The weather has been hot this summer across America. And the heat has resulted in more than one "How hot is it?" headline, which, of course, calls to mind a category of Johnny Carson jokes: "It's so hot that President Reagan was actually seen sweating."
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Resource: Yo Momma Snaps
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This form of humor
goes back a long way and can still be found in
urban insult exchanges, sometimes called "playing
the dozens."
Your mama's so stank, she makes Right Guard turn left.
Believe it or not, such humor derives from a sophisticated language strategy, a movement from abstract to concrete, from general to specific.
The adjectives "hot" and "stank" may strike us as specific, but they convert easily to the categories of hot-ness and stank-ness. Such abstractions cry out for exemplification:
Your mama's so stank, she makes Secret tell all.
This strategy has serious implications for all writers. It invites you to take a moment every time you find yourself using an adjective to describe conditions or character. Many adjectives (enthusiastic, fearful, humorous) disguise abstractions (enthusiasm, fearfulness, humor). When possible, show these traits through action; share with readers the evidence for that characteristic.
"How fearful was she?"
She was so fearful that "she squeezed her eyes shut for the full hour it took the tour bus to weave down the mountainside."
As for playing the dozens, don't be afraid to pass along your favorite "Mama snaps."
-- Roy Peter Clark, vice president & senior scholar
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