Sarcasm, Litotes, and Pun (English Literature)

     1. Sarcasm

The word sarcasm comes from the Greek word, "sarkasmos", which means “to tear flesh, bite the lip in rage, sneer”. Thus the original definition of sarcasm was quite negative, while in some cultures and time periods it can be a relatively mild form of taunting. Actually, the original understanding of sarcasm by the customs of foreigners are as satire or criticism intelligently. However, another definition is: "a spicy direct expression". Therefore, we classify Sarcasm into two, rude sarcasm and clever sarcasm.

·        Rude Sarcasm

Rude Sarcasm is a kind of sarcasm that is widely used by the people of Indonesia, Sarcasm is almost the same as the coarse expletives directly. So that the people who become the object of sarcasm will know the purpose of the speaker as clear in his words and certainly will be offended.

Examples:

a.       You cannot answer this question? You stupid!

b.      Everyone hates you, you have a very bad trait.

Rude sarcasm is very clearly mention the existence of an insult in a sentence. Probably in Indonesia is very often the case like this, but out there, it is an insult that is highly exaggerated.

·         Clever Sarcasm

The purpose of clever sarcasm is an indirect allusion, but obviously with the intention of insulting. Sarcasm is synonymous with intelligent speech. Because who can understand the significance of this clever sarcasm are only those who have a different way of thinking. Not everyone can understand what the meaning of a word that contains this sarcasm. Therefore, this is often used in a debate.

Examples:

a.       Earth is full, can you please go home?

b.      Don’t worry. I forgot your name, too!

Looks a little funny when we see examples of sarcasm that. Moreover, if we compare the two types of it.

President Barack Obama used sarcasm to mock the rapper Kanye West’s announcement that he wants to run for president. However, he didn’t just mock Kanye; in the following joke, his sarcasm is targeted only at those who said Obama could never be president:

“Do you really think this country is going to elect a black guy from the south side of Chicago with a funny name to be president of the US?”

In other parts, Todd Smith as a American rapper said that sarcasm is really just a convenient way for people to express hurt feelings, criticize others.

2. Litotes

Litotes is a figure of speech in which a negative statement is used to affirm a positive sentiment. For example, when asked how someone is doing, that person might respond, “I’m not bad.” In fact, this means that the person is doing fine or even quite well. The extent to which the litotes means the opposite is dependent on context. For example, the person saying is “I’m not bad” may have recently gone through a divorce and is trying to reassure a friend that things are okay. On the other hand, this person may have just won the lottery and says, “I’m not bad” with a grin on his face, implying that things are, in fact, incredible. If a person is very intelligent, someone might say, “he’s not dumb.” Or “he’s not unintelligent”. In other situations, after someone hires you, you might say, “Thank you sir, you won’t regret it.”

Litotes is use of negative to express a strong affirmative of the opposite kind. This is a deliberate understatement, especially when expressing a thought by denying or negating its opposite.

Following are some of the commonly used litotes:

a.      The food is not bad.

b.      He is not unlike his dad.

c.      She's not the brightest girl in the class.

d.      He is not unaware of what you said behind his back.

Examples of Litotes in poems:

a.       In the poem 'The Spider and the Fly' by Mary Howitt, "I'm really glad that you have come to visit," says the spider to the fly. The spider is not just glad to get a visitor, but also is excited to get his next meal.

b.      In the poem 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell, the grave's a fine a private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.

Usually, litotes occurs in a language when the speaker does not make an affirmation, rather denies the opposite. Though widely used in conversational language, its usage depends on intonation and emphasis as in the case of phrase "not bad". This can be said in such a way which means everything from 'mediocre' to 'excellent'.

     3. Pun

A pun is a play on words which usually hinges on a word with more than one meaning or the substitution of a homonym that changes the meaning of the sentence for humorous or rhetorical effect. For example, here’s a well-known pun: “Corduroy pillows are making headlines.” The word “headlines” usually refers to something that is new and popular, but this pun changes the meaning in that after having slept on a corduroy pillow, a person would wake up with lines on their heads.

