Rhetorical Devices in Dialogues of The Big Bang Theory
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Sino-US English Teaching, ISSN 1539-8072
June 2012, Vol. 9, No. 6, 1220-1229
D DAVID PUBLISHING
Rhetorical Devices in Dialogues of The Big Bang Theory*
YIN Zhu-hui, YUN Miao
Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing, China
This paper analyzes the effect of rhetorical devices, such as irony, sarcasm, parody, hyperbole, pun, antonomasia,
etc., in dialogues of the American TV series The Big Bang Theory (2007) with an aim to help improve English
learners’ awareness and appreciation of rhetorical means in English-based literary works. Instances are cited with
the use of such rhetoric means in the dialogue transcriptions. It is discovered that integrated use of a variety of
rhetorical devices is a significant means for vivid and impressive characterization in literature. Such an analysis is a
rewarding journey on either an academic or entertainment basis, and a process of discovery and learning that may
particularly be well-received with EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners.
Keywords: rhetorical devices, dialogues, The Big Bang Theory
Introduction
Rhetorical devices are used frequently in daily communication for the sake of effective speaking, writing,
and the art of persuasion. Take irony for instance. Statistics suggest that in popular TV talk shows, there are four
ironies every half an hour. So if one watches TV two hours a day, he/she shall enjoy the effect of 5,800 ironies a
year. And in British and American literary works, there are one irony every four pages (ZENG, 2006). Therefore
if the uses of all rhetorical devices are counted, that will be an amazingly astronomical figure.
English learners need an awareness and appreciation of rhetorical means in many English-based literary
works. For instance, English sitcoms could be a good audio-visual resource for English learning. Ever since the
American sitcom Growing Pains (1985) brought typical American family’s humor to millions of Chinese
audiences 20 years ago, American TV series have already become part of English learners’ life. More and more
students believe that American dramas have a positive effect on learning English. And many English learners
improve their English skills by watching the American sitcom Friends (1994), which is regarded as a classic
English-learning textbook. And nowadays The Big Bang Theory (2007) becomes one of the key words on
campus, which, instead of portraying ordinary people in daily life as is the case in Friends, moves the
background to a more academic environment, CIT (California Institute of Technology)—to present a group of
science geniuses’ hilarious stories. In this sitcom, the dialogs are full of jargons and rhetorical devices, unfolding
the geeks’ unique language style before spectators’ eyes.
However, the authentic English proves a lot of obstacles for the non-native English audience and EFL
*
The present paper is sponsored by PHR (Project for Human Resources) (IHLB201008436), the Funding Project for Academic
Human Resources Development in Institutions of Higher Learning Under the Jurisdiction of Beijing Municipality.
YIN Zhu-hui, lecturer at School of Foreign Studies, Beijing Information Science and Technology University.
YUN Miao, graduate, Beijing Information Science and Technology University.RHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY 1221
(English as a Foreign Language) learners, which prevents them from well understanding and appreciating the
humor in such TV series. This paper aims at an appreciation of key rhetorical devices in dialogues of The Big
Bang Theory to help English learners improve their linguistic competence, getting educated while entertained.
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom produced by CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System),
premiering on September 24, 2007. In terms of language, The Big Bang Theory scripts prove to be a masterpiece
play on words to create humor and fun, with mystic science terminology, ingenious use of rhetorical devices, and
individualistic expressions. This paper will focus on the linguistic charm of the sitcom by analyzing its use of
rhetorical devices in the dialogues of major characters introduced in the following.
Most characters in The Big Bang Theory are science geeks and nerds in the context of CIT, e.g., Sheldon,
who knows everything about Quantum Physics but nothing of interpersonal communication. His language
typically features rhetorical devices such as irony and sarcasm, though he never deliberately cares to polish his
expressions. Leonard Hofstadter, a Ph.D. physicist with an IQ (Intelligence Quotient) of 173, is a colleague and
friend of Sheldon but is much more humanized in both language and social communication. He speaks in
basically audience-understandable language to a humorous effect. Penny, a waitress and beauty, lives across the
hall from Sheldon and Leonard. She has a movie-star dream unfulfilled. In terms of language, she serves exactly
as a contrast to that of Sheldon’s regarding content, style, and choice of diction. Howard Wolowitz is also a
science geek, a potential member of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) space
exploring team. He is fond of flirtation and always boasts of courting girls in six languages. Actually his
courting language, featuring hyperbole, always disgusts ladies like Penny.
