In the situation above, laughter arouses when Robin flouts the maxim of Quality, which is when she mocks Ted‟s job as an awful job. Linked to hostility
theory, Robin‟s action is seen as an action of being hostile. According to the theory, humor is created when someone is laughing at others in an attempt to
humiliate or ridicule their inferiority or misfortunes. People who are treated as the inferiors will be the butt of the joke. In the situation above, Robin‟s answer to Ted
is seen as the form of humiliation to Ted, and in this case, Ted is seen as the butt of the joke. Laughter arouses when there are pleasure and glorious feelings
created from being superior to Ted.
b. The act of being hostile to someone in flouting of maxim of Manner
There are three floutings of Manner containing the feeling of hostility which can create humorous situation. The explanation of how humor is created is
presented as follow.
Data code:
16FloManHos Marshall Lily is evil She just wore that dress to torture me.
Well, you know what? Two can play at that game. See, at brunch, Im going to torture Lily right back.
Yeah. Theres a part of my body that shes got a weakness for, too.
Barney Dude, you cant whip that out at brunch.
Marshall No, not that. Im going to unleash my calves. Barney
Thats crazy. Nobodys turned on by mens calves. Theyre a thoroughly unerotic body part.
Marshall Well, yeah, Id say that, too, if I had those skinny little chicken legs.
Barney Ill be waiting by the phone for your apology.
In the conversation above, Marshall has a fight with Barney. In the beginning, Marshall tells Barney about his plan to take revenge to Lily by
showing his body part that he is sure will seduce her. That body part is his calves.
To respond Marshall‟s plan, in disbelief Barney says, “Thats crazy. Nobodys turned on by mens calves. Theyre a thoroughly unerotic body part
.” Barney‟s answer is ambiguous and it carries deeper meaning which he thinks that calves are
uninterested body parts that no one will be paying attention to. He even uses the word „unerotic‟ which is a word invented by himself to describe calves.
Offended b
y Barney‟s statement, Marshall abruptly says, “Well, yeah, Id say that, too, if I had those skinny little chicken legs.
” As explained previously, Marshall has flouted the maxim of Manner by uttering that statement. Marshall
hopes that Barney gets the impl icature he delivers which is that Barney‟s thin
legs. Regarding his reply to Barney, Marshall‟s statement contains humiliation addressed to Barney. He mocks Barney‟s legs for being too thin, especially
because they look like chicken legs. According to host ility theory, Marshall‟s
action is seen as an act of being superior and Barney is seen as the inferior. As the victim, he becomes the butt of the joke. Glorious feeling occurs when Marshall
mocks Barney for having checks like chicken. That glorious feeling creates laughter in the situation.
3. By releasing emotion or feeling to experience freedom
As explained in the previous chapter, the basis of release theory of humor is that the theory is based on the idea that humor is used to release tension or
psychic energy Attardo, 1994: 50. People will be liberated once they release
their tension, emotion or psychic energy inside. Thus, at the moment they release their emotion, laughter arouses. This theory highlights the social and behavioral
components of humor since it gives temporary freedom from restrictions in daily life.
From the violations and floutings of conversational maxims that have been analyzed in the previous subchapter, the way of releasing emotion in order to
create laughter is found in five violations of maxim of Quantity, one violation of maxim of Relation, two floutings of maxim of Quantity, one flouting of maxim of
Relation, and four floutings of maxim of manner.
a. Releasing emotion in violation of maxim of Quantity
There are five violations of the maxim of Quantity containing humorous situation created by the release of emotion of the characters. The writer chooses
one of the violations and explains it as presented below.
Data code:
03VioQuanRls Ted
Hey Marshall. Marshall Hey Ted.
Ted Are you hungry?
Marshall Whats the point? I could eat some food, its just
gonna leave me.
Ted
At least in that scenario, you get to do the dumping. Come on, its Sunday, its pancakes
day
Marshall
Lily always made the pancakes. God, I loved her pancakes. So soft. So warmed. So perfectly
shaped.
Ted Are we still talking about her pancakes?
