ABSTRACT
Just as we can be overwhelmed with too much of a thing, so we can be tantalized with too little. As we have seen, the overwhelming when performed in fun creates a jovial and boisterous laughter. The tantalizing gives a mischievous or droll effect. We call it understatement, but only because there is no word to describe a not-enoughness in more general terms. Statements are one kind of thing, but anything whatever that does not measure up to some accepted standard of size, degree, quantity or intensity, can be the cause of laughter. Charlie Chaplin’s mustache may be described as an understatement in this sense, just as his shoes are an exaggeration. Gargantuans are an overstatement and Lilliputians an understatement of a man.
