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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (238353)	7/31/2007 1:18:13 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I've taught non-native speakers, and that's just the kind of thing they might miss. I'm not kidding. You have to understand a lot about English to understand why words do not mean what they read on their face. In fact, I've taught native English speakers who wouldn't get that. They weren't stupid people, they were simply not adequately versed in satire and humor. The whole point of the onion is to take very high sounding language- news speak, if you will- and make it sound authentic, but "off" enough that "we" will get it. Too close to truth and it isn't funny, too far from truth and it's not a joke either. I don't think you realize how finely calibrated humor is to the audience- and the onion's audience is literate and informed.