Another meaning of pun is a play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words. A better way to describe pun as 'a play on words'. Although such terms render ambiguity to a sentence, it is often added for a humorous. For example, “when it rains, it pours” and “The two pianists had a good marriage. They were always in a chord”.

·         Types of Puns

There are several different types of puns. Here are some of the different classifications of puns:

a.       Homophonic Pun: This type of pun uses homonyms (words that sound the same) with different meanings. For example: “The wedding was so emotional that even the cake was in tiers”. The professor Walter Redfern said of this type of pun, “To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms.”

b.      Homographic Pun: This type of pun uses words that are spelled the same but sound different. These puns are often written rather than spoken, as they briefly trick the reader into reading the “wrong” sound. For example, “You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish. Unless you play bass.” In this case, “tuna fish” is a homophonic pun because it is a homonym for “tune a.” The word “bass,” though, functions as a homographic pun in that the word “bass” pronounced with a long “a” refers to a type of instrument while “bass” pronounced with a short “a” is a type of fish.

c.       Homonymic Pun: A homonymic pun contains aspects of both the homophonic pun and the homographic pun. In this type of pun, the wordplay involves a word that is spelled and sounds the same, yet has different meanings. For example, “Two silk worms had a race and ended in a tie.” A “tie” can of course either be when neither party wins, but in this pun also refers to the piece of clothing usually made from silk.

d.      Compound Pun: A compound pun includes more than one pun. Here is a famous compound pun from English rhetorician and theologian Richard Whately: “Why can a man never starve in the Great Desert? Because he can eat the sand which is there. But what brought the sandwiches there? Why, Noah sent Ham, and his descendants mustered and bred.” There are several separate puns, including the pun on “sand which” and “sandwich,” as well as “Ham” (a Biblical figure) and “ham” and the homophonic puns on “mustered”/“mustard” and “bred”/“bread.”

e.       Recursive Pun: This type of pun requires understanding the first half of the joke to understand the second. For example, “A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.” The term “Freudian slip” was coined by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to refer to a mistake in speaking where one word is replaced with another. Freud proposed that these mistakes hinted at unconscious or repressed desires. He also had several theories about the relationship between children (especially boys) and their mothers. Therefore, this pun requires knowledge of Freud’s theories and recognition that the pun itself is a Freudian slip with the substitution of “your mother” for “another.”

·         Difference Between Pun and Joke

While they share much in common, puns and jokes are not synonymous. The definition of pun is such that it necessitates wordplay. A joke may contain this type of wordplay, but there are a great many jokes that do not have any plays on words. Also, some puns are not humorous and used for rhetorical, rather than humorous, effect.

     ·        Common Examples of Pun

There are thousands of common puns in English; many languages have their own puns as well. Puns are quite frequent in everyday language. You may have heard or used the following ones in regular conversations:

a.       Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

b.      Make like a tree and leave.

c.       Put that down, it’s nacho cheese.

Some businesses have puns in their names. For example:

a.       Hairdressing salon: Curl Up and Dye

b.      Lawyers office: Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe

c.       Ophthalmologist: For Eyes

Some people consider puns to be quite foolish and worthy only of eye-rolls or groans. However, puns can require a good deal of knowledge on the part of the audience (especially in recursive puns, as explained above). If the puns are particularly clever they are rewarding for the reader or listener when they decipher the pun. Many famous authors used puns to great effect, perhaps none more so than William Shakespeare. Shakespeare used language with such dexterity that his puns often delight and surprise the reader.

Eo : Ahmad Zaman Huri

Pengertian Lengkap Litotes

Majas litotes tergolong dalam jenis majas pertentangan. Majas ini biasanya digunakan untuk merendah sebagai bentuk penghargaan terhadap lawan bicara. Sesuatu yang sudah menjadi budaya bangsa yang ramah seperti Indonesia. Mengenai pengertian litotes, dalam Wikipedia Bahasa Indonesia disebutkan bahwa majas litotes adalah Ungkapan berupa penurunan kualitas suatu fakta dengan tujuan merendahkan diri. Padahal pada kenyataannya tidak seburuk apa yang diungkapkan. Sedangakan dalam bahasa inggris berartikan sama namun tetap lebih ramah Bahasa Indonesia (this is the best part of our country, dude). 

