Punning in Hungarian anti-proverbs

Vargha, Katalin; Litovkina, Anna T.

doi:10.7592/ejhr2013.1.3.vargha

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Generally, speakers use proverbs for the conversational advantage they obtain due to the generalised perception of proverbs as unquestionable truths. However, as was the intention of this paper to prove, and as shown in the works of other scholars published in this journal (Vargha & Litovkina 2013;Litovkina 2017), proverbs are quite appropriate for their use with humorous intentions. In the case of fiction, and particularly television series, writers seem to be inclined to include so-called 'anti-proverbs', i.e., modified proverbs, as well as, to a lesser extent, 'pseudoproverb', i.e., invented proverb-like statements, to achieve their comedic purposes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…A common reason for the use of proverbs is the conversational advantage they seem to grant the speaker. Generally, people use proverbs with admonishing or evaluative intentions, but with the appearance of new forms of communication and entertainment, proverbs have begun to be used more frequently as a means of producing humour, often through their modification or ironic use (Vargha & Litovkina 2013;Litovkina 2017). This use of proverbs has been studied in depth by A. T. Litovkina, the author of multiple works on the topic, such as her collaboration with Mieder, Twisted Wisdom: Modern Anti-Proverbs (Litovkina & Mieder 1999), and more recently, the chapter on anti-proverbs included in Hrisztova-Gotthardt and Aleksa Varga's comprehensive volume Introduction to Paremiology (Litovkina 2014) as well as another collaborative volume analysing the use of antiproverbs in five languages (Litovkina et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Michael Scott’s anti-proverbs and pseudo-proverbs as a source of humour in The Office

Fernández

2023

EJHR

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This article analyses the use of proverbs in the American version of the sitcom The Office, especially in relation to Michael Scott, the show’s main protagonist. The purpose of the study is to explore the possibilities of proverbs as a comedic device and the use that scriptwriters make of paremiology for the portrayal of fictional characters. The case of Michael Scott is paradigmatic for these two approaches because, apart from being the protagonist of one of the most influential comedies in the last two decades, he exemplifies a creative use of paremiology through which he often modifies existing proverbs or invents proverb-like statements to support his ideas, rather than reciting proverbs in their canonical wording. As can be inferred, the intention of these paremiological practices is to make the audience laugh. From this analysis, we can draw the conclusion that scriptwriters deliberately include non-canonical proverbs in Michael’s speech for the humorous possibilities that they offer. Consequently, this procedure determines Michael’s characterisation in a way that relates to the traditional incongruity theory of humour. Finally, this paper intends to contribute to the establishment of a trend in current proverb scholarship that studies paremias for their comedic uses in modern media and to the dismissal of the widespread idea that they are not relevant in today’s society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Michael Scott’s anti-proverbs and pseudo-proverbs as a source of humour in The Office

Fernández

2023

EJHR

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“…Pauses can offer "breathing room" between stimuli. An emblem is a gesture or motion which can represent a word, like waving a hand can express a greeting; termed "bisociation", sudden recognition of a known pattern like an emblem in a new context can yield enjoyment and offers an explanation for why puns can be funny [67].…”

Section: Videosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avoiding Playfulness Gone Wrong: Exploring Multi-objective Reaching Motion Generation in a Social Robot

Cooney

Sant'Anna

2017

Int J of Soc Robotics

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Companion robots will be able to perform useful tasks in homes and public places, while also providing entertainment through playful interactions. "Playful" here means fun, happy, and humorous. A challenge is that generating playful motions requires a non-trivial understanding of how people attribute meaning and intentions. The literature suggests that playfulness can lead to some undesired impressions such as that a robot is obnoxious, untrustworthy, unsafe, moving in a meaningless fashion, or boring. To generate playfulness while avoiding such typical failures, we proposed a model for the scenario of a robot arm reaching for an object: some simplified movement patterns such as sinusoids are structured toward appearing helpful, clear about goals, safe, and combining a degree of structure and anomaly. We integrated our model into a mathematical framework (CHOMP) and built a new robot, Kakapo, to perform dynamically generated motions. The results of an exploratory user experiment were positive, suggesting that: Our proposed system was perceived as playful over the course of several minutes. Also a better impression resulted compared with an alternative playful system which did not use our proposed heuristics; furthermore a negative effect was observed for several minutes after showing the alternative motions, suggesting that failures are important to avoid. And, an inverted u-shaped correlation was observed between motion length and degree of perceived playfulness, suggesting that motions should neither be too short or too long and that length is also a factor which can be considered when generating playful motions. A short follow-up study provided some additional support for the idea that playful motions which seek to avoid failures can B Martin Cooney martin.daniel.cooney@gmail.com 1 School of Information Technology, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Halland, Sweden be perceived positively. Our intent is that these exploratory results will provide some insight for designing various playful robot motions, toward achieving some good interactions.

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The Comparative Study of Anti-Proverbs: An Introduction

Litovkina

Hrisztova-Gotthardt²,

Barta

et al. 2021

Anti-Proverbs in Five Languages

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Punning in Hungarian anti-proverbs

Abstract: Proverbs have never been considered sacrosanct; on the contrary, they have frequently been used as satirical, ironic or humorous comments on a given situation. Wolfgang Mieder has coined the term "Antisprichwort" (anti-proverb)

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

Michael Scott’s anti-proverbs and pseudo-proverbs as a source of humour in The Office

Michael Scott’s anti-proverbs and pseudo-proverbs as a source of humour in The Office

Avoiding Playfulness Gone Wrong: Exploring Multi-objective Reaching Motion Generation in a Social Robot

The Comparative Study of Anti-Proverbs: An Introduction

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