430 18.3 Speaking for Special occaSionS and purpoSeS
malaProPISm Named for the unfortunate Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley
Sheridan’s eighteenth-century play The School for Scandal, a malapropism is the
mistaken use of a word that sounds much like the intended word: “destruction”
for “instruction,” for example.
hyPerbole Exaggeration, or hyperbole, is often funny. In an after-dinner
speech on “The Alphabet and Simplified Spelling,” Mark Twain claimed,
Simplified spelling brought about sun-spots, the San Francisco earth-
quake, and the recent business depression, which we would never have
had if spelling had been left all alone.^35
Of course, spelling could not have caused such catastrophes, but by using
hyperbole, Twain makes his point in a humorous way.
unDerStatement The opposite of hyperbole, understatement involves
downplaying a fact or event. Microsoft founder and Harvard dropout Bill Gates
downplayed his meteoric success by telling the Harvard class of 2007,
I did the best of everyone who failed.^36
Verbal Irony A speaker who employs verbal irony says just the opposite
of what he or she really means. Student Chris O’Keefe opens his speech on read-
ing Shakespeare with the following statement:
At a certain point in my life, I came to the realization that I wanted to
spend my life’s effort to become a great playwright.^37
Chris reveals the verbal irony of the statement when he continues,
It has been about an hour and a half now and the feeling is still going
strong.
WIt One of the most frequently used verbal strategies for achieving humor is
the use of wit: relating an incident that takes an unexpected turn at the end.
Research suggests that witty humor may enhance a speaker’s credibility.^38
Accepting the 2007 Oscar for Best Actress, Helen Mirren paid tribute to the
monarch she had portrayed on screen in The Queen:
For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity,
her sense of duty, and her hairstyle.^39
The wit occurs in the final phrase “her hairstyle,” which catches the audience,
anticipating another majestic attribute, off guard.Humorous Nonverbal Strategies
After-dinner speakers often create humor through such nonverbal cues as
posture, gesture, and voice. Well-timed pauses are especially crucial delivery
cues for after-dinner speakers to master. One experienced after-dinner speaker
advocates “a slight pause before the punch line, then pause while the audience
is laughing.”^40