Dalam Bahasa Inggris dikatakan:

Litotes, derived from a Greek word meaning "simple", is a figure of speech which employs an understatement by using double negative or, in other words, positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite expressions. 

Intinya, litotes ini adalah sikap merendah diri dengan mengatakan hal yang sebaliknya yang tidak sesuai dengan fakta. Majas ini mudah untuk di pahami.

"Kapan-kapan sudikah kau mampir ke gubukku"

Unsur merendah (litotes) dalam contoh kalimat di atas adalah terdapat pada pilihan kata "gubuk".

Contohnya:

"Kapan-kapan sudikah kamu mampir ke gubuk tua-ku" 

Unsur merendah (litotes) disini adalah pada pemilihan kata-kata "gubuk tua-ku". Dalam kasus litotes, pemaknaan "gubuk" bukan sebanarnya suatu tempat yang lusuh namun pembicara menggunakan litotes untuk merendahkan diri (biar ga sombong kali ya-red).

Untuk memudahkan sobat, berikut contoh lain:

1. Tolong terima bantuan yang tidak seberapa ini.
2. Saya hanya orang desa yang beruntung mengenyam pendidikan.
3. Sehelai kain lusuh ini mungkin akan berguna untukmu dikemudian hari.
4. Perjuangan kami hanyalah setetes air dalam samudra luas
5. Dalam ceramah: Mungkin hanya ini yang bisa saya sampaikan. (padahal udah panjang banget tuh dia ngomongnya-red) 

Saya juga akan membagikan beberapa contoh litotes dalam bahasa inggris, ini sering terjadi di daily conversations:

1. They do not seem the happiest couple around.
2. You are not as young as you used to be.
3. A million dollars is not a little amount.
4. Your apartment is not unclean.
5. You are not doing badly at all.

Sedikit berbeda dalam percakapan hari-hari kita, namun pada dasarnya litotes adalah cara kita mengungkapkan kerendahan diri kita ataupun mengatakan sesuatu penilaian terhadap orang lain dengan cara yang lebih baik. 

Sekedar Informasi, dalam bahasa inggris, Litotes ini ada juga yang mengatakan sebagai "hiperbola negatif". Untuk pengertian dari hiperbola itu sendiri akan saya bahas dalam kesempatan yang lain.

Begitulah kira-kira pengertian dari majas litotes. Kalau ada tambahan mengenai ini, kolom komentar tersedia buat sobat. 

SEMOGA BERMANFAAT^^

Eo: Ahmad Zaman Huri

Pengertian Lengkap Sarkasme (Sarcasm)

Kali ini kita akan membahas mengenai pengertian lengkap Sakasme, atau dalam bahasa Inggris disebut Sarcasm. Ini juga merupakan tugas untuk saya yang harus mempresentasikan sedikitnya tentang majas tersebut dalam bahasa inggris. Untuk lebih bisa memahaminya, admin akan membagikan informasi sekilas tentang itu dalam bahasa indonesia. Ini hanya untuk memudahkan kita dalam menyingkronkan bahasa indonesia ke dalam bahasa asing, terutama bahasa Inggris. Setidaknya ini adalah cara yang paling cepat untuk bisa memahami pengertian dan contoh yang akan dijelaskan dalam makna sarkasme itu sendiri. Selamat Membaca.

1. Pengertian

Sarkasme merupakan sebuah ungkapan yang bermaksud menghina orang lain secara tidak langsung dengan pembubuhan Majas, majas yang dominan digunakan disini adalah Ironi. Walaupun banyak yang mengatakan Sarkasme ( Sarcasm ) itu sama dengan Ironi atau sinisme, tidak semuanya benar dan tidak semuanya salah juga. Majas Ironi lebih menjurus kepada penyampaian maksud yang berlainan, sementara ungkapan Sarkasme/Sarkastik/Sarcasm lebih kepada Hina-an tidak langsung.

