Words / C2

BAYTH-os/ˈbeɪθɒs/

Bathos is a sudden drop from the elevated to the trivial, often comic by accident: slide into bathos, a moment of bathos. Anticlimax is the everyday cousin; pathos is pity/sadness — the classic mix-up. Do not write bathos for a planned joke that actually landed.

Meaning

A sudden comic or cheap drop from the serious to the trivial in writing or speech.

Examples

• “The tribute slid into bathos with a joke about the biscuits.”
• “The tribute fell into bathos with a gag about the biscuits beside an unminuted death.”
• “Anticlimax is the plain twin. Pathos is moving sadness (note the p). Bathos is the thud from high style to cheap detail. A good, timed joke in a hard briefing can be levity, not bathos.”

Good to know

A ludicrous anticlimax. Everyday: anticlimax. Mix-up: pathos (pity). Planned, useful humour is not bathos.

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