Question by : Difference between senses of humor?
What does it mean to have a “wry” sense of humor and how does that differ from a “dry” sense of humor?
Thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by Mr. Riz
Well,a quick answer would seem to be that "dry humor" has been around a lot longer than "wry humor." The Old English Dictionary shows uses of "dry" with jests, etc. going back to the 16th century. The first citation they give that links "dry" and "humor" is from 1864. But they might not have been concerned to show the earliest example of that coupling. They first cite "wry sense of humor" from 1928.
But I doubt one of the phrases is really a substitute of the other, even if there's been mutual influence. If you look at all the entries for "dry" and "wry," you start getting the feeling that certain senses of both words have been developing in parallel for a long time. "Dry" could mean something like"unemotional" or "ironic" or "caustic" in the 16th C, and the "oblique" and "unfair" meanings of "wry" in reference to persons and their statements start about the same time.
R
What do you think? Answer below!
Tags:between, Humor, One|Difference, senses
