Curing the Bad Day Blues

Is the sign really necessary?
from chain e-mail

Have you ever been stressed?  Had an awful day?  I know I have.  If you haven’t then I want your secret, because I certainly don’t have a good solution.  I do however have a pretty reliable remedy: hilarious pictures.  Animals are most effective, but any funny picture will do.  Guys can appreciate this too- I’m not talking about the cutsie picture of a kitten curled up on a dog’s back- I’m talking about the kind of picture that you can’t help but grin at. 

From chain e-mail

When I received a chain e-mail full of pictures from my mom the other day as I was stressing about a test, I realized that this is a wonderful example of rhetoric.  The purpose behind these pictures is making people laugh, a perfect cure for the melancholy caused by a bad day.  The bad day is the exigence- a state that friends and family members want to change.  In the above example, my mom acted the part of the rhetor by using photographic discourse targeted at pathos- emotions- to lighten my mood. 

mandyseyfang at flickr.com

Another example that confirmed this view is The Blue Day Book by Bradley Trevor Greive.  It is literally a book full of amusing animal pictures with captions to add even more hilarity.  The effect is to lighten a blue day- obviously judging by its title that is exactly the rhetorical purpose for which the book was created.

Just a suggestion, but next time you are in a funk, get on-line and start typing “funny” into the Google image search browser.  It will give you all sorts of suggestions- funny cats, funny dogs, funny pictures, funny signs.  Pick your favorite.  It’s amazing what a few minutes of grinning can do to turn a frown-filled day around.