Humor differs from wit by adding love to cleverness

Evidence

What is humor? Thackery thought it was “a mixture of love and wit.” Wit alone is often biting and unkind. Humor, especially that of the turn of phrase, or the oddity of conceit, brings a contented smile. — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 434

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gives interpreters a working definition distinguishing humane humor from biting wit, useful for calibrating interpretive tone.
• SHARE: The Thackeray ‘mix of love and wit’ definition is a neat formulation worth sending to anyone teaching writing or interpretation.
• XREF: connects to: Interpreters must write with lightness but never with levity — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 438; Serious warnings can still carry a light touch without any humor — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 440