Failed Humour and its Effects in Conversation: a Case Study

Since humor is seen as an important socio-pragmatic discursive strategy, it may be assigned a significant role in regulating conversations. However, humor does not always have positive effects on the on-going conversations and its participants. It may also offend the interlocutors bringing about misunderstanding and confusion in communication, especially, when humor is ill-intended. Such instances of humor are referred to as failed humor, as what seems funny to the speaker may appear very rude to the hearer. The present article addresses the issue of failed humor and aims at analyzing the cases of unperceived as well as rejected humor in verbal interaction. Humor is generally unsuccessful when there is incongruity between the interlocutors’ speaking styles, resulting in an opposition between what is meant and how it is perceived