Humour, irony and mockery

Irony is the last hurdle of a foreign language, because it says the opposite of what it means and nothing marks it. Spanish grades the range carefully: la guasa is good-natured, la retranca works by hint, la sorna has a point on it, la pulla is aimed at somebody, and la pluma mordaz wounds with style. The word to carry away is el público, in la complicidad con el público. One Spanish word holds what English keeps in two: « the public », everybody in general, and « the audience », the particular people sitting in the room tonight. A comedian works on the second and a government on the first, and el público does not say which — in Spanish the setting decides, in English the word does.