Rhetorical Devices
In daily conversations rhetorical devices are unconsciously used for certain effects. In sitcoms, rhetorical
devices also play a vital role. Restricted by the particular setting, most humorous effects or punchlines could only
be displayed by designed linguistic performance rather than body languages. Therefore, it is essential to have a
good knowledge in rhetorical devices to understand the stories like native speakers.
Rhetoric is defined variously. HU (2002) regarded rhetoric as the art of effective communication in
speaking and writing. In Longman Advanced American Dictionary (Longman, 2007, p. 1756), it is defined as the
art of speaking or writing to persuade or influence people. And the function of rhetoric is to express ideas and
communicate effectively in order to secure a desired result (TAN & LI, 2006, p. 4).
There are numerous types of rhetorical devices. Those closely related to the present study are briefly
introduced herein illustrating different kinds of rhetoric means. For instance, irony, a figure of speech that
achieves emphasis by saying the opposite of what is meant, the intended meaning of the words being the opposite
of their usual sense (Haverkate, 1990). It is frequently used by men of letters, e.g., by Charles Dickens in “What
a noble illustration of the tender laws of his favored country!—they let the paupers go to sleep!”. And a stronger
form of irony is sarcasm, which attacks in a taunting and bitter manner with the aim to disparage, ridicule, and
wound the feelings of the subject attacked (Kreuz & Glucksberg, 1989), e.g., “I am not young enough to know
everything” by Oscar Wilde.1222 RHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY
Most frequently adopted rhetorical devices involve those like simile, metaphor, pun, hyperbole, and so on.
For instance, the proverb “A word and a stone let go cannot be recalled” reveals the art of simile, an explicit
comparison between two unlike elements (WANG, Y. ZHANG, & D. Y. ZHANG, 2006). While Francis
Bacon’s “Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested” implies such
a comparison by using metaphor. And hyperbole could be easily recognized in such a stanza by Robert Burns,
“And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till the seas gang dry, O I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life
shall run”, with deliberate use of exaggeration to achieve emphasis, not intended to be understood literally (LI,
2004). As for pun, it is also very popularly used and pleasantly appreciated for the exploit of multiple meanings
of similar-sounding words as in “We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately” by Benjamin
Franklin. Most language learners may feel quite familiar with such devices.
However, there are a good number of other rhetorical means not so often employed and recognized by
EFL learners such as antonomasia, parody, allusion, anticlimax, understatement, and so forth. Antonomasia, is
the use of a proper name to represent a member of a class. For example, “I’m a myth. I’m Beowulf. I’m Grendel
(Karl Rove).” And parody (LV, 2003) is an imitation of style traits of an author in order to get ludicrous effect,
as is displayed in “to lie or not to lie—the doctor’s dilemma” in Hamlet (2005) by William Shakespeare. As for
allusion, it might be one of the most elusive rhetorical devices for many EFL learners for it is a direct or
indirect reference usually not detailed in depth by the user to such a source as a place, event, literary work, myth,
or work of art. For instance, “The killer wore a mark of Cain as he stalked his brother” refers to the Bible story
Cain and Abel, of which many EFL learners could hardly make sense. Neither are rhetorical devices like
understatement/anticlimax, the opposite of hyperbole/climax (both of definition and popularity among EFL
learners) sufficiently greeted. Therefore the use of the former in “The face wasn’t a bad one; it had what they
called charm” by John Galsworthy, or the latter in “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in
possession of a fortune must be in want of a wife” by Jane Austen hardly gets across to the EFL readers. Hence
the significance of studying rhetorical means in literary works.
Rhetorical Devices in The Big Bang Theory
Analyzing the effect of rhetorical devices in The Big Bang Theory is a rewarding journey on either an
academic or entertainment basis. Such a process of discovery and learning may particularly be well-received by
EFL learners.
Irony
Irony is one of the most frequently designed means of humor in dialogues in The Big Bang Theory.
Instances from S2E13 (episode 13 of season 2; sic passim) and S3E5 are cited and deciphered.
Kripke: Hey, Hofstadter.
Sheldon: Hey, Kripke.
Kripke: Heard about your latest anti-proton decay experiment. 20,000 data runs and no statistically significant results.
Very impressive.
Irony is used when Kripke expressed his taunt to Sheldon by saying “very impressive”. As he said, 20,000
data worked out nothing in Shelton’s experiment, which is obviously a negative result. But the positive-indicatingRHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY 1223
phrase “very impressive” is uttered for the failure, achieving a humiliating effect, which might never fail to
bring forward the punchline.
