Infotainment or ‘Infotamination’? Some Remarks on Target Audience Reception of Linguistic Humour in TV News Headlines

Abstract

Linguistic humour, the subject of examination in the paper, is defined broadly as a blanket term for multiple forms of toying with words, such as (homonymic, homophonic, homographic and paronymic) puns, typographical, interlingual and allusive play, pseudomorphs, etc., including their derivatives. While distinct from one another, they all exploit the interface between the formal and semantic planes of language atypically, pivoting on the interplay between like/same signifiers and unlike signifieds. The study sets out to investigate linguistic humour in TV news headlines derived from Fakty, a programme screened on TVN, one of Polish commercial stations. It is based on a survey carried out for the dual purpose of testing the accessibility of the phenomenon to general public (consisting of three distinctive respondent categories) and canvassing its views on the idea of incorporating wordplay into headlines. The research demonstrates that the disentangling of language-based humour presents the toughest challenge to subjects with primary education never gainfully employed and only occasional problems to students, whereas respondents with secondary education find slightly over one-third of it inaccessible, constituting the in-between category. Importantly, these findings are not automatically translatable into the overall response to headline humour. Whereas difficulty in understanding its mechanisms may account for considerable reluctance to the phenomenon on the part of the two less educated informant groups, it fails to explain lack of unbridled enthusiasm about linguistic humour among students, which is apparently dampened by its other shortcomings, also highlighted in the study. Finally, these results raise a wider issue concerning the extent to which headline humour on the one hand entertains the audience by making news more appealing (infotainment), which it is most likely designed to do, and on the other discourages the viewership, unnecessarily contaminating broadcast information (‘infotamination’).

Appendices

• The headlines were presented to the respondents in a slightly wider context (here narrowed for reasons of space; cf. footnote 9) and, understandably, without the elucidation of meanings at play (added for clarity’s sake).

• The technicalities of recording examples are as follows: ‘R’ stands for ‘Reference’ which provides a contextual background to language play, ‘c’ is short for ‘(wordplay meaning) component’ (a slightly remodelled version of Delabastita's (1993) method of elucidating meanings in wordplay), the boldface marks the components at play (unless entire headlines are involved), whereas the italic typeface, aside from the standard applications, is used for titles, proper names, single words housing even smaller humour-generating items (e.g. ś FIAT in headline XVI) and the parenthesised excerpts of headlines after c1 and c2.

• The topicality of the events the headlines refer to is restricted to the data collection period (between 30 June, 2007 and 30 March, 2008).

The appended survey form is a translated version of the Polish original.

Appendix I: Chronologically Arranged Wordplay-Based Headlines Submitted to Scrutiny in the Empirical Study

• The headlines were presented to the respondents in a slightly wider context (here narrowed for reasons of space; cf. footnote 9) and, understandably, without the elucidation of meanings at play (added for clarity’s sake).

• The technicalities of recording examples are as follows: ‘R’ stands for ‘Reference’ which provides a contextual background to language play, ‘c’ is short for ‘(wordplay meaning) component’ (a slightly remodelled version of Delabastita's (1993) method of elucidating meanings in wordplay), the boldface marks the components at play (unless entire headlines are involved), whereas the italic typeface, aside from the standard applications, is used for titles, proper names, single words housing even smaller humour-generating items (e.g. ś FIAT in headline XVI) and the parenthesised excerpts of headlines after c1 and c2.

• The topicality of the events the headlines refer to is restricted to the data collection period (between 30 June, 2007 and 30 March, 2008).

• I. Po(d)cięte skrzydła

  (R: Demolition of F-14 Tomcats, the US Navy’s fighter aircrafts, retired from service in 2006)

• c1 (pocięte skrzydła) = cut (past participle) wings (lit.)

• c2 (podcięte skrzydła) = clipped (past participle) wings (fig.) (derivative form of to clip somebody’s wings ‘to restrict someone’s freedom, to discourage someone’)

• II. Monodram(at)

  (R: Fruitless talks between the Minister of Health, Zbigniew Religa, and protesting healthcare unionists which, rather than encouraging a wider debate, evolve rapidly into monologues of each party)

• c1 (monodram (at)) = monodrama, i.e. a dramatic piece for a single performer

• c2 (dramat) = drama, turmoil

• III. CO ₂ to nie jeden/(co dwa to nie jeden)

  (R: A group of Greenpeace activists enters the premises of a power plant in Bełchatów and paints an inscription on its smokestack which reads: ‘End to carbon dioxide’.)

• c1 (CO ₂ ) = carbon dioxide

• c2 (co) = as in co dwa to nie jeden (correctly co dwóch to nie jeden), Polish idiom roughly equivalent to English many hands make light work

• IV. Gra w kulki

  (R: Reporter’s tentative suggestion that lucky winners of the national lottery, Lotto, may not actually exist as it is difficult to find compelling evidence for the winnings)

• c1 = informal name of a well-known ball game, here given humorously to Lotto

• c2 = a slightly modified version of a common saying lecieć w kulki ‘to pull somebody’s leg, to deceive somebody’ (colloq.)

• V. Przedmiot po RZĄD ania/(przedmiot po żąd ania)

  (R: Theft of a handbag belonging to minister Zbigniew Wassermann’s wife in a well-guarded governmental holiday resort)

• c1 (poRZĄDania) = misspelt version of the inflected form of pożądanie ‘desire’ based on a homophone (resulting from the substitution of the orthographically correct [ż] with [rz]) and incorporating the word rząd ‘government’

• c2 (pożądania) = inflected form (Gen. sg.) of pożądanie ‘desire’; przedmiot pożądania ‘an object of desire’

• VI. Młody człowiek i ocean/(Staryczłowiek imorze)

  (R: Recovery of a young Russian from the Atlantic Ocean)

• c1 (młody człowiek i ocean) = the young man and the ocean

• c2 (Stary człowiek i morze) = Polish translation of the title of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea

• VII. Persona non Grassa/(persona non grata)

  (R: Protests against the celebration of Günter Grass’ 80th birthday in Gdańsk, Poland)

• c1 (Grassa) = surname Grass with the ending added for a better aural effect

• c2 (grata) = as in persona non grata, a Latin phrase for unacceptable or unwelcome person

• VIII. Myszy i ludzie/(Myszy i ludzie)

  (R: Three scientists who prompted the outbreak of human diseases in mice were awarded the Nobel prize.)

