The Onion is a newspaper and website that presents fake news as if it were true news. Its material is usually referred to as satire; that means its main job is not to inform but to make fun of people, organizations, and society in general. The Onion has been published since 1988.

There are several types of humor used in The Onion. Today, I’d like to take a look at 3 kinds of them. The first one is represented by this headline and image:

This kind of humor falls into the category of just plain silly. The humor comes because it balances a small element of truth (namely, that the Johnson & Johnson Co. really does make a cotton swab for personal grooming called the Q-Tip). However, leaving it sticking out of one’s ear looks stupid and it is potentially dangerous. Americans think this is funny because it the concept and image are ridiculous but this is presented as a serious story.

Here are two other examples of Onion humor.