Howard: So what did you tell her about me? Did you mention the body fat?
Penny: No, I thought that would be a nice surprise for her.
Howard: Good, good.
Penny: I just told her you’re an aerospace engineer, You speak five languages.
Howard: Six if you count klingon.
Leonard: Girls don’t count klingon, Howard. Right?
Penny: Right. Oh. And I told her you have an unhealthy attachment to your mother.
Howard: What?
Penny: I’m kidding.
Leonard: Another delightful surprise for her.
Previously in this dialog, Leonard had a “pinky swear” with Howard that if either of them got a hot
girlfriend, that person would have his girlfriend hook the other guy up with one of her girlfriends. Following
this promise, Penny introduced one of her friends to Howard. This dialog took place on the way to meeting the
girl. The two “surprises” in this dialog are cases of irony. Most girls would think it abnormal for a man to show
off his body fat before their first date, though for smug and creepy Howard, body fat is one of his charming
factors. To the girl to date, the “body fat” is totally a “terror” rather a “nice surprise” indeed. And the
“delightful surprise” actually makes an irony on Howard’s Oedipus complex, possibly surprising but not
delightful at all.
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is another commonly used rhetorical device in dialogues in The Big Bang Theory. Instances from
S1E06 and S2E17 are cited and analyzed.
Leonard: We shouldn’t have to back down.
Sheldon: True. Why don’t you text him that and see if he backs down?
Leonard: No. I’m going to assert my dominance face-to-face.
Sheldon: Face-to-face? Are you going to wait for him to sit down, or are you going to stand on the coffee table?
Previously in this dialog, at the Halloween party, Leonard met Penny’s ex-boyfriend Kurt, a tall, strapping,
and good-looking man, but a little simple-minded. But Leonard, an indoorsy shorter than an ordinary person,
decided to face the physical threat, the romance crisis. So Sheldon made fun of their height differences to scoff
Leonard’s dwarf stature.
Sheldon: I’m hoping once you reap the endorphic rewards of the steady clickety-clack of steel wheels on polished
rails, your sour disposition will abate.
Leonard: Yeah, maybe. Meanwhile back in the 21st century, people are raising their tray tables and putting their
seat-backs in an upright position ’cause it’s time to land in San Francisco.
Sheldon and his friends were going to San Francisco to attend an academic meeting. Sheldon preferred to go
by train rather than air. For him, the clickety-clack of steel wheels on polished rails sounded like music. But
Leonard and other guys just wanted a swift and convenient vehicle—airplane. In this dialog, Leonard compared
19th century noisy train with 21st century swift airplane to satirize Sheldon living in 21st century but suffering
from the 19th century low-technique transportation.1224 RHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY
Simile
Simile could usually be effortlessly recognized by EFL learners. But the use of it still appears insufficient
in their oral or written discourses. Dialogues in The Big Bang Theory offer a great many instances, among
which the following from S1E02 and S3E5 are cited and analyzed. Such an appreciation process could help
enhance EFL learners’ awareness of this technique hence their linguistic competence.
Sheldon: You’re not swelling, Howard.
Howard: No, no, look at my fingers. They’re like Vienna sausages.
Howard had peanut allergies and he was afraid he had had some peanuts unawarely. So he, in a basic simile
pattern of “A is like B”, expressed his concern that his fingers were swelling.
Howard: Leonard, pact is a pact. You have to get Penny to fix me up.
Leonard: It’s not that simple. What am I supposed to say? “Penny, do you have any friend you’d like to never hear
from again?”
Howard: Come on, I’m smart. I have a good job and I have only three percent body fat.
Rajesh: It’s true. I’ve seen him at the beach. He’s like a human chicken wing.
It was based on Howard and Leonard’s “pinky swear” again. Howard was very proud of his low body fat
though no one cared actually. And Rajesh made fun of his skinny stature with a simile. Low-fat chicken wing
was the effective punchline.
Metaphor
Like simile, metaphor is usually recognized with ease by most EFL learners. But awareness of using this
device still needs to be strengthened. Dialogues from S1E01 and S3E01 in The Big Bang Theory are analyzed
for EFL learners’ appreciation.
Leonard: I have a board. If you like boards, this is my board.
Penny: Holy smokes!
Sheldon: If by “holy smokes” you mean a derivative restatement of the kind of stuff you can find scribbled on the
wall of any men’s room at MIT, sure.
