ndeed, begins by
denoting a concrete object or a material action; but by degrees the
meaning of the word is refined into an abstract relation or a pure
idea. If, then, the above law holds good here, it should be stated as
follows: "A comic effect is obtained whenever we pretend to take
literally an expression which was used figuratively"; or, "Once our
attention is fixed on the material aspect of a metaphor, the idea
expressed becomes comic."

In the phrase, "Tous les arts sont freres" (all the arts are brothers),
the word "frere" (brother) is used metaphorically to indicate a more or
less striking resemblance. The word is so often used in this way, that
when we hear it we do not think of the concrete, the material
connection implied in every relationship. We should notice it more if
we were told that "Tous les arts sont cousins," for the word "cousin"
is not so often employed in a figurative sense; that is why the word
here already assumes a slight tinge of the comic. But let us go further
still, and suppose that our attention is attracted to the material side
of the metaphor by the choice of a relationship which is incompatible
with the gender of the two words composing the metaphorical expression:
we get a laughable result. Such is the well-known saying, also
attributed to M. Prudhomme, "Tous les arts (masculine) sont soeurs
(feminine)." "He is always running after a joke," was said in
Boufflers' presence regarding a very conceited fellow. Had Boufflers
replied, "He won't catch it," that would have been the beginning of a
witty saying, though nothing more than the beginning, for the word
"catch" is interpreted figuratively almost as often as the word "run";
nor does it compel us more strongly than the latter to materialise the
image of two runners, the one at the heels of the other. In order that
the rejoinder may appear to be a thoroughly witty one, we must borrow
from the language of sport an expression so vivid and concrete that we
cannot refrain from witnessing the race in good earnest. This is what
Boufflers does when he retorts, "I'll back the joke!"

We said that wit often consists in extending the idea of one's
interlocutor to the point of making him express the opposite of what he
thinks and getting him, so to say, entrapt by his own words. We must
now add that this trap is almost always some metaphor or comparison the
concrete aspect of which is turned against him. You may remember the
dialogue between a