Abstract

Some Doubts on the Popular Supposed Distinction Between Wit and Humor
January 18, 1866 issue

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The article focuses on the distinction between wit and humor. All comic or non serious writing is frequently called humorous, and only the best of it witty, so that in ordinary parlance wit would appear to be something not distinct from humor, but only from inferior or, as it is usually designated, low humor. The French esprit, so often and so imperperfectly translated by wit, means, at least in its modem usage, little more than cleverness. This signification is particularly striking in the adjective. A distinction not unfrequently drawn is that wit consists chiefly in the words, and humor in the matter. In support of this might be adduced the current phrase verbal wit.

See Also:

WIT & humor; LITERATURE; GRAMMAR, Comparative & general -- Adjective; CARICATURE; GRAMMAR, Comparative & general -- Verbals; HUMOR in literature
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