mysteries of rhetorical nuance

[Dan Goncharoff]

Didn't you answer you own question?

"carefully chosen to be wry
and suggestive rather than solemn and direct"

DanG


On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 2:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      mysteries of rhetorical nuance
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As I drove down a shady lane the other day, I noticed a small church by the
> roadside, which exhibited rhetorically remarkable marquee.
>
> It said,
>
> LIFE WITHOUT JESUS
> HOW'S THAT WORKING OUT FOR YOU?
>
> I laughed. The idiom framing the question seemed carefully chosen to be wry
> and suggestive rather than solemn and direct, like those I've seen on many
> similar marquees.
>
> Essay 1: Precisely what is the incongruity that makes the question seem
> intentionally humorous? How might one explain the nuance to a non-native
> speaker?
>
> Essay 2: What are the chances that the letterer didn't see anything funny
> or unusual about it?
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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