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We're all aware that there are stereotypes. The British are sharply sarcastic, the Americans are great at physical comedy, and the Japanese love puns. But is humour actually driven by culture to any meaningful extent? Couldn't it be more universal – or depend largely on the individual?
There are some good reasons to believe that there is such a thing as a national sense of humour. But let's start with what we actually have in common, by looking at the kinds of humour that most easily transcend borders.
Certain kinds of humour are more commonly used in circumstances that are international and multicultural in nature – such as airports. When it comes to onoard entertainment, airlines, in particular, are fond of humour that transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries for obvious reasons. Slapstick humour and the bland but almost universally tolerable social transgressions and faux pas of Mr Bean permit a safe, gentle humour that we can all relate to. Also, the silent situational dilemmas of the Canadian Just for Laughs hidden camera reality television show has been a staple option for airlines for many years.
These have a broad reach and are probably unlikely to offend most people. Of course, an important component in their broad appeal is that they are not really based on language.
Humor is no laughing matter. Levity can kill. But can it also bind us together?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @04:49AM (2 children)
US done elected The Donald, didnya notice.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rivenaleem on Friday May 05 2017, @09:27AM (1 child)
There's a subtle difference between Humour, and a Joke. Trump is not humourous, he's just a joke. However him being the Leader of the US is no joking matter, and we'll have to humour him for the next few years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @12:14PM
Do clowns make you laugh or do they scare you? [nytimes.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @04:59AM (17 children)
Minstrel shows, blonde jokes, race jokes, and so on. These all point to, indeed, a national sense of humor. And that sense of humor is, always, some representation of the dominant group casting its eyes on the lower classes in some way. Ever notice how people think female comediennes aren't funny compared to male comedians? Sexism ingrained in the culture. Ever notice how the Black guy dies first in B-level horror movies? Racism ingrained in the culture. Ever notice how it's the white guys that aren't always comedic relief in a story? Racism, again.
Yes, different countries have different senses of humor. And they ALWAYS prey upon the unprivileged peoples within that country. That's why Mr. Bean isn't funny here-- because Britain is much, much less racist than here. Same with other countries-- they are much, much more tolerant and thus have senses of humor which are not so sadistic in nature.
(Score: 0) by idiot_king on Friday May 05 2017, @05:01AM
Good to know someone gets it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @05:20AM
Good to know that only racists have a sense of humor.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday May 05 2017, @05:38AM (7 children)
Americans generally fail to get the point of much of British humor - particularly the type of which Mr Bean is an extreme case. At the root of a wide strain in British humor is the horror of embarrassment.
It is comically outrageous to have situations in which there is someone behaving in the most cringing manner, yet perfectly oblivious to the embarrassing aspect - especially when this obtuseness accelerates the climate. Witness the Python "Cheese Shop" or Cleese's Basil Fawlty.
Americans, themselves nearly unembarrassably brash, often laugh - yet for substantially different reason.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @02:32PM (4 children)
There's overlap. Many Americans appreciate Monty Python and such. Eddie Izzard remains a mystery. But then, Britons probably don't understand Duck Dynasty or Jeff Foxworthy either.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday May 05 2017, @02:54PM (2 children)
Agreed. I tried to make the point that a comedy like "Peep Show" or "The Thick of It" is still funny for Americans, but often for subjectively different reasons. Just compare the respective national versions of "The Office".
Both yanks and brits enjoy the scatological stream of abuse by Peter Capaldi for its creative and energetic enthusiasm and vitriol. The British have more of a cringeing enjoyment. This is equally true for little embarrassments. Moments which are interpreted as funnier, I think, by British viewers.
It's telling, that Capaldi's is a Scottish character with working class origins - bringing all the cultural associations that tint a context for his angry profanity.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday May 05 2017, @04:02PM (1 child)
It's telling, that Capaldi's is a Scottish character with working class origins - bringing all the cultural associations that tint a context for his angry profanity.
His character on "The Thick of It?" Capaldi is Scottish in real life.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday May 05 2017, @04:13PM
Of course! I'm talking of the character's origins in relevance to the humor. Not the specifics of his casting!
