Historical Linguistics & Stand-Up Comedy
How Knowing Latin & Saxon is a Comedy Advantage (Comedy Mindhacks #67)
Most comedians have heard this rule: End your jokes with hard sounds like K, T, P, etc. The thing is, if you ask the comedian saying that “Why?” about 100% of them won’t be able to give an answer beyond, “I don’t know why; that’s just the rule and, from experience, I know it works.” They know that those sharp consonants punch through a room but can’t really give you a reason why. But as researcher and someone who obsesses over such things, I wanted to know why. So, I kept digging.
About a month ago, I started tracking this backward through comedy history. In THIS ARTICLE, I mentioned, H.L. Mencken, who popularized the hard-consonant idea in his 1936 New Yorker article. And he helped spread the hard-sound dictum through his massive reach in other magazines. But even Mencken didn’t give an explanation why. He just talked about the phenomenon itself. The fact is, it goes back farther than him. Then I found Ward Farnsworth’s works on Classical English Style and Classical English Rhetoric.
Farnsworth’s works are full of great insights. Interestingly, he claims that English speakers are basically bilingual. His thesis is: We have two words for everything, a small, humble word and a big, fancy one. Then he takes it farther. He says Saxon words, which came from Germanic invaders around 450 CE, are short, sharp, and typically one syllable. Here are some examples: back, go, out, kill, get. Latinate words, also called “Romance words” (from “Roman” influence), came from French aristocrats 600 years later. They’re longer, softer, multiple syllables. Think: finally, infuriating, execute, acquire.
After understanding the difference between Romance & Saxon, I realized I had a joke that is structured and works well, at least in part, because it leads with Latin/Romance and ends with Saxon. Here’s my joke: “I just turned 45, so I’m finally at that age where... my back goes out more than I do.” (See it from a live show just below.)
The setup uses a couple Latinate words in the setup: “finally” and “age.” The punchline? Almost entirely Saxon: “back goes out more than I do.”
Here’s the thing: Latinate words create ambiguity. They’re flexible, carrying multiple meanings, what linguists call polyvalence. Because they can be ambiguous, they make your brain work. Saxon words, however, are direct. They often leave no room for interpretation. They clarify instantly.
Farnsworth puts it perfectly: Saxon words take a “shorter path to the heart.” They’re visceral and picturable. Latinate words require “a minor moment of translation” before they appear in your mind’s eye. In comedy terms: the setup makes your brain work, and the punchline bypasses thinking entirely. That’s why polysyllabic punchlines often slow down the laugh.
Many comedians stumble into this pattern without understanding the mechanism. They just hear or know “K-sounds are funny.” But naming it changes everything. Now, I understand the history and linguistics behind what I’m doing and, because of that, I can access it with greater ease and sophistication. I have language to articulate why I’m making specific word choices. I’m not just following comedy lore. I’m weaponizing 1,500 years of linguistic evolution.
Some comedians might hear this and push back, saying rules like this feel too rigid. Comedians want freedom. I get it. But here’s my question: Do you want to be free or have better laughs? In my view, understanding history and language structure doesn’t limit you. This is a targeting system. It actually makes you more accurate. As Farnsworth notes, Churchill used 32 Saxon words in a row in his “We shall fight” speech.
Lincoln mastered a plain, Saxon-heavy style through immersion in the Bible and Shakespeare. The King James Bible uses entire passages of one-syllable words such as: “Let there be light.” That’s one of the most memorable sentences in all of English! What if your jokes went down in history as that memorable? Using this strategy, I think, gives them a better chance at doing so. In the end, a knowledge of linguistics, especially historical linguistics, can be a great advantage. So, study.
JOKE WRITING COURSE: By the way, if you have any interest at all in learning about your persona, how to write some jokes, or doing stand-up comedy, check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE.