It is getting more difficult to tell the serious stories from the humor stories in The New Yorker.
For example, which of the following sentences from the November 29 issue is (a) deliberately funny, (b) unconsciously bad, therefore funny, (c) just bad, (d) bad over-earnest giving bad name to bowties:
a) "With stakes of such magnitude, it is wise to weigh carefully the difference between compromise and surrender."
b) "Pigeons rustled in the beams of the Staten Island Ferry terminal as Rebecca Miller, the writer and director, ordered a soft pretzel."
c) ""The singer, Henry Rollins, barks about depression, cops, and other obstacles to teen-age happiness: `Thirsty and miserable, always wanting more.'"
d) "Tank Jones explained that, once Johnson collects his award, they would be gone. `Like a fart in the wind,' he said.
Explain your reasoning, Content counts!
