Semantic Ambiguity and Meaning

      I trust that your day today on this Friday the 13th is going well and that tomorrow, a more promising day, will be enriched by love, both getting and giving. . . .

In today’s “blog” posting,  I thought it appropriate to deal with a topic the achievement of one kind of which is often met with groans or other expressions of dismay.

Since “semantic ambiguity” is often the consequence of an accidental use of the English language,  maybe groans are an appropriate response.  However,  there are many of us who relish such a happenstance and even perhaps go deliberately out of the way to create semantic ambiguity in the way of a “pun” or a play on words.

Here are a couple of results of accidental ambiguity, caused by users perhaps who were not as fully literate (in orthography or culture) as might be desired:

(1)  Seen over a number of years on a sign on a highway near Gaffney, SC,  advertising a roadside motel:  “Quite Comfortable Rooms.”  And so we either laugh with relief that it wasn’t our mistake after all,  or,  alternatively,  we might sneer a bit derisively because we weren’t the poor boob of a sign painter who committed this faux pas.  (Wouldn’t we rather sleep in really comfortable rooms, quiet ones even?)

(2)  In announcing upcoming auditions for a play by a famed Norwegian author,  a flyer was sent out a number of years ago urging aspiring actors to come at a specified time and place to try out for a role in

“A Doll’s House”
by Henry Gibson

This was a situation,  I suppose, where the ear was less reliable than the eye might have been.

When one puns,  of course, the motive of deliberate ambiguity is paramount.  We expect our listeners (puns usually don’t come off as well in print or written form) to understand and appreciate the display of a clever wit that the punner wishes to have recognized.   Here are a couple of my favorites that you probably already have heard:

(1)  The patient comes into the doctor’s examination to complain about some troubling dreams that keep him awake.   Doctor:  “It will help if you can describe these dreams.”   Patient:   “Well, last night I dreamt I was a tepee.  The night before I dreamt I was a wigwam.”   Doctor:  “You are too tense.”  (If you have to explain a pun,  it loses its impact.)

(2)  A three-legged dog comes into a saloon.  It acts up by barking at the patrons,  cornering timid ones, and threatening to bite.  The Sheriff is called.  He manages to corner the dog, and asks,  “What is the matter with you?  Why are you causing such a ruckus?”  Dog:  “I’m looking for the guy who shot my paw.”

‘Nuff said.  Comments and better stories welcome!  I will post another entry soon about some other interesting  situations where “semantic ambiguity” may affect the integrity of meaning and thus may call for redaction–or maybe even sedation.

RJR

Advertisements