• c1 (myszy; ludzie) = mice; men

• c2 (Myszy i ludzie) = Polish translation of the title of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men

• IX. Eks-misja

  (R: Long awaited and frequently postponed eviction of the rebellious Congregation of Sisters of the Bethany Family (Congregatio Sororum Familiae Betanensis approved by Pope John Paul II in 1992))

• c1 (eksmisja) = eviction

• c2 (eks-misja) = former-mission (lit.)

• X. Auta destrukcja/(autodestrukcja)

  (R: Setting fire to an MP’s (Julia Pitera’s) car, which indicates that her efforts to root out corruption are self-destructive)

• c1 (auta) = inflected form (Gen. sg.) of auto ‘a motor car’; auta destrukcja ‘car destruction’

• c2 (auto-) = (combining form) of or by oneself; autodestrukcja ‘self-destruction’

• XI. Czy leci z nami Misztal?/(Czy leci z nami pilot?)

  (R: Contrary to the official announcement, a former MP Piotr Misztal, for whom an international arrest warrant had been issued, was missing from the plane from Chicago.)

• c1 (Czy leci z nami Misztal) = Is Misztal flying with us? (lit.)

• c2 (Czy leci z nami pilot?) = Polish translation of the title of a 1980 American satirical comedy Airplane!

• XII. Rio Granda /(Rio Grande)

  (R: Public protests against the annual carnival in Rio de Janeiro)

• c1 (granda) = row, brawl; Rio Granda (syntactically erroneous combination, with Granda capitalised solely for playful purposes) ‘a brawl in Rio’

• c2 (Grande) = as in Rio Grande, a geographical name

• XIII. How do you Phil?/(how do you feel)

  (R: State of health of an animal called Phil)

• c1 (Phil) = proper name of an animal

• c2 (feel) = as in how do you feel, an English formula used to ask about physical or emotional state

• XIV. Strefa gazu/(Strefa Gazy)

  (R: Prolongation of a gas contract between Polish government and a Russian mafia boss)

• c1 = gas zone

• c2 = The Gaza Strip

• XV. Eureka!?/(Eureco)

  (R: Ministry of Treasury is trying to reach an agreement with Eureco (a Dutch shareholder in PZU, the largest insurance group in Poland) which seeks compensation from Polish government, whereas the opposition claims the contract with Eureco of 1999 has already expired.)

• c1 (eureka) = humorous exclamation of happiness at finding solution to a problem)

• c2 (Eureco) = name of a Dutch shareholder in PZU, the largest insurance group in Poland

• XVI. Dziwny jest ten ś FIAT/(Dziwny jest ten ś wiat)

  (R: TV commercial for a brand new make of FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino) features touching scenes from Polish recent history.)

• c1 (śFIAT) = corrupted version of homophonous świat ‘world’, resulting from the substitution of a voiced [w] with a voiceless [f] and incorporating the acronym FIAT

• c2 (świat) = world; Dziwny jest ten świat ‘this world is strange’ (the title of Czesław Niemen’s popular song)

• XVII. Praca doktorska

  (R: After being made compulsorily redundant, a physician in one of the hospitals in Białystok falsely accused his superiors of trading in human organs for transplant.)

• c1 = the job of a medical doctor/physician

• c2 = PhD dissertation

• XVIII. SORry, to nie przychodnia/(sorry, to nie przychodnia)

  (R: Bleak prospect of closing the accident and emergency departments in Polish hospitals which are, all too frequently, treated as outpatient clinics)

• c1 (SORry) = misspelt version of an inflected form (Nom. pl.) of SOR, an acronym for Szpitalny Oddział Ratunkowy ‘hospital’s accident and emergency department’; SORry, to nie przychodnia ‘hospital’s accident and emergency departments are not outpatient clinics’

• c2 (sorry) = English word sorry (here used for refusal/disagreement); sorry, to nie przychodnia ‘sorry, this is not an outpatient clinic’

• XIX. Hollyłódzka produkcja/(Hollywoodzka produkcja)

  (R: Polish-British movie co-production Peter and the Wolf (Piotruś i Wilk), for which all animations were made in Łódź, Poland, won an Oscar in 2008 awards.)

• c1 (Hollyłódzka) = nonce word (adjectival hybrid of a portmanteau type between Hollywood and Łódź); Hollyłódzka produkcja ‘Hollywood-like film production made in Łódź’

• c2 (Hollywoodzka) = related to Hollywood; Hollywoodzka produkcja ‘Hollywood film production’

• XX. Sprawy sercowe

  (R: The former President’s, Lech Wałęsa’s, cardiac troubles)

• c1 = cardiac problems

• c2 = affairs of the heart; matters of love life

Appendix II: The Survey

The appended survey form is a translated version of the Polish original.

Question I

Which wordplay-based headline(s) do you find:

• easy to understand (‘+’)

• difficult to understand (but altogether comprehensible (‘+/−’))

• impossible to understand (‘−’)?

(Please put a tick against EACH headline number in the relevant cell.)

	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX	X	XI	XII	XIII	XIV	XV	XVI	XVII	XVIII	XIX	XX
+
+/−
–

Question II