DISCOURSE HUMOR
Tough language (Aristotle's Ethos) is the language of the novel. It tends to be written in a first-person (I, me, mine, we, us, our) narrative; it is subjective and informal or intimate, and Aristotle would call it (Aristotle’s Ethos). It is the language of the novel. Frederic Henry in Ernest Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms uses tough language.
Sweet language (Aristotle’s Pathos) tends to be written in the second person (you, your); it tends to be subjective and intimate, and sometimes “pathetic.” It is the language of seduction; it is also the language of the advertisement. Aristotle would call it “Pathos.” Walker Gibson calls Sweet language AROMA (Advertising Rhetoric of Madison Avenue). Sweet language is listener-oriented in an attempt to deduce listeners into buying products they don’t want or need. Stuffy language (Aristotle’s Logos) is the language of academe.
Where tough language is I-oriented, and Sweet language is you-oriented, stuffy language is it-oriented. Stuffy language is highly grammatical and highly formal. Infinitives, gerunds, present and past participles, nominative absolutes, perfect, progressive, and passive constructions normally occur only in stuffy language. Because it is so objective and straight forward, it tends to be dull—stuffy.
Comment on the three styles of discourse: Tough (the novel), Sweet (the advertisement), and Stuffy (the language of academe).