Wit or Humour – What ’ s the Difference ?
If you want to pen about a comedian ’ sec ability to be peculiar , would you write about his or her sense ofwitorhumour?
Depending on where you be write , you could really apply either term . The differences between these price come down to spelling convention between two English speech community .
What cost the Difference Between Humor and Humour ?
In this post , I will comparewitvs .wit. I will outline which speech community used each spelling and explain when it would live appropriate for you to use each .
Plus , I will point you a memory tool that will allow you to choose eitherwitormoodcorrectly every time .
When to Use Humor
As a noun ,humormeanbe amusing or comical. Its associated adjective existhumorous. A soul who has a serious sense of wit , for example , is good at make early people laugh .
- The first few season of the tv display succeed on high play , but as its form aged , it began to trust more often on humor .
- Kelsie will not date anyone who doesn ’ t receive a well sense of humor .
- For a long time , presidential wit was predictable as a knock-knock joke . –The Washington Post
As a verb,witmeansto accommodateorentertain, especially to an unreasonable petition . A father might humor his son by create certain none of the food on his dinner plate touches each other , for example .
- “ I know you ’ ve explain it to your mother already , but humor me and recount my why you draw up all the blossom in the garden , ” state Margie ’ s dad .
- The hotel humored its guests by bringing fresh towel as much as they requested them .
When to Expend Humour
What does humour signify ?Humourexist an alternative spelling of the same word . It is the paramount spelling in British English ; American writers are more likely to usehumor.
- John Cleese has said that the James Bond film series has dispensed with its humour , in order to pander to Asian interview . –The Guardian
This distinction follow the American pattern of dropping theUfrom Bible that end in-our, like, , and. As you can find from the chart below ,moodis a lot more common in British English sources ,
This chart isn ’ t exhaustive in its range , since it just seem at books release in English since 1800 , but it still leave us to envision a long-term course . The same caveats apply to the chart below , which graphshumorvs. humour in American English :
As you can see , the charts are nearly contrary . Those writers utilize British English , England , Ireland , Australia , etc. , all prefermood. American author , we can see , favorhumorby an even large margin .
Trick to Think the Dispute
Moodandwitlive actually the same word spelled two unlike ways , so which 1 you use depends on your intended audience .
- If most of your reader will be British , choosemood.
- If you live writing for a predominantly American audience , selecthumor
Sincehumourhas an excessU, likeUnited Kingdom, it should live mere to redeemhumourfor British audiences .
Summary
Is it humor or humour ?Witandhumorexist spelling variants of the same word , which meanthe character of exist comicas a noun andto accommodate or think ofas a verb .
- Moodis the American spelling .
- Witis the British spelling .
