Why are pessimists more humorous?

Editor's Note: This article comes from the official account of WeChat WeChat, "Man and God * * * points (ID:tonyipaocha)", by Li Gang; 36Kr authorized release.

Three actors in A Dream of Red Mansions

There are three actors in A Dream of Red Mansions. You can guess the first two: Wang Xifeng and Grandma Liu.

But like some of our colleagues, Wang Xifeng only wants to show her ability to tell jokes in the presence of the leader. Grandma Liu's joke is obviously to please everyone, more like a comedian.

Both of them use jokes as tools, and it is Lin Daiyu who really brings her own temperament in the dialogue in the book.

What? Is that the little master who always cries? Isn't Duan Zishou the kind of person who is naturally optimistic?

It is this prejudice that prevents us from being a person with a sense of humor.

Outbreak of segment

Daiyu's temperament was only occasionally domineering in the first half of A Dream of Red Mansions, and it didn't erupt until the second half of the 42nd chapter, and she was promoted as the "king of jokes" in A Dream of Red Mansions.

The thing is this: Grandma Liu came to the Grand View Garden and played the fool. Everyone knows the purpose of her visit, but only Daiyu's summary is the most exquisite, three words: mother locust.

Don't underestimate these three words, you can't say them.

Baochai made an analysis and directly compared the jokes of Daiyu and Wang Xifeng: Wang Xifeng is a senior actor. "If you are on earth, you will be tired of the mouth of Feng Shantou"; But Lin Daiyu directly used these three words to establish her status as the "king of jokes". Why?

Wang Xifeng's jokes are characterized by vulgarity, "I don't know how to read them, but they are all teased by local conditions and customs", but Lin Daiyu uses the words "Spring and Autumn brushwork", "Summarize the vulgar language of local conditions and customs, simplify it by deleting the complex, polish the examples" and "mother locust", which shows all the scenes of yesterday.

This is the most basic quality of Duan Zishou: language talent.

However, this is just a warm-up field.

Next, it's time to get down to business. Xichun was called by the old lady to paint the Grand View Garden, and could not participate in the activities of the poetry club for a period of time. We should discuss how long we should give her a holiday.

Daiyu, the "king of jokes", played again. The following dialogue is worth pondering by all those who want to be a Duan shou. I specially extracted it completely:

(I was discussing before, how long will Xichun paint? )

Daiyu said, "I haven't argued for a year. This garden has only been built for a year. It naturally takes two years to paint now. Do you want to polish ink, dip pen, spread paper, color, and? "

Just talking about this, everyone knew that he was making fun of Xichun, and everyone smiled and asked, "What else?"

Daiyu couldn't help laughing. "It won't take two years to draw slowly like this!"

Hearing this, everyone clapped their hands and laughed.

Let's take a moment to analyze the skills of telling jokes.

Many people fail to tell jokes: good jokes, but why don't people who listen to them find them funny?

A very important reason: the rhythm is not well grasped, and the burden is shaken too early, and others have not understood it; Or the luggage shakes too late, others have guessed.

Dai Yu's first paragraph sounds very long, doesn't it? Close? What happened? What about mulberries? Little beep? Turn over four shakes ",which means you can't tell jokes in a hurry. You should repeat the words in front of you three times, bring the audience's emotions to the peak, then shake off the burden and "laugh" the fruit.

The burden of this passage is that "Cherish Spring is too slow", which is old terrier, so Daiyu first used "It took only one year to make it, but now it took two years to draw it", which is a very abrupt contrast and aroused everyone's interest; Then deliberately slow down the narrative rhythm. "Do you want to grind ink, dip pen, spread paper, color and mix?"

At this point, everyone was about to guess the stalk when Daiyu shook her bag again and said, "It won't take two years."

"Three turns and four shakes" can only be regarded as the basic skills of professional players, and then it is the part that reflects the talent of the stage.

I saw everyone laughing their heads off, but Daiyu got serious and quietly "tied the bag" and asked, "I ask you, do you want to paint this garden alone or do you want to paint us all on it?"

Xichun slowly hooked up and said that she couldn't draw meticulous paintings, which was annoying.

Daiyu began to "clear the way": "Shang Yi, a character, can he be an ant?" (I just asked if I could draw a grasshopper)

Everyone is confused. What does this mean? Daiyu suddenly shook off her baggage: "Other grasshoppers don't draw. It's a pity that yesterday's' mother locust' didn't draw! "

Daiyu killed a comeback and told the story again. This is an advanced skill of Duan Zishou, which Huang calls "callback". How to beat around the bush, how to "call back" back and forth, the temperature is difficult to master.

Seeing that the "laughing" fruit of this stalk was unexpectedly good, Daiyu temporarily added a play: "You draw quickly, I even have the inscription, and it is called" Eating with Grasshoppers ". "

This is the accomplishment of a talented comedian-the ability to improvise.

