第 25 节
作者:
冬儿 更新:2022-04-05 13:37 字数:9322
Personally; I no sooner see the man with the big face than instinctively I turn my eyes away。 I look round the hall for another man that I know is always there; the opposite type; the little man with the spectacles。 There he sits; good soul; about twelve rows back; his large spectacles beaming with appreciation and his quick face anticipating every point。 I imagine him to be by trade a minor journalist or himself a writer of sorts; but with not enough of success to have spoiled him。
There are other people always there; too。 There is the old lady who thinks the lecture improper; it doesn't matter how moral it is; she's out for impropriety and she can find it anywhere。 Then there is another very terrible man against whom all American lecturers in England should be warnedthe man who is leaving on the 9 P。M。 train。 English railways running into suburbs and near…by towns have a schedule which is expressly arranged to have the principal train leave before the lecture ends。 Hence the 9…P。M。…train man。 He sits right near the front; and at ten minutes to nine he gathers up his hat; coat; and umbrella very deliberately; rises with great calm; and walks firmly away。 His air is that of a man who has stood all that he can and can bear no more。 Till one knows about this man; and the others who rise after him; it is very disconcerting; at first I thought I must have said something to reflect upon the royal family。 But presently the lecturer gets to understand that it is only the nine…o'clock train and that all the audience know about it。 Then it's all right。 It's just like the people rising and stretching themselves after the seventh innings in baseball。
In all that goes above I have been emphasising the fact that the British and the American sense of humour are essentially the same thing。 But there are; of course; peculiar differences of form and peculiar preferences of material that often make them seem to diverge widely。
By this I mean that each community has; within limits; its own particular ways of being funny and its own particular conception of a joke。 Thus; a Scotchman likes best a joke which he has all to himself or which he shares reluctantly with a few; the thing is too rich to distribute。 The American loves particularly as his line of joke an anecdote with the point all concentrated at the end and exploding in a phrase。 The Englishman loves best as his joke the narration of something that actually did happen and that depends; of course; for its point on its reality。
There are plenty of minor differences; too; in point of mere form; and very naturally each community finds the particular form used by the others less pleasing than its own。 In fact; for this very reason each people is apt to think its own humour the best。
Thus; on our side of the Atlantic; to cite our own faults first; we still cling to the supposed humour of bad spelling。 We have; indeed; told ourselves a thousand times over that bad spelling is not funny; but is very tiresome。 Yet it is no sooner laid aside and buried than it gets resurrected。 I suppose the real reason is that it is funny; at least to our eyes。 When Bill Nye spells wife with 〃yph〃 we can't help being amused。 Now Bill Nye's bad spelling had absolutely no point to it except its oddity。 At times it was extremely funny; but as a mode it led easily to widespread and pointless imitation。 It was the kind of thinglike poetrythat anybody can do badly。 It was most deservedly abandoned with execration。 No American editor would print it to…day。 But witness the new and excellent effect produced with bad spelling by Mr。 Ring W。 Lardner。 Here; however; the case is altered; it is not the falseness of Mr。 Lardner's spelling that is the amusing feature of it; but the truth of it。 When he writes; 〃dear friend; Al; I would of rote sooner;〃 etc。; he is truer to actual sound and intonation than the lexicon。 The mode is excellent。 But the imitations will soon debase it into such bad coin that it will fail to pass current。 In England; however; the humour of bad spelling does not and has never; I believe; flourished。 Bad spelling is only used in England as an attempt to reproduce phonetically a dialect; it is not intended that the spelling itself should be thought funny; but the dialect that it represents。 But the effect; on the whole; is tiresome。 A little dose of the humour of Lancashire or Somerset or Yorkshire pronunciation may be all right; but a whole page of it looks like the gibbering of chimpanzees set down on paper。
