Oscar Wilde is one of the most hilarious playwrights in the history of English literature. And 'The Importance of Being Earnest' is his masterpiece. With Wilde's humorous and witty language as the starting point and aided by the concordancing software WORDSMITH TOOLS, a detailed analysis was carried out on this comedy from lexical level and…

Argues that humor is one means of appealing to young people and helping them to search out truth. Explains how the author, who writes young adult fiction, uses humor to approach weighty subjects. Provides several examples from her fiction. (TB)

Investigates the use of humor in basic communication textbooks. Concludes that humor is used frequently to teach rather than simply to attract attention; it is of the harmless, nonsense variety and appears not to be antisocial as far as sex-role stereotypes are concerned. (JMF)

Discusses diverse examples of literary devices by comparing metaphor and humor. Defines and illustrates paronomasia, paradox, oxymoron, anacoluthon, zeugma, parody, jargon, satire, conceit, anachronism, hyperbole, cacography, understatement, and doggerel. A humorous appendix contrasts errors with rhetorical devices. (NKA)

It was hypothesized that a visual strategy that incorporates a humorous theme and cartoons with humorous comments relevant to the content helps motivate students to focus on and retain computer-based instructional material. An experiment to assess this hypothesis was undertaken with 43 college students who received a humorous presentation on…