form-versus-content humour

{{Short description|Humour category}}

{{Refimprove|date=July 2015}}

Form-versus-content humour is a type of humour in an incongruity between a statement's content and the way it is communicated makes it humorous. It is one of the basic techniques of tragicomic humour.{{cite book |title=How to Laugh Your Way Through Life: A Psychoanalyst's Advice |first=Paul |last=Marcus |publisher=Karnac Books |year=2013}} Form-versus-content humour can be delivered, for example, by presenting a message in a form that inherently defeats the ostensible purpose of the message, or in a form that is fundamentally incapable of carrying the important part of the message. The Jargon File gives an example of this type of humor: a red index card with GREEN written on it.{{cite web |url=http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/h/hackerhumor.html |title=hacker humor |website=The Jargon File, version 4.4.8 |editor=Eric S. Raymond |editor-link=Eric S. Raymond |date=1 October 2004 |accessdate=16 July 2015}}