Styles and techniques

In modern wit, as in all other art styles, there exist tens of stylistic devices for expanding and ensuring the success of this or that project. It is a normal fact that public judgment depends on other factors as well, including personal preference and dependence on the chosen style and technique of the humorist.

Originality has always been appreciated under all regimes and historical epochs. It secures the fundamental element of astonishment that almost always strikes audience to the utmost. Unfortunately, true originality is very rare both in wit and in other forms of art. In that case, an author or a creator gets down to the use of numerous techniques that enrich the corresponding language and create a never-to-be-forgotten atmosphere.

It may be rejected but for a real wit, emphasis ob the local colour and ethnic peculiarities that may provide a writer not only with the largest volume of creative material but an opportunity to gain success on the basis of local folk.

Another technique that yields to the higher forms of humour (including witticisms) is economy. In art and wit, economy does not stand for mechanical shortness but for implicit (hidden) hints and logic instead of appealing to the explicit statements. By the way, witticisms are one of the most effective instruments for revealing surrounding reality under the guise of some unclear or even foolish expressions. For this reason, it became so widely popular in the 17th-18th centuries with J. Swift or Voltaire, for example, as it was the time of great censorship that didn't allow a non-permitted word out of creator's brain.

The riddle as a literary device is of the great importance for wit as well. It lets us create puzzles demonstrating the true nature of things not exposing any real intentions and thoughts.