Most humor is based on incongruence. Twain here produced an
incongruence between tone and content.Twain often used elevated
language in contrast to subject. The other comic device at work here
is "qualifying" humor. The qualifier is the last line "if the woman
lacks in attractiveness."


--- In southerncomedy@yahoogroups.com, "edwardhrst" <edward@s...> wrote:
>
> By temperament, which is the real law of God, many men are goats and
> can't help committing adultery when they get a chance; whereas there
> are numbers of men who, by temperament, can keep their purity and let
> an opportunity go by if the woman lacks in attractiveness.
>
> Mark Twain Letters from the Earth
>
> What are the mechanics of this humor?
> Why is it funny?