Wit is a form of intelligenthumour—the ability to say or write things that are clever and typically funny.[1] Someonewitty, also known as a wit, is a person skilled at wit, making spontaneous one-line or single-phrase jokes.[1][2] Forms of wit include thequip,repartee, andwisecrack.Dorothy Parker andTom Waits are among the most famous wits of the 20th century.
As in the wit ofDorothy Parker's set, theAlgonquin Round Table, witty remarks may be intentionally cruel (as also in manyepigrams), and perhaps moreingenious than funny.
Aquip is an observation or saying that has some wit but perhaps descends intosarcasm, or otherwise is short of a point. Awitticism also suggests the diminutive.
Repartee is the wit of the quick answer and capping comment: the snappy comeback and neat retort.
Metaphysical poetry as a style was prevalent in the time of English playwrightWilliam Shakespeare, who admonished pretension with the phrase "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit".[3] It may combineword play with conceptual thinking, as a kind of verbal display requiring attention, without intending to be laugh-out-loud funny. Indeed wit in verse can be a thin disguise for more poignant feelings. English poetJohn Donne is a representative of this style.[4]
More generally, one'swits are one's intellectual powers of all types.Native wit—meaning the wits with which one is born—is closely synonymous withcommon sense. Tolive by one's wits is to be anopportunist, but not always of the scrupulous kind.To have one's wits about one is to be alert and capable of quickreasoning. To be at the end of one's wits ("I'm at wits' end") is to be immenselyfrustrated.[citation needed]
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