Leonard: What?
Sheldon: Come on. Who hasn’t seen this differential below “Here I sit, broken-hearted”?
Sheldon was being sort of a meanie when he satirized Leonard with a metaphor. Actually Leonard did not
finish the differential in his research and probably he could not go on for the time being. So Sheldon portrayed
Leonard, with the failure in work, as a “broken-hearted” failure of love.
Leonard: I didn’t like the look of the guy that she was with.
Howard: Because he looks better than you?
Leonard: Yeah. He was kind of dreamy.
Sheldon: Well, at least now you can retrieve the black box from the twisted, smothering wreckage that was once
your fantasy of dating her and analyze the data so that you don’t crash into geek mountain.
Sheldon exerted his inborn meanness to strike Leonard’s daydream, this time by a big block of metaphor.
The noumenon of “smothering wreckage” refers to Leonard’s memory about Penny; the noumenon of “black
box” refers to the romance with Penny in the past few days before they broke up; “data analyzing” means to
figure out what lead to the failure, and “geek mountain” the present miserable situation.RHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY 1225
Antonomasia
Antonomasia is used rarely and recognized with difficulty for many EFL learners. Two cases from S1E03
in The Big Bang Theory are cited as follows.
Sheldon: What time is your date?
Leonard: 6:30
Sheldon: Perfect. That gives you two hours and 15 minutes for that dense molecular cloud of aromas to dissipate.
Leonard: Is it too much?
Sheldon: Not if you’re a rugby team.
Leonard panicked before his first date with Penny and he was sweating a lot. Sheldon ridiculed Leonard’s
sweat stains as a “dense molecular cloud”, a proper technical term in Sheldon’s field of study.
Leonard: You’re right. Alcohol, poor judgment—it could go well.
Sheldon: Of course there is the other possibility, that this date kicks off a rather unpleasant six months of the two of
you passing awkwardly in the hall, until one of you breaks down and moves to another zip code.
The proper name “zip code” means a “state” in America in this context. Sheldon was encouraging Leonard
to his first date with Penny but screwed it up as usual. He wanted to say something nice but his precise logic
pulled out a desperate feasibility in addition to the favorable “possibility” of “it could go well” by the effect of
alcohol, which surely stroke Leonard a lot.
Allusion
It takes plenty of cultural information and semantic knowledge for EFL learners to identify the use of an
allusion; instances of which are cited from S1E05 and S2E06 for the sake of analysis and appreciation.
Leonard: Leslie, this is Penny. She lives across the hall from Sheldon and me.
Howard: And walks in quiet beauty like the night.
Penny: Howard, I’ve asked you not to do that.
Howard flattered Penny by referring to Byron’s poem “She walks in Beauty with a creepy face”, which
caused Penny’s gooseflesh all over. What Howard quoted was the first sentence of the poem, originally being
“She walks in beauty, like the night. Of cloudless climes and starry skies”.
Romana: Well, it doesn’t have to be coffee. How about dinner?
Sheldon: I do eat dinner.
Romana: Great. I know a terrific little Italian place.
Sheldon: I never eat in strange restaurants. One runs the risk of non-standard cutlery.
Romana: Excuse me?
Leonard: Sheldon lives in fear of the three-tined fork.
Sheldon: Three tines is not a fork. Three tines is a trident. Forks are for eating, tridents are for ruling the seven seas.
Romana, a girl attracted to Sheldon’s high IQ, invited him to dinner. But Sheldon would not eat in any
strange restaurant, because there were so many new things like uncontrollable variables. In this example, he
worried about the dining fork’s hygiene. But when Leonard explained this to Romana, he made the mistake of
calling the fork three-tined, which as usual, stirred Sheldon’s professional explanation: Three tines is not a fork
but a trident; forks are for eating, while tridents are for ruling the seven seas. In terms of rhetorical devices,
Sheldon used an allusion where Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea ruling the seven seas, was referred to, trident1226 RHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY
being the symbol of Poseidon.
Parody
Parody is an amusing imitation of classic or popular expressions. Instances of this device are cited from
S2E22 and S1E07 in The Big Bang Theory with an aim to both inform and entertain EFL learners.
Howard: All right, this is an exact duplicate of the Wolowitz Zero-Gravity Human Waste Disposal System as
deployed on the International Space Station (ISS).
Rajesh: Don’t you mean the Wolowitz Zero-Gravity Human Waste Distribution System?
