Wit, power, and oppositional groups: A case study of “pure talk”

This article describes Pure Talk, a type of witty conversation practiced in China from 200–600 C.E. Pure Talk differs from other uses of wit by oppositional, marginalized groups because its practitioners came from the elite and were not inherently stigmatized. Pure Talk is compared to two contemporary uses of wit by oppositional marginalized groups, African‐Americans and gay men. This comparison is used to support some hypotheses about the advantages and drawbacks of the game of wit and to raise some questions about the values assumed by this communicative strategy, its effects on its practitioners, and the degree to which such wit is truly oppositional.