The Writer’s Humorous Tools Writers are at a disadvantage when it comes to humour. They, unlike the comic, do not have voice inflection or physical movements to cause laughter. They do, however, have the following:

Humorous Tools Understatement or Meiosis: When an author deliberately understates the obvious. Example 1: Shakespeare uses understatement in Romeo and Juliet with one of his wittiest creations: In Act II, scene i, Mercutio describes his mortal wound “not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but ’tis enough, ’twill serve.” Example 2: More recent examples include Richard Dreyfuss’ “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” from Jaws (Yes, I know Jaws was a movie, but it was a book first.).

Hyperbole: The opposite of understatement, a writer uses hyperbole to exaggerate his or her point to create humour. Example 1: James Thurber’s “The Night the Ghost Got in” narrates the exaggerated mind of a child who hears a noise downstairs and assumes it is a ghost. Before the story ends, the mother calls for help and the grandfather shoots a police officer in the shoulder.

Comic Irony: A writer creates comic irony by stating one thing while meaning another. It is an application of verbal irony used with humorous intent. In his speech “Advice to Youth” Twain mocks standard wisdom: “If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.”

Dialect: The usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people is called dialect. Ring Lardner uses dialect to create humor in You Know Me Al: “I says Well I won the pot didn’t I? He says Yes and he called me something. I says I got a notion to take a punch at you. He says Oh you have, have you? And I come back at him. I says Yes I have, have I? I would of busted his jaw if they hadn’t stopped me.”

Satire: Writers use ridicule to point out human folly. More famous satirists include Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Shakespeare, and Voltaire.