Humor and technical communication

173 Pages·2016·4.23 MB·English

Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Dissertations
1996
Humor and technical communication: the culture,
the texts, the implications
Kathleen Ann Hurley
Iowa State University
Follow this and additional works at:https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd
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Recommended Citation
Hurley, Kathleen Ann, "Humor and technical communication: the culture, the texts, the implications " (1996).Retrospective Theses and
Dissertations. 11155.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/11155
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Humor and technical coramunication:
the culture, the texts, the implications
Kathleen Ann Hurley
A Dissertation Submitted to the
Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department: English
Major: Rhetoric and Professional
Communication
Aooroved:
Signature was redacted for privacy.
In »f-MSjor Work
Signature was redacted for privacy.
Signature was redacted for privacy.
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
1996
UMI Niunber: 9626043
UMI Microform 9626043
Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
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To
Arlo,
for his patience,
his encouragement,
and his unfailing Irish wit,
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF FIGURES v
LIST OF TABLES vl
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vli
CHAPTER ONE: A DIRECTION FOR THE STUDY OF HUMOR AND
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION 1
Humor ~ the outcast In rhetoric and
technical communication study 3
Practical considerations 5
Theoretical considerations 12
Present humor scholarship connected to technical fields 13
The missing elements in contemporary scholarship 15
A starting place for describing humor 16
Limiting the starting point of discussion 18
An overview of rhetoric as contextualized social activity 19
Distinctions between humor and the serious 23
Humor as a force of interruption 25
Significance of this current study 27
CHAPTER TWO: SO EXACTLY WHAT IS HUMOR: HUMOR FROM A
SERIOUS STANCE 29
The single explanation 31
Humor as chameleon 34
Humor stimuli 36
Expectations 38
Values 39
Participant relationships 41
Group relationships 43
Summary 47
The next step; broadening the rhetorical stance 48
iv
CHAPTER THREE: AN ADJUSTED HUMOR RHETORIC 54
Distinctions between humor and the serious 55
Humor contexts and serious contexts 58
Rabelais and His World-- Bakhtin and Rabelais 65
Rabelais and His World- Interpretations by Rabelais' contemporaries 67
The mistakes of literary scholars 69
A Bakhtinian picture of the serious and humorous worlds 72
An adaptation to rhetoric/technical communication 81
CHAPTER FOUR: CONTEMPORARY CONNECTIONS 86
A shared office humor culture 89
Collection of office-humor culture documents 90
Rabelaisian images 93
Tempered Rabelaisian images 94
Textual, observable interruptions 100
Textual, "in the spirit" interruptions 108
Interpretive interruptions 109
Technical writing class example - interpretations from a
"serious" perspective 112
Technical writing class example -- interpretations from a
"humor" perspective 119
Discussion and implications for technical communicators 126
NOTES 140
WORKS CITED 153
V
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1: An inside panel (top section) of an AT&T Quick Reference
Guide (About) 6
Figure 2: Cover ceirtoon on a proposal for Internet training
{Proposal) 7
Figure 3: "Reproduction is fun" ofBLce humor text 95
Figure 4: Elimination and male/female typology 96
Figure 5: Reproduction and productivity connection in the humor 97
Figure 6: Elimination and employee-employer relationships 98
Figure 7: Computer as the thief 101
Figure 8: A duck's frustration 102
Figure 9: A duck's frustration and a computer user's password 104
Figure 10: Skeletal remains office humor and a user's slow
response time 106
Figure 11: Seimple caricatures from a lawn guide {Six) 137
VI
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1: Issues spoofed in humor culture texts 99