Sebenarnya pengertian asli Sarkasme ( Sarcasm ) berdasarkan tafsiran luar negri adalah sindiran kritikan secara pintar (poh sampeng-red). Namun pengertian lainnya adalah: “ungkapan pedas secara langsung” entah mengapa juga merupakan pengertian dari Sarkasme dalam bahasa Indonesia, oleh karena itu saya golongkan Sarkasm menjadi dua, yaitu Sarkasme Kasar dan Sarkasme Pintar. 

A. Sarkasme Kasar

Sarkasme Kasar ini merupakan jenis Sarkasme yang banyak ditafsirkan oleh orang-orang Indonesia, jenis Sarkasme ini yang saya ketahui hampir menyerupai umpatan kasar secara langsung, berbanding terbalik dengan Sarkasme pintar, bahasa yang digunakan untuk mengumpat yaitu secara langsung dan to the point, sehingga orang yang menjadi objek sarkasme-nya akan langsung mengetahui dan tersinggung.

Contohnya:

- Dasar Bodoh! Begitu saja tidak bisa!
- Kamu memang buaya darat!
- Dasar manusia Anj*ng!
- Soal semudah itu tidak bisa dikerjakan? Dasar Dungu!

Sobat bisa lihat sendiri dari kalimatnya, Sarkasme ( Sarcasm ) ala Bahasa Indonesia ini saya rasa tidak mengandung majas Ironi sama sekali, lebih langsung dan saya rasa tidak ada bedanya dengan kalimat ungkapan biasa, oleh karena itu mari sobat lihat ungkapan Sarkasm Pintar sebagai pembandingnya.

B. Sarkasme Pintar

arkasme Pintar ini jenis Sarkasme yang digunakan secara global, yaitu sindiran secara tidak langsung, tetapi tajam dengan maksud mengolok-olok. Sarkasme ( Sarcasm ) di luar sana sendiri identik dengan ungkapan umpatan yang cerdas, karena kenapa? Umpatan Sarkasme bagi orang yang ditujukan bagi orang yang kurang cerdas tidak akan tersampaikan. Saat di umpat dengan Sarkasme, orang yang menjadi bahan umpatan itu akan berfikir, jika ia cerdas maka ia akan tahu umpatan tersebut, jika ia tidak cerdas, maka maksud asli dari Sarkasme itu tidak tersampaikan. 

Contohnya:g

- Cantik sekali kamu? Pake bedak berapa sendok?

- Bagus aku ingat gaya itu.. Ya! Seperti Anj*ng peliharaanku..
- Kamu terlalu pintar ya? Soal semudah ini tidak bisa..
- Apakah kamu tau Arti diam?
- Kamu terlambat 4 jam, kenapa gak tanggung nambah 1 jam lagi?
- kamu bekerja 24 jam sehari untuk menjadi miskin

Karena saya bilang Sarkasme ( Sarcasm ) pintar ini berdasarkan pengertian global,

jadi saya akan beri sobat beberapa contoh Sarkasme ( Sarcasm ) dalam bahasa Inggris.

- Earth is full, can you please go home?
- Is it time for your medication or mine?
- You look like Sh*t. Is that the trend style now?
- And which planet you come from?
- Don’t worry. I forgot your name, too!

Jika kita lihat jelas sangat beda ungkapan Sarkasme pintar dengan sebelumnya bukan? Struktur kalimatnya lebih banyak memutar balikan tafsiran sebenarnya, dengan menyembunyikan maksud sebenarnya justru yang membuat Sarkasme ( Sarcasm ) lebih menyakitkan dan tergolong dengan umpatan tingkat tinggi untuk dan bagi orang-orang cerdas saja, karena banyak pepatah luar sana mengatakan : “Stupid People Swear, Smart People Sarcasm” atau “Sarcasm is a body's natural defense against  stupid”. 

