CLA PHI Maxim of Relation Flouting
1 Joke
A joke consists of a setup and a punch line. The setup creates in the listener a particular set of expectations about how the situation should be
interpreted. The punch line suddenly shifts the meaning in an unexpected and playful way, thus creating the perception of non serious incongruity that is
necessary for humor to occur. In everyday conversation, joke-telling is usually prefaced by verbal or
nonverbal cues like in “Did you hear the one about…” or conforms to certain stock formats like
“A man went into a bar . . .” that indicate to the audience that the story is meant to be humorous and that the listeners are expected to laugh.
The following Datum is an example of joke in everyday conversation. 4: 08 MIT
CLA CAM
: :
: Give it a rest. Shes 14, all right? No matter who that
boy is, hes not gonna last. Mm, youre right.
Well, at least with a gay kid, you know shes gonna get a great flower arrangement. Shouldve seen the one I
made Annabelle. Arranged it myself. It was gorgeous. Till she pulled it apart and spelled
homo on my porch.
S4E06Sc14
The situation of Datum 4: 08 was after Alex tells Claire, Mitchell, and Cam that they were wrong because her boyfriend, Michael, was not gay. Claire
was surprised because of it. Mitchell and Cam tried to comfort them if it was okay for Alex to have a relationship with Michael. Cam flouted maxim of
quantity since he gave too much information to Claire by elaborating his answer with his story about him and his ex girlfriend.
Cam’s utterance is categorized as joke because there are a setup and a punch line. The setup is “Well, at least with a gay kid, you know shes gonna get
a great flower arrangement. Shouldve seen the one I made Annabelle. Arranged it myse
lf. It was gorgeous.” It created Claire and Mitchell’s expectations about how the situation should be interpreted. The punch line, which is “Till she pulled
it apart and spelled homo on my porch.” suddenly shifts the meaning in an unexpected and playful way, thus creating the perception of non serious
incongruity that is necessary for humor to occur. Another example of joke is shown in the next Datum.