boys is less than one, which forms a decreasing trend in the listener's psychology. At this time, the listener's psychology will naturally predict that the nun will definitely name a state with less than 15 churches.

The rebuttal explanation made by the nun is beyond the listener's psychological prediction-it even quoted a place where there is no church! At first glance, I heard "unexpected", but on second thought, the rebuttal was "reasonable" and everyone couldn't help laughing.

Two: continue to produce wonderful in the semantic fracture.

The speaker deliberately put a sentence that could have been finished in one breath, but deliberately paused, giving the other party a time to predict the semantic trend, and then said the second half of the sentence. The listener listened and suddenly found that the speaker meant "unexpected", and suddenly realized and smiled happily. For example, there is such a dialogue in TV "Men":

What do you think I will do when I get paid?

Give it to my wife.

No, in the bank.

B: Well, that's a man!

A: ... and then give my wife the passbook.

B: ...? !

In the conversation, A deliberately split "(deposit the money in the bank and give the passbook to his wife)", which makes people's prediction and understanding of the meaning of his words full of twists and turns and interesting.

The deletion of semantic expression can sometimes be achieved through the pause of speech, such as:

A young man said, "Yesterday in the street, there was a beautiful girl who was a complete stranger to me, but she took the initiative to talk to me."

His friend came up and said, "Brother, you are so lucky! What did that beautiful sister say to you? "

"She said ..."

"Say ah, don't be embarrassed! You and I are no longer strangers. Say it out, I might be able to persuade you! "

"She said, Comrade, spitting everywhere will be fined 50 cents."

The "young man" deliberately cut the meaning to be expressed into two pieces, and let his friends psychologically predict that "this boy is having an affair." However, when he said the beautiful girl's words, it was completely out of the listener's expectation, and the words appeared humorous.

This pause in oral English is essentially the application of thinking inertia. What is said before the pause is often a hint to the other party's thinking direction; What is said after the pause is a sudden reversal of meaning, which gives people a sudden feeling. The following dialogue between the two lovers goes like this:

W: For example, we have lived together, and I came back angry outside. I know you just came home, but I lost my temper with you for no reason, thinking that you didn't cook well. So what would you do?

M: That's easy. I will rush to the kitchen and pick up the kitchen knife. ...

W: What's the matter?

Man: I'll make you ... eat delicious food quickly, so that you can't be angry anymore.

My husband deliberately divided "pick up the kitchen knife and cook something for you quickly so that you won't be angry again" into two parts. Say the first part "pick up the kitchen knife" and then deliberately induce the woman to think and predict whether he fights with a knife according to the inertia of thinking. When he set the direction of his wife's thinking, he said the result was: pick up the kitchen knife and say, "Hurry up and cook something for you so that you can't be angry any more." This sudden turn, ups and downs, a surprise and a joy, humor came out, adding romantic interest to the couple.

Besides "unexpected" meaning can produce humor, rhetorical devices such as choosing words and making sentences can also produce humorous effects if they break through the listener's prediction. Please look at the words in a sketch:

M: The future is bright!

Woman: Yes, the future is bright, and the road …

Man: The road is crooked! (The audience laughs. )

Why is there humor here? "The future is bright and the road is tortuous" is a well-known saying. When a man says the first half sentence, everyone is predicting the second half sentence. However, the second half of the sentence is unexpected. It is said that the road is curved, and the meaning has not changed. However, the "twists and turns" in writing suddenly turned into "twists and turns" in spoken English, which still surprised everyone. One or two lines vividly depict the character's "sour rustic", which makes people laugh and hurt their stomachs.

My friends, everyone wants to be humorous, so that the listener can listen happily, and everyone is happy, which not only expresses the meaning, but also harmonizes the interpersonal relationship. Humor, in addition to requiring the speaker to be well informed, open-minded and optimistic, must also master certain skills. Friends may wish to try two tricks introduced in this article! ,