Many people can write jokes, but they can't speak well; Many people speak skillfully, but the content is poor, just tossing a few words; Daiyu, on the other hand, is a rare "king of both creation and performance".

Having said that, everyone should not doubt the title of "Duan", but why did this sister Lin come to this world to "cry back"?

Segment cultivation

There is an episode in the Harvard Happiness Course about the relationship between humor and happiness, which analyzes what kind of people have the temperament of jokes.

The last section is about "humorous talk", focusing on language talent (the first part of the paragraph).

According to the Harvard Happiness Course, people think jokes are funny because conventional ideas make people live very tired, and good jokes must break normal thinking and release your inner depression, which is the reason why you are happy.

Therefore, the first key to having a sense of humor is to break away from conventional thinking (the second part of paragraph hand).

This time everyone continued to discuss painting, and Baochai began to prepare a list of painting materials. The list is very long, and it is normal at first: "The first combination brushes four, and the second combination brushes four."

As she spoke, something strange began to appear on the list: "Two ounces of ginger and half a catty of sauce?"

Daiyu's reaction was not as fast as usual, and she immediately replied, "A wok and a spatula."

Everyone wondered why "ginger and sauce" were used in painting, but immediately they came into contact with "iron pot and spatula", that is, "segment hand consciousness": always struggling with mediocre ideas and daily dialogue rules.

Then, Daiyu found another stalk in Baochai's list: "Look! Painting is like this again. Here comes the water tank box. He must be confused. He has written his dowry list. "

Dowry is a common joke between sisters in A Dream of Red Mansions, but if it is found in the "list of drawings", it is definitely a "strange brain hole".

Don't talk to others in the same way, you can get 50 points, plus quick response (the third part of the paragraph hand), which reaches the passing score of the paragraph hand.

The next 20 points are given by "read more books" (the fourth part of the paragraph).

When the poetry club was founded, everyone should give themselves an elegant title. Tanchun said that she likes bananas best, so she called herself a "guest under bananas". Daiyu immediately smiled and said, "Take him away quickly and stew the preserved fruit for wine."

This is a high-level joke, and Daiyu explained: "The ancient Ceng Yun' banana leaves covered the deer'. He calls himself a guest under a banana, but he is not a deer? I want to make a deer breast. "

Reading or not is the first watershed for excellent players. If you can't pass this level, you are just a "pistachio" on the wine table.

Being a player with 80 points depends on talent and practice, but from 80 to 100, it is necessary to compete for life experience (the fifth component of a player).

Duan Ziwang's Butterfly Change

Forty-two times is the outbreak of Daiyu's jokes. Before that, she only occasionally told two jokes and was often criticized as vitriolic. What happened?

That's true.

This forty-two chapter is called Wu Henglan's Xie Yan Xiao Yixiang's son Ya Xie Bu Xiangyu. The first half is about the reason why Daiyu treated Baochai: "Daiyu reconciled".

I'm saying, "I want to get angry, but I can't stand it." "Does this work?" I talked about the change of Lin Daiyu's mentality. The general reader thinks that the reason why Lin Daiyu is "miserable" is that she always has a pessimistic foresight of her own destiny, which makes her very sensitive to what others say and do, and more touched by the ups and downs of life. All this is exactly what makes her indispensable.

It's just that "reconciliation between Chai and Dai" makes her feel the goodwill of her competitors, and she is more willing to treat others with this goodwill. Her satirical talent has also changed from vitriolic to mild and harmless, and she has really completed the butterfly transformation of a "joke king".

Duan Zishou's attitude towards life may not be optimistic and positive. Many comedians have severe depression.

Humorous people are used to deconstructing tragic life from an abnormal angle, so that people around them and the audience in front of the screen can temporarily forget the external pressure.

This is also the reason why they can't let go, but they can always bring joy to others.

Appendix: Five Ways to Improve Sense of Humor

The episode of Harvard Happiness Course "Humor and Happiness" also summarizes five ways for ordinary people to "deliberately practice" their sense of humor.

The first method: keep a diary. Recall this day, write down what happened on this day, then play it, transform it and change its direction until you find some humor in it, just like a homemade news talk show.

The purpose of this method is to let the brain develop a mode of "automatically finding and generating life paragraphs".

The second method: observe humorous people. Even if you learn a hundred joke structures, you may not be able to write a good joke, but if you have been observing and imitating those players for a long time, you will naturally have a humorous temperament.

The third method: keep asking yourself two questions: Why am I so humorous? Why don't people think I'm humorous?

This is a very effective psychological suggestion method. While thinking about the word "why", we are constantly exploring our potential. Not only a sense of humor, but any quality you want can be acquired through this kind of psychological suggestion training.

The fourth method: laugh at yourself. Dare to laugh at yourself, dare to expose your scars, and dare to say those negative emotions in a joke.

The fifth method: break the habit pattern. Don't rush to respond to anything, think about whether there are more unexpected and interesting expressions.