I wanted to make a brief note on humor since we read Steve Martin last night. Humor is powerful and it affects (learn the trick with that word here) the pathos of an argument. Humor is persuasive. People like funny things. Sex sells, but so does a laugh.
The Oxford Comma:
This is a true story, but the names and numbers are changed.
Aunt Peggy died. She was really rich, and in her will she left $1,000,000,000 to three guys. She wrote it out in poor cursive like so:
"I hereby bequeath $1,000,000,000 to Bob, Tom and Zebediah."
Now, you'd expect each of the three inheritors to be able to take an even amount: $333,333,333.33. But! It was not so. Because the Oxford comma was missing, ol' Tom and Zeb had to split half each receiving $250,000,000, while Bob got a whopping $500,000,000. That's a big difference for just a little mark!
The Oxford comma, or the serial comma, is the last comma in a list. Often, journalists leave it out of newspapers to save space, and fewer people are using the Oxford comma today, but it's still important in specific cases like this. So, for this class, I'd like you to use it. Other places may have you do otherwise, but at least now you know!
There's a great story about it on NPR here.
There's even a song about it--although not a great one--by a band called Vampire Weekend. You can give it a listen here.
So, what makes something funny? How can you too be a clever and persuasive funny human being?
Well, there are three theories about this...
The first theory about what makes something funny is incongruity theory. Incongruity is when something is put up next to something else that doesn't naturally go together. This is why this is funny:
Ducks are apparently the funniest animals because they're weird. It's even more surprising to see a duck wearing a hat telling a joke. It's incongruous. It's strange. So, it tickles our funny bone.
The second theory of humor is called superiority theory, and says that something is funny because the viewer is in a superior position. This is why pies in the face or a slip on a banana peel is funny. This theory is really interesting because it argues that laughter is a human response to survival. When we laugh, we bare our teeth, like lions. It shows that we are dominant. So, it's not easy to stop laughing at the little guy, is it?
The third theory that attempts to explain why something is funny is called social anxiety theory. This is almost the opposite of the previous theory. Instead of being in control, here is where you think something's funny because you're in a vulnerable position. This is the nervous chuckle...
This is actually related to things like gay jokes. Some theorists think that people tease gays because they themselves are dealing with conflicted perspectives toward homosexuality. So, think about your issues before you start to giggle.
***
So, it's important when you write to be very clear. You need to make sure your topic is narrow and sound.
"Art is good" isn't a very good thesis, for example. It's too broad, especially for your papers. Maybe "Pablo Picasso's blue period challenged the conventions of his previous movement" is a bit better, right? So do that. Take a clear and concise stance on your topic.
One thing that helps me is to work through the five questions:
This is actually related to things like gay jokes. Some theorists think that people tease gays because they themselves are dealing with conflicted perspectives toward homosexuality. So, think about your issues before you start to giggle.
***
So, it's important when you write to be very clear. You need to make sure your topic is narrow and sound.
"Art is good" isn't a very good thesis, for example. It's too broad, especially for your papers. Maybe "Pablo Picasso's blue period challenged the conventions of his previous movement" is a bit better, right? So do that. Take a clear and concise stance on your topic.
One thing that helps me is to work through the five questions:
Who, What, Where, Why, and How?
Then, I know better what I'm arguing and can go from there.
Then, I know better what I'm arguing and can go from there.
Now, I'd like, for our daily activity to play my favorite game about taking stances on topics. It's called Does it Suck?When I teach this class in a physical classroom, students stand up (you can stand if you want to :) ). Then, I show each slide and they have to go to one side of the room. One side of the room is: "It sucks." The other side of the room is "It doesn't suck." The reasoning is that it teaches people to take a stance on a topic when their audience is public (i.e. more than just Mr. B).
So, we're revising for cyberspace. On your blogs, for each slide, simply write _______ sucks. And follow it up with one explanatory sentence.
So, if this were the picture:
Personally, I'd write:
Pretzels suck. Basically, pretzels are just burnt bread with salt on it to trick you into liking it.
And then the next one here... and so on.
Enjoy the game!
Grammar Review:
So, we're revising for cyberspace. On your blogs, for each slide, simply write _______ sucks. And follow it up with one explanatory sentence.
So, if this were the picture:
Personally, I'd write:
Pretzels suck. Basically, pretzels are just burnt bread with salt on it to trick you into liking it.
And then the next one here... and so on.
Enjoy the game!
Grammar Review:
The Oxford Comma:
This is a true story, but the names and numbers are changed.
Aunt Peggy died. She was really rich, and in her will she left $1,000,000,000 to three guys. She wrote it out in poor cursive like so:
"I hereby bequeath $1,000,000,000 to Bob, Tom and Zebediah."
Now, you'd expect each of the three inheritors to be able to take an even amount: $333,333,333.33. But! It was not so. Because the Oxford comma was missing, ol' Tom and Zeb had to split half each receiving $250,000,000, while Bob got a whopping $500,000,000. That's a big difference for just a little mark!
The Oxford comma, or the serial comma, is the last comma in a list. Often, journalists leave it out of newspapers to save space, and fewer people are using the Oxford comma today, but it's still important in specific cases like this. So, for this class, I'd like you to use it. Other places may have you do otherwise, but at least now you know!
There's a great story about it on NPR here.
There's even a song about it--although not a great one--by a band called Vampire Weekend. You can give it a listen here.
Your Daily Assignment:
Play Does it Suck on your site.
Read/Skim EID Ch 4 (pp. 84-108)
Finish your papers. Final draft is due by Monday night, and I'll give you until midnight again to e-mail it to me.
