Post: #1

I'm not a witty person. I wish I was, obviously, because it's pretty much a social super power. I always assumed that wit was something you are born with, but can wit be learned? If so, how?

Post: #2

I consider what most people call "humorous wit" a teenage / young 20s trait , before real life happens, where people want to belong to a certain group and are constantly seeking attention and approval from others, so they feel the need to one-up the other person.

That shit stops when you become an adult.

Men were not put on this earth to be social butterflies. We were put here to survive and be self-reliant.

If you are referring to wit in the context of the ability to quickly understand a topic and assess the situation, then that's a different thing. That's learned in life by having gone though the motions before or having studied the said topic enough to where you know what you are talking about.

But that's just my take.

Post: #3

Wit is the ability to "think on your feet". It is a skill that can be learned. Take improv (comedy) classes.

Post: #4

LINUX there are alot of very masculine witty/charismatic guys. James Bond is a fictional character but his witt and charisma is a core part of his masculinity

ERJK I may suck at game but I have received literally hundreds of compliments on my wit. The crazy way i learned how to be witty was by rapping. Sounds stupid I know but being able to think of witty comebacks/ jokes and turn a dark or awkward situation funny takes brilliant wordplay.

Take this classic line from Big L. "Ask Beavis i get nothing Butt-head" Simple, and pretty funny to most if you know the show.

Another way I learned to be witty was by learning as many pick up lines, sexual innuendos, one liners, and idioms as I could. This helped me to think fast on the spot and think of funny things to say.

I have a very dry sense of humor pretty much exactly like James Bond so this may not work for you at all.

Post: #5

Take improv , comedy classes and standup.

Post: #6

snappy comebacks are a key part of wit.. hard to master though, just ask George.

Post: #7

(05-26-2018 09:09 PM)LINUX Wrote:  I consider what most people call "humorous wit" a teenage / young 20s trait , before real life happens, where people want to belong to a certain group and are constantly seeking attention and approval from others, so they feel the need to one-up the other person.

That shit stops when you become an adult.

Men were not put on this earth to be social butterflies. We were put here to survive and be self-reliant.

If you are referring to wit in the context of the ability to quickly understand a topic and assess the situation, then that's a different thing. That's learned in life by having gone though the motions before or having studied the said topic enough to where you know what you are talking about.

But that's just my take.

Men weren't put on earth, they evolved on it. Passing on your genes as a man is just as much about mate selection as it is about survival. An integral part of thriving as a human is using complex language abilities to form and maintain friendships and sexual relationships.

Being witty and generally good with words is appealing and stimulating in and of itself which naturally builds social status but it also flexes your good genes and brain power. Now that women have their own money from careers and the government, survival is less of a concern than ever and a way with words including a good wit is more important than ever.

Post: #8

I agree, being humorous and witty with the right sexual dynamics is a great combo.
Why should this stuff stop when you are an adult? It's refreshing to see people with a great sense of humor.

Not sure, how you would learn that. I thought Roosh mentioned watching Seinfeld in one of his articles, or watch some improv comedians to see how they be witty about any subject.
Make sure you aren't seen as a comedian, I had plenty of times that girls thought I was funny, but nothing sexual happened.

Post: #9

Watching is a good starting point but unless you exercise and work on it like a skill, it has little practical use.
Hence involving yourself into improv class or try some standup would boost that.

Post: #10

Personally I think this is something that comes naturally to people. If it doesn't come naturally to you, you would be better working with those things that do. Men that aren't funny, who try to be, struggle more than they otherwise should in my experience. If you have an upbeat personality then people may like you despite your poor attempts at humour, but there's no doubt it hurts how people perceive you socially, and consequently is a turn off to girls.

I lived with a guy years ago, who was a good looking, well built, bright and intensely decent guy - and an extremely accomplished fighter. He had a great base to be successful socially, and with girls. However, he insisted on trying to be funny, and it just wasn't his thing. He made it to quite an advanced age without having had sex. I was able to give him a little guidance, and help him bang a cute girl with massive knockers. One of the biggest things we did was to get him to drop the attempts at humour.

Trying and failing to be funny is socially toxic. It highlights a lack of social calibration and social deftness that would otherwise go unnoticed, or indeed not exist in the case of my friend and I'm sure many others like him. Personally I don't think you can learn it as an adult - it is an ability that is somewhat innate, and then refined over many years, usually as a kid to compensate for being younger/smaller than your peers. The damage done by a few misjudged comments as an adult can actually be quite severe.

You also need a high degree of confidence in your wit and judgement. Girls' have an extraordinary ability to hear something funny, without cracking a smile or batting an eyelid, so focused are they on seeing if they can bring you down. This is not always the case of course - a girl who is sweet and wants to be seduced will generally laugh along happily whilst she nudges you with her knees under the table. But there is a certain type of girl who will step to you if you are confident and amusing, and who would like nothing more than to embarrass you or make you doubt yourself in front of a crowd. These girls need to be deftly nuked, with good humour and social judgement. If people expect you to be funny and have been enjoying your show, then if you turn too hard on a girl who comes at you in front of them you can really cause a very ugly atmosphere.

If you present yourself as funny, you also present yourself as a target - sometimes for everybody. People love funny people, and they love to be part of the joke, even to be the butt of it so long as it is well judged and doesn't hit them anywhere it hurts. Consequently, people will often 'gang up', very good natured-ly, to try to take you down. But you have to handle this like a seasoned prize fighter would handle an enthusiastic, green young amateur - with relaxed, amused and complete control - non-competitive mastery.

Personally I think that if you're an adult and you don't have it yet, it is something you'd be wise to leave alone.

Edit: the one thing I would say that is a critical part of being funny is likeability. Funny people smile, and engage you. If people like you, they are much more likely to laugh at your jokes, even if you fall a bit flat.

Post: #11

Wit is hard to learn - there are improv classes you can take. I find this skill strangely not overly correlated with IQ. Some of the smartest men have Vulcan-level of wit while lowly street urchins outwit them constantly.

Best is of course the cominbation level of wit where intelligence meets eloquence and quick wit. Charles Bukowski used to have that in spades.

Reading books - lots of books - can help you with that.

Post: #12

I am not sure if there's a "one-way fits all" ways for us to learn how to be conversationally witty.

If there's a teacher into conversational wittiness. But I only know of those public speaker/public figure/or acting courses schools. They might help.

Personally for me, the best way for me to learn is to learn theory-behind-conversation and just field-test, apply it in many different situations until it becomes second nature.

We are only "really good" at what we do when we reached the point of we can do it unconsciously -without thinking. Talking to people you're comfortable with or girls you're not attracted to (thus you don't really care about your game with them) saying whatever you feel like you want to say will train your wittiness.