Oleh karena itu Sarkasme cerdas lebih elit daripada Sarkasme Kasar. Sekedar mengingatkan, berhati-hatilah saat berbicara, karena itu menunjukkan diri kamu sebenarnya, ya walaupun kita tau bahwa ada sebagian manusia yang memang blak-blakan dengan omongannya (termasuk admin, hehe) tapi itulah sikap manusia. Kita berhak memilih cara hidup kita namun jangan lepas dari konsep bahwa manusia ini adalah makhluk sosial.

SEMOGA BERMANFAAT^^

Src : fni

Eo : Ahmad Zaman Huri

Meaning of Cacophony

On this occasion I will share with you about what I learned in the course "English Litearture". I take this material from blogs that I think can be trusted and can help us all to deepen our learning process. I hope you enjoy it.

1. Cacophony Definition

If we speak literally, cacophony points to a situation where there is a mixture of harsh and inharmonious sounds. In literature, however, the term refers to the use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing and unmelodious sounds primarily those of consonants to achieve desired results. 

2. Common Cacophony Examples

In everyday life, one of the examples of cacophony would be the amalgamation of different sounds you hear in a busy city street or market. You hear sounds of vehicles, announcements on loudspeakers, music, and chatter of people or even a dog barking at the same time and without any harmony. You can rightly point to the situation as being the cacophony of a busy street or market. We can notice the manifestation of cacophony in language as well; for instance in the sentence:

“I detest war because cause of war is always trivial.”

The part “because cause” is cacophony as because is followed by a word cause that has a similar sound but different meaning. Generally, it sounds unpleasant as the same sound is repeated in two different words.

Similarly, a discordant sound of a musical band, tuning up their musical instruments, is also an example of cacophony.

3. Cacophony and Euphony

Cacophony is opposite to euphony which is the use of words having pleasant and harmonious effects. Generally, the vowels, semi-vowels and the nasal consonants e.g. l, m, n, r, y are considered to be euphonious. Cacophony, on the other hand, uses consonants in combinations which requires explosive delivery e.g., p, b, d, g, k, ch-, sh- etc.

4. Examples of Cacophony in Literature

In literature, the unpleasantness of cacophony is utilized by writers to present dreadful or distasteful situations. Let us look at a few Cacophony examples in literature:

Example #1

Abundant use of cacophonic words could be noticed in Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem “Jabberwocky” in his novel “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There”:

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,an
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

In the excerpt, we see a collection of nonsense words which are at the same time unmelodious. After reading the poem, “Alice”, the main character of the novel, gives her impression that reflects clearly the purpose of the poem. She says:

“Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don’t exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that’s clear, at any rate”. 

Example #2

An example of cacophony is found in Hart Crane’s poem “The Bridge”:

The nasal whine of power whips a new universe….Where spouting pillars spoor the evening sky,Under the looming stacks of the gigantic power houseStars prick the eyes with sharp ammoniac proverbs,New verities, new inklings in the velvet hummedOf dynamos, where hearing’s leash is strummed….Power’s script, – wound, bobbin-bound, refined-Is stopped to the slap of belts on booming spools, spurredInto the bulging bouillon, harnessed jelly of the stars. 

The disorder and confusion of the industrial world has been expressed here by the writer through deliberate selection of cacophonic words and phrases.

Example #3

Look at the following excerpt from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travel”:

“And being no stranger to the art of war, I have him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, sieges, retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments, sea-fights…”

In order to describe the destructive consequences of war, the writer chooses words and arranges them in an order that they produce an effect that is unmelodious, harsh and jarring that corresponds with the subject matter.

Example #4

Read the following lines from Coleridge’s “Rime to the Ancient Mariner”:

“With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, 

Agape they heard me call.” 

These lines illustrate cacophony by using words black, baked and agape which corresponds with the severity of situation faced by the Mariner and other people on board.

5. Function of Cacophony

Writers use cacophony as a tool to describe a discordant situation using discordant words. The use of such words allows readers to picture and feel the unpleasantness of the situation the writer has described through words.


Src : Ld.net
Eo : Ahmad Zaman Huri