In America also we run perpetually to the (supposed) humour of slang; a form not used in England。 If we were to analyse what we mean by slang I think it would be found to consist of the introduction of new metaphors or new forms of language of a metaphorical character; strained almost to the breaking point。 Sometimes we do it with a single word。 When some genius discovers that a 〃hat〃 is really only 〃a lid〃 placed on top of a human being; straightway the word 〃lid〃 goes rippling over the continent。 Similarly a woman becomes a 〃skirt;〃 and so on ad infinitum。
These words presently either disappear or else retain a permanent place; being slang no longer。 No doubt half our words; if not all of them; were once slang。 Even within our own memory we can see the whole process carried through; 〃cinch〃 once sounded funny; it is now standard American…English。 But other slang is made up of descriptive phrases。 At the best; these slang phrases areat least we think they areextremely funny。 But they are funniest when newly coined; and it takes a master hand to coin them well。 For a supreme example of wild vagaries of language used for humour; one might take O。 Henry's 〃Gentle Grafter。〃 But here the imitation is as easy as it is tiresome。 The invention of pointless slang phrases without real suggestion or merit is one of our most familiar forms of factory…made humour。 Now the English people are apt to turn away from the whole field of slang。 In the first place it puzzles themthey don't know whether each particular word or phrase is a sort of idiom already known to Americans; or something (as with O。 Henry) never said before and to be analysed for its own sake。 The result is that with the English public the great mass of American slang writing (genius apart) doesn't go。 I have even found English people of undoubted literary taste repelled from such a master as O。 Henry (now read by millions in England) because at first sight they get the impression that it is 〃all American slang。〃
Another point in which American humour; or at least the form which it takes; differs notably from British; is in the matter of story telling。 It was a great surprise to me the first time I went out to a dinner party in London to find that my host did not open the dinner by telling a funny story; that the guests did not then sit silent trying to 〃think of another〃; that some one did not presently break silence by saying; 〃I heard a good one the other day;〃and so forth。 And I realised that in this respect English society is luckier than ours。
It is my candid opinion that no man ought to be allowed to tell a funny story or anecdote without a license。 We insist rightly enough that every taxi…driver must have a license; and the same principle should apply to anybody who proposes to act as a raconteur。 Telling a story is a difficult thingquite as difficult as driving a taxi。 And the risks of failure and accident and the unfortunate consequences of such to the public; if not exactly identical; are; at any rate; analogous。
This is a point of view not generally appreciated。 A man is apt to think that just because he has heard a good story he is able and entitled to repeat it。 He might as well undertake to do a snake dance merely because he has seen Madame Pavlowa do one。 The point of a story is apt to lie in the telling; or at least to depend upon it in a; high degree。 Certain stories; it is true; depend so much on the final point; or 〃nub;〃 as we Americans call it; that they are almost fool…proof。 But even these can be made so prolix and tiresome; can be so messed up with irrelevant detail; that the general effect is utter weariness relieved by a kind of shock at the end。 Let me illustrate what I mean by a story with a 〃nub〃 or point。 I will take one of the best known; so as to make no claim to originalityfor example; the famous anecdote of the man who wanted to be 〃put off at Buffalo。〃 Here it is:
A man entered a sleeping…car and said to the porter; 〃At what time do we get to Buffalo?〃 The porter answered; 〃At half…past three in the morning; sir。〃 〃All right;〃 the man said; 〃now I want to get off at Buffalo; and I want you to see that I get off。 I sleep heavily and I'm hard to rouse。 But you just make me wake up; don't mind what I say; don't pay attention if I kick about it; just put me off; do you see?〃 〃All right; sir;〃 said the porter。 The man got into his berth and fell fast asleep。 He never woke or moved till it was broad daylight and the train was a hundred miles beyond Buffalo。 He called angrily to the porter; 〃See here; you; didn't I tell you to put me off at Buffalo?〃 The porter looked at him; aghast。 〃Well; I declare to goodness; boss!〃 he exclaimed; 〃if it wasn't you; who was that man that I threw off this tra