This is Rajesh’s mocking at Howard by rewriting Wolowitz Zero-Gravity Human Waste Disposal System.
The mere imitation of “disposal” by “distribution” changed the whole meaning, which just honestly revealed the
situation: This system would “distribute the waste into the ISS” instead of “disposing the waste in the ISS”.
Leonard: Oh, hey, Penny. Come on in.
Penny: Hey, guys.
Howard: See a Penny, pick her up, and all the day you’ll have good luck.
Penny: No, you won’t.
Howard enjoyed flattering Penny by freaky disgusting words. And of course Penny was sick of that. In this
dialog Howard parodied a chant “See a pin and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. See a pin and let it
lay, bad luck you’ll have all the day” by changing the original word pin to Penny to cotton up to Penny.
Hyperbole
Most EFL learners could figure out hyperbole as a rhetorical means in either written or oral forms. Therefore
the following instances from S2E15, S2E20, and S3E01 in The Big Bang Theory aim to add to such a capability.
Leonard: You got alcohol?
Penny: Your mom still here?
Leonard: Yep.
Penny: Come on in. Wait, wait, she’s not gonna come here looking for you, is she?
Leonard: Relax. She took Sheldon to the hospital to get a brain scan.
Penny: Oh, my God. What happened?
Leonard: Nothing. Mother likes looking at brains and Sheldon likes getting his brain scanned.
Penny: Geez, what a fun couple.
Leonard: She’s only been here a day and a half and I’m seriously considering alcoholism as a new career path.
Leonard’s mom was exactly the female version of Sheldon, which could drive Leonard crazy. She was a
psychiatrist and her primary field of study was neuroscience. Habitually she gave an analysis of Penny’s
childhood psychological shadow as they ascended the stairs and this ended up with Penny crying out. Such
events led to Leonard’s hyperbole: Only a day and a half with his mom could make him an alcoholic, illustrating
how inhuman and hard it was to get along with her.
Leonard: It was the only way to make him happy.
Penny: Well, why’d you have to make him happy?
Leonard: Because when he wasn’t happy, we wanted to kill him. There was even a plan. We were going to throw his
kindle outside, and when he went to get it, lock the door and let him freeze to death.
Sheldon: That seems like a bit of an overreaction.
Leonard: No, the overreaction was the plan to tie your limbs to four different sled dog teams and yell, “Mush”.RHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY 1227
This happened after Sheldon led his fellows to expedition to the magnetic North Pole. Sheldon was
informed that his data had been tampered with to confirm his theory, which the authentic data failed to certify.
And it was Sheldon’s best friend Leonard who came up with such a saying. Then Sheldon interrogated Leonard,
as relentlessly as driving all the fellows insane. So the hyperbole herein comedically described how desperately
they wanted to explore every avenue to kill Shelton.
Pun
Cases of pun are cited from S1E03 and S2E22. Making sense of the similar-sounding words in a pun
involves not as much effort as using them actually.
Leonard: Yeah, no, I just… I got your mail again. Here.
Penny: Thank you. I’ve got to talk to that mailman.
Leonard: Oh, no, that’s probably not such a good idea. You know, civil servants have a documented propensity to,
you know, snap, so…
Penny: Okay. Well, thank you again.
Leonard: No problem. Bye. Oh, and bye… bro.
Sheldon: Penny for your thoughts.
Leonard was upset and stammered when he saw Penny with another guy. Actually Leonard had taken
Penny’s mail accidentally and he was planning to give it back so as to have an excuse to talk to her. While he
was back, Sheldon asked him what he was thinking about Penny, with “penny” as a pun word. The original
proverb is “a penny for your thoughts” literally meaning “Tell me your idea about it, you’ll get a penny”. Of
course when this proverb first appeared in Britain, a penny was worth a lot. So to pay a penny for some
information was honestly a big price at that time.
Howard: Here’s an approximation of the spare parts available on the Space Station. We gotta find a way, using
nothing but this, to reinforce this so the waste material avoids the spinning turbine.
Rajesh: You mean so it doesn’t hit the fan?
“Fan” in this context is an impressive pun. It means a part of a spinning turbine or “fan” as is used in the
American slang “hit the fan” or “the shit hit the fan” meaning to cause a disaster and face serious consequences.
Actually in the setting of this episode, the real shit was to hit the real fan leading to a real disaster.
Understatement
Instances of this rhetorical device are quoted from S2E22 and S3E01 in the followings. The humorous
effect of understatement could match its counterpart, hyperbole.
