By saying this, Barney actually means that calves are uninterested body parts that no one will be paying attention to. He wants Marshall know that it is impossible
that Lily is g oing to be interested in Marshall‟s calves, but he is not being brief in
saying that to Marshall. He even uses „unerotic‟ which is a word created by himself to describe calves.
Again, Marshall flouts the maxim of manner in responding Barney‟s statement.
He says, “Well, yeah, Id say that, too, if I had those skinny little chicken legs.
” Here, Marshall‟s statement which is “those skinny little chicken legs” is ambiguous and he is not being brief to Barney. There is deeper meaning
from his statement, which
is “…if I had those skinny little chicken legs”. By
saying that statement, Marshall wants Barney know that the „if I had those skinny little chicken legs‟ statement is representing Barney‟s legs which are skinny like
chicken‟s legs. In the situation above, instead of telling Barney directly, Marshall chooses
to say it with a parable, which is finally understood by Barney. After Barney knows what Marshall means by saying that statement, he gets offended and says:
“Ill be waiting by the phone for your apology.” This statement means that he is going to wait for Marshall to apologize to him.
B. The humorous situations created by the violations and floutings of
conversational maxims
This second subchapter analyzes how the humorous situations are created in the situation comedy. Humor theory is applied in the analysis process in order
to examine how humorous situations are created by the violations and the
floutings of conversational maxims. The results of the analysis shows that creating incongruent idea between p
eople‟s expectation and what actually happens, mocking and laughing at someone else to show hostility, and releasing emotion
are the strategies of how the humorous situations are built in the situation comedy. The categorization of the data findings can be seen in the table below:
Table 3. Data Findings: The ways of how humorous situations are created in the situation comedy
Humorous situations
Incongruent idea
Hostility Released
Emotions
Data code
02VioQuanInc 05VioQuanInc
06VioQuanInc 07VioQuanInc
09VioQuanInc 10VioQuanInc
11VioQuanInc 13VioQuanInc
14VioQuanInc 15VioQualInc
17VioRelInc 18VioManInc
19VioManInc 05FloRelInc
06FloRelInc 07FloRelInc
08FloRelInc 09FloRelInc
12FloManInc 03FloQualHos
16FloManHos 17FloManHos
21FloManHos 01VioQuanRls
03VioQuanRls 04VioQuanRls
08VioQuanRls 12VioQuanRls
16VioRelRls 01FloQuanRls
02FloQuanRls 04FloRelRls
10FloManRls 11FloManRls
19FloManRls 22FloManRls
13FloManInc 14FloManInc
15FloManInc 18FloManInc
20FloManInc
The explanation of each way of creating humorous situations is explained in the following parts.
1. By creating the incongruent idea between someone’s expectation and
what actually happens in the conversation
The way of creating an incongruent idea between someone‟s expectation and what actually happens is the mostly used strategies in creating humorous
situations in the situation comedy. Basically, as explained before, the basis of incongruity theory of humor as proposed by Schopenhauer and Kant is that humor
occurs when there are differences between what is expected and what later occurs in the conversation. The differences involve the feeling of surprise of the hearers.
It means that humor is the product of incongruity created by two conflicting meanings or ideas, which are the particular ideas that someone has in mind and
how the ideas turn out in the conversation. In here, the writer finds that some of the violations and floutings of
conversational maxims contain incongruity between two conflicting ideas. Twenty four out of forty one data use this method in creating humorous situation. The
incongruity is found in nine violations of Quantity maxim, one violation of Quality maxim, one violation of Relation maxim, and two violations in Manner
maxim. It is also found in six floutings of Relation maxim and six floutings of Manner maxim.
In the following section, the writer explains some of the data in order to give clearer understanding.
a. Incongruent idea in violations of maxim of Quantity
There are eight violations of Quantity maxim containing incongruent idea between someone‟s expectation and what actually reveals in the conversation. The
writer chooses one of the violations and explains it as presented below.
As explained in the previous section, in the situation above Robin has violated the maxim of Quantity. She provides too much information that what is
required in the conversation. This can be seen from her answer to Ted. Ted questions Robin about whether or not Lily has moved on and her answer is,
“Well, it happens. Ive fallen out of love faster than that before. Sometimes, Data code:
Situation: At the apartment. Robin comes and wants to tell Ted about
Lily’s getting back in town.
05VioQuanInc Ted
OK, first of all, that is interesting. Second, we have to tell him.
Robin
No, we dont. Hes just starting to get better. Going out with Barney. How do you think hell feel when he
hears Lilys moved on?
Ted Shes moved on?
Robin Well, it happens. Ive fallen out of love faster than
that before. Sometimes, boom, with no warning whatsoever. One day were in love, the next day,
hes dead to me. But were great Honey?
Ted looks confused and shocked.
boom, with no warning whatsoever. One day were in love, the next day, hes dead to me. But were great Honey
”. In here, Robin‟s answer contains information that is not requested in the situation. The unnecessary information is
about her personal love experience which is actually not the information expected by Ted. Robin could have just told him Lily‟s condition at that time.
To understand how this violation of Quantity maxim creates humorous situations, incongruity theory of humor is applied in the analysis. Related with
incongruity theory of humor, humorous situation occurs because there are two conflicting meanings that occur in the conversation. In the situation above, the
two conflicting meanings are Ted expectation of Robin‟s answer about Lily‟s condition and the actual answer he gets from Robin. In the conversation, Ted asks
Robin about Lily‟s condition after breaking up with Marshall and whether or not she has moved on. He expects Robin to give sufficient answer based on his
question. In fact, instead of giving him sufficient information about Lily, Robin gives information about her own love experience about how she handles a break
up with her ex-boyfriend which is not appropriate in the exchange of information. She even explains it enthusiastically without realizes that she provides
unnecessary information to Ted. This unnecessary information from Robin is not expected by Ted and the audiences. Thus, Robin‟s unexpected answer shows her
absurd and ridiculous action. Her ridiculous action is the result of her unawareness of Te
d‟s expectation. In conclusion, the transformation of the idea expected by the audiences and what actually turns out in the conversation makes the audiences‟
expectation vanish and creates discrepancy which arouses laughter.
