Author: James Geary
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 039325495X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 128
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Book Description
"A witty book about wit that steers an elegant path between waggishness and wisdom." —Stephen Fry Much more than a knack for snappy comebacks, wit is the quick, instinctive intelligence that allows us to think, say, or do the right thing at the right time in the right place. In this whimsical book, James Geary explores every facet of wittiness, from its role in innovation to why puns are the highest form of wit. Geary reasons that wit is both visual and verbal, physical and intellectual: there’s the serendipitous wit of scientists, the crafty wit of inventors, the optical wit of artists, and the metaphysical wit of philosophers. In Wit’s End, Geary embraces wit in every form by adopting a different style for each chapter; he writes the section on verbal repartee as a dramatic dialogue, the neuroscience of wit as a scientific paper, the spirituality of wit as a sermon, and other chapters in jive, rap, and the heroic couplets of Alexander Pope. Wit’s End agilely balances psychology, folktales, visual art, and literary history with lighthearted humor and acute insight, drawing upon traditions of wit from around the world. Entertaining, illuminating, and entirely unique, Wit’s End demonstrates that wit and wisdom are really the same thing.
Author: Tony Veale
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262045990
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 307
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Book Description
For fans of computers and comedy alike, an accessible and entertaining look into how we can use artificial intelligence to make smart machines funny. Most robots and smart devices are not known for their joke-telling abilities. And yet, as computer scientist Tony Veale explains in Your Wit Is My Command, machines are not inherently unfunny; they are just programmed that way. By examining the mechanisms of humor and jokes--how jokes actually works--Veale shows that computers can be built with a sense of humor, capable not only of producing a joke but also of appreciating one. Along the way, he explores the humor-generating capacities of fictional robots ranging from B-9 in Lost in Space to TARS in Interstellar, maps out possible scenarios for developing witty robots, and investigates such aspects of humor as puns, sarcasm, and offensiveness. In order for robots to be funny, Veale explains, we need to analyze humor computationally. Using artificial intelligence (AI), Veale shows that joke generation is a knowledge-based process--a sense of humor is blend of wit and wisdom. He notes that existing technologies can detect sarcasm in conversation, and explains how some jokes can be pre-scripted while others are generated algorithmically--all while making the technical aspects of AI accessible for the general reader. Of course, there's no single algorithm or technology that we can plug in to make our virtual assistants or GPS voice navigation funny, but Veale provides a computational roadmap for how we might get there.
Author: Margaret Edson
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466871830
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 96
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Book Description
Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and the Oppenheimer Award Margaret Edson's powerfully imagined Pulitzer Prize–winning play examines what makes life worth living through her exploration of one of existence's unifying experiences—mortality—while she also probes the vital importance of human relationships. What we as her audience take away from this remarkable drama is a keener sense that, while death is real and unavoidable, our lives are ours to cherish or throw away—a lesson that can be both uplifting and redemptive. As the playwright herself puts it, "The play is not about doctors or even about cancer. It's about kindness, but it shows arrogance. It's about compassion, but it shows insensitivity." In Wit, Edson delves into timeless questions with no final answers: How should we live our lives knowing that we will die? Is the way we live our lives and interact with others more important than what we achieve materially, professionally, or intellectually? How does language figure into our lives? Can science and art help us conquer death, or our fear of it? What will seem most important to each of us about life as that life comes to an end? The immediacy of the presentation, and the clarity and elegance of Edson's writing, make this sophisticated, multilayered play accessible to almost any interested reader. As the play begins, Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English who has spent years studying and teaching the intricate, difficult Holy Sonnets of the seventeenth-century poet John Donne, is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. Confident of her ability to stay in control of events, she brings to her illness the same intensely rational and painstakingly methodical approach that has guided her stellar academic career. But as her disease and its excruciatingly painful treatment inexorably progress, she begins to question the single-minded values and standards that have always directed her, finally coming to understand the aspects of life that make it truly worth living.
Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English wit and humor
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
Oscar Wilde was the master of the studied insult. His jabs at hypocrisy, pretense and boring conventionality still have a penetrating power. His snubs and put-downs became the talk of his time, no less by his targets than by Wilde himself. This illustrated collection features over 750 of his biting comments.
Author: Gina Barreca
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 1611684463
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
Published by Viking in 1991 and issued as a paperback through Penguin Books in 1992, Snow White became an instant classic for both academic and general audiences interested in how women use humor and what others (men) think about funny women. Barreca, who draws on the work of scholars, writers, and comedians to illuminate a sharp critique of the gender-specific aspects of humor, provides laughs and provokes arguments as she shows how humor helps women break rules and occupy center stage. Barreca's new introduction provides a funny and fierce, up-to-the-minute account of the fate of women's humor over the past twenty years, mapping what has changed in our culture--and questioning what hasn't.
Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486122433
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 271
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Book Description
More than 1000 ripostes, paradoxes, and epigrams on sin, society, genius, wealth, men, women, religion, America, education, and smoking: "Work is the curse of the drinking classes," "I can resist everything except temptation," etcetera. Also excerpts from his trial testimony, where the tragedy implicit in Wilde's humor is nowhere more vivid.
Author: Karl Beckson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134722869
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 448
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Book Description
This set comprises 40 volumes covering 19th and 20th century European and American authors. These volumes will be available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes. This second set compliments the first 68 volume set of Critical Heritage published by Routledge in October 1995.
Author: Clayton Geoffreys
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781507618165
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 84
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Book Description
Learn what makes up the art of wit and how to become wittier!Read on your PC, Mac, smartphone, tablet or Kindle device!In How to be Witty: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming More Clever, Charming, and Engaging with People, you'll learn the fundamentals of how to be wittier in your conversations. This book covers a variety of topics including why certain people are identified as witty people, and what makes up wit. Incorporating wit into your daily life can be a great way to take your conversations and relationships to a whole new level. We'll explore the three key elements of humor and wit, which are tension, deviation, and superiority. We'll dig into why Groucho Marx and Robin Williams were known as such witty people. Most importantly, we'll learn how you can become wittier with a few changes in your behavior. So stop waiting and pick up a copy today to start learning how to become wittier! Here is a preview of what is inside this book: Foreword Why is Being Witty Important? 7 Reasons Why Being Witty Can Elevate Conversation Skills 3 Essential Elements to Humor and Wit Where Does Wit Come From? Case Study #1: Groucho Marx Case Study #2: Robin Williams 9 Actionable Steps to Becoming More Witty How to Think Outside the Box to Become More Witty How to Improve Your Vocabulary to Take Wittiness to the Next Level How to Avoid Conversation Lulls with the Help of Wit How to Build Confidence in Your Witty Remarks 5 Actionable Ways to Improve Wit Conclusion An excerpt from the book: Everybody wants to be a comedian nowadays. Men want to be "that guy", the one who slays male competitors with witty repartee and absconds with admiring girls. Even some women aspire to be the funny girl who keeps her man in stitches. It is no doubt that riotously humorous people are the life of the party, and their witty wordplay is sorely coveted by less funny folks. However, popular perception aside, just how important is it for one to be witty? Psychologists, sociologists and others have turned their spotlights on this human ability with the intent of answering just this question. Their answer is not surprising. The ability to be humorous correlates to increased personal well-being, social interaction and health. Nature favors funny people, and funny people benefit immensely from this one, personal trait. Witty people gain social chops just by virtue of being funny. Few people fail to enjoy time spent laughing with good company. However, natural wit bestows upon one more than the mere ability to evoke laughter. Persons who possess wit and a healthy dose of intuition are able to gauge the moods of their audience by measuring the reception of their various jokes, barbs and tall tales.1 Armed with this perception, the witty guy or gal can purposefully alienate or endear others by directing the tone of their humor.1 Masterfully funny people can employ wit in ways that cause others to flit to them and like them. Specifically, one's wit is used as a tool to expose and identify others in the environment that shares similar dispositions and propensities. In romantic scenarios, fine-tuned wit can equate to "getting" the girl or guy. In fact, various studies show that male wit or humor often sparks romantic interest in the female kind. Conversely female wit is that which sustains burgeoning relationships for the long haul.2 Humor is so important in intimate relationships that its presence is linked to marital satisfaction in all cultures.Tags: how to be witty, how to be funny, social skills, how to be clever, wittiness, quick witted, how to be confident, becoming more confident, how to win friends and influence people, how to make new friends, how to overcome shyness, how to cure social anxiety, how to talk to anyone
Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0380012774
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 164
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Book Description
The Importance of Being Earnest shows a full measure of Oscar Wilde's legendary wit, and embodies more than any of his other plays, his decency and warmth. This edition contains substantial excerpts from the original four-act version which was never produed, as well as the full test of the final three-act version, selections from Wilde's correspondence, and commentary by George Bernard Shaw, Max Beerbohm, St. John Hankin, and James Agate.
Author: Robert J. Dole
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743203925
Category : Presidents
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
The former senator and presidential candidate collects bipartisan presidential humor from famous, and not-so-famous, chief executives, from Washington to Clinton.