Howard: Guys, we have a code red.
Sheldon: “Code Red” the hospital emergency alert, the computer worm, or the cherry-flavored soft drink from the
makers of Mountain Dew?
Howard: Look, I was going over the schematics on my zero-G toilet, and I made a teeny tiny mistake on the
specifications for the diverter valve.
Leonard: How teeny tiny?
Howard: It’s gonna fail after about ten flushes. But the mission is for six months.
In this dialog, when Howard said he made a “teeny tiny mistake”, it actually was a tremendous problem. He
just understated the crisis. For the high-tech toilet that Howard was designing was supposed to work for the
mission lasting six month when it kept failing even after 10 flushes. It was now like a jack-in-the-box. No one1228 RHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY
knew exactly when, but just at some point, something worse than a puppet was going to pop out of that box.
Sheldon: You see? People have been pointing and laughing at me all morning.
Kripke: That’s not true. People have been pointing and laughing at you your whole life.
Sheldon: All right, I’ve had enough. Attention, everyone. I’m Dr. Sheldon Cooper. As many of you in the physics
department might know, my career trajectory has taken a minor detour.
Sheldon: Off a cliff.
Sheldon: My credibility may have been damaged.
Kripke: Completely wrecked.
Sheldon: But I would like to remind you that in science, there’s no such thing as failure. There once was a man who
was referred to his prediction of a cosmological constant as the single “biggest blunder” of his career. That man’s name
was—surprise, surprise—Albert Einstein.
Kripke: Yeah, but research into Dark Energy proved that Einstein’s cosmological constant was actually right all
along, so you’re still—surprise, surprise—a loser.
Previously in this dialog, Sheldon was unaware that his “successful” research data were phony and he
believed he would win the Nobel Prize. When the fact was revealed, however, he had already sent e-mails to
everyone in his school boasting of the Nobel-prize-winning prospect. In this instance, there were plenty of
understatements in what Sheldon said. But Shelton’s colleague Kripke came especially to humiliate Sheldon and
blew up each one of Shelton’s attempts to lessen the embarrassment.
Anticlimax
The key to understanding anticlimax is to notice the sudden change from something exciting to something
disappointing. Instances of this device are cited from S1E04 and S3E04.
Penny: Oh, my god, this is the best cobbler I’ve ever had.
Sheldon’s mom: It was always Sheldon’s favorite. You know what the secret ingredient is?
Penny: Love?
Sheldon’s mom: Lard.
Sheldon’s mom was a pious Christian, a natural enemy to the high IQ atheist Sheldon. She loved him very
much though she worried about her child-like son. She cooked for him, knowing of his favorite flavor. When
Penny thought her secret ingredient was devoted love for Sheldon, she gave an honest and objective answer, the
fattening lard. Penny certainly would regret having had the delicious “best cobbler”.
Rajesh: I’ve reconsidered your offer to let me work with you.
Sheldon: For me.
Rajesh: Yes, for you. I do, however, have a few conditions. First, at all times, I am to be treated as a colleague and an
equal. Second, my contributions shall be noted in all published material. And third, you are never allowed to lecture me.
On hinduism or my Indian culture.
Sheldon: I’m impressed, Raj. Those are very cogent and reasonable conditions.
Rajesh: Thank you.
Sheldon: I reject them all.
Rajesh: Then you leave me no choice. I accept the job.
Because Rajesh disastrously failed in his research, he could not get work visa renewal and might be kicked
out of America. He desperately sought for employment but in vain. Then Sheldon lent a hand to him. Sheldon
suggested that Rajesh apply to be his assistant. Rajesh put forward three conditions, which Sheldon said heRHETORICAL DEVICES IN DIALOGUES OF THE BIG BANG THEORY 1229
appreciated but rejected totally. This is the first anticlimax. When Rajesh said “You leave me no choice”, the
audience expected he would not take Sheldon’s offer. But he said “I accept the job”. This is the second
anticlimax. These two continuous unexpected results put the punchlines to a climax.
Conclusions
Based on some facetious dialogs from the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory, this paper analyzes the
effect of some important rhetorical devices. It is discovered that comedic effects often result from rhetorical
means in the drama scripts. Such an analysis could help English learners understand and utilize rhetorical
devices. Future researches may take an interdisciplinary view on rhetoric and conduct an integrated analysis
regarding other fields like pragmatics, sociology, and cognitive psychology.
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