JUST FOR FUN

Abstract

This section is by far the most extensive in the collection. Comprising eleven subsections it covers the full range of wordplay, rhymes, and jokes which children use simply for their own entertainment. It reveals an astonishingly diverse range of forms which display the extraordinary ability and versatility that young people have in using language creatively for humorous effect. Rhymes involving wordplay may depend, for example, on punning, alliteration, onomatopoeia, or mild “daring”. Unusual or repetitive sounds, metaphor, imagery, and rhyme are all factors which may appeal. In educational terms, tongue twisters and riddles, both of which are popular, aid verbal dexterity and linguistic interpretation skills, while jokes, rhymes, and stories provide avenues for the humorous use of language. At the time the collection was made, there was a much greater exchange of verbal lore, especially of the entertainment kind, between boys and girls than there was in the days of segregated playgrounds.