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday May 05 2017, @06:52PM
When I first saw an excerpt of Eddie Izzard, I was quite confused. There were a few funny bits, but I wasn't "getting it."
Then I sat down and watched an entire show of his. I laughed quite a bit. Then I watched a second one and found it one of the funniest things I had ever seen in my life.
I think this is often just a matter of familiarity with humor conventions. I encountered some of the Python movies when I was young and I liked them because some of my friends walked around quoting them all the time. But then when I first saw Flying Circus I was just confused for a while. After watching a few hours of it, I find it a lot more hilarious.
But these are all absurdist comedy examples, so it makes a little sense that you need to get the conventions to understand the absurdity. No matter what, though, I don't think I'll ever understand Mr. Creosote in Meaning of Life. I've heard the Pythons interviewed about that scene and many of them say it's the funniest thing they ever made or whatever. To me, it's just gross. (And I'm not generally a fan of bodily function humor, but done well I find it at least amusing... just can't understand Mr. Creosote.) But again, to each his own...
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday May 05 2017, @06:43PM (1 child)
particularly the type of which Mr Bean is an extreme case.
See, to each his (or her) own, but I don't know what Mr. Bean is getting all the hate here. I live in and grew up in the U.S. I first encountered Mr. Bean when my blue-collar non-Anglophile forklift-mechanic neighbor told me he had randomly happened upon "the funniest show ever" on PBS one day. (He was not a frequent viewer of PBS; he was just channel surfing.) We watched the next episode together and laughed our asses off.
Mr. Bean is very basic at its root -- absurdist physical comedy. He's also an adult who acts like a child. I showed some episodes to my 6-year-old a while back, and he laughed more than just about any comedy he's ever watched -- because Mr. Bean looks like a grown-up but behaves like all the "bad" things kids are warned about, as well as failing to recognize basic social norms (again, things kids struggle with). Back in the days when physical comedy and slapstick was more prevalent in American comedy (which it was for generations), I think Mr. Bean would have fared better.
And Americans are afraid of embarrassment too. If anything, I think Mr. Bean fails for some Americans because it's often too quiet and slow. American physical comedy often tends to be raucous and crazed. Fawlty Towers probably does better with more Americans when it escalates too; Basil Fawlty is certainly everything but reserved.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday May 05 2017, @08:10PM
Agree about Mr. Bean.
His near Chaplin/Marceau level of silence serves to emphasize the physicality of his situations, versus their social setting. This creates universality.
The show's opening is a dead giveaway: He's literally dropped onto the Earth, "born yesterday", without the graces or experience to function with niceties required by the environment or society of our world. Bean's misanthropy is a situational response prompted by his utter cluelessness. He is otherwise so solipsistic, that the very idea of other people's existence cannot be presumed to ever cross his mind. Other people are no more or less obstacles between him and his intentions, then are steering wheels or Novocaine!
It's my guess that this is funny to people in rural China.
Producing such a character is probably a very British thing, and it's hard to imagine an American Rowan Atkinson - instead there is Steve Carell.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @06:07AM
You remind me of the old saying about when everyone around you is asshole, all the time, then maybe it's not actually everyone else who is the problem.
But by all means, continue on with your crazy rants while observing the world through your lens of racism. It appears to be the only one you have, after all.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @12:51PM
Ever notice how people think female comediennes aren't funny compared to male comedians? Sexism ingrained in the culture.
Oh please. Female comedians get plenty of laughs from both sexes but when a man doesn't like a particular one it's usually because the jokes are too woman-centric for him to relate to or the joke was bad and wouldn't have been any funnier coming from a man. Also too many times a female comedian is getting lauded mostly for "daring to be as raunchy as a male one" rather than actually being more clever. I've also noticed a double-standard that annoys me where a woman can get away with telling jokes that would get a man booed by much of the audience these days, apparently domestic violence jokes are somehow funny when it's about a woman beating up her man.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday May 05 2017, @03:55PM (4 children)
female comediennes
Okay, this is just getting ridiculous.
A) "Comedienne" is already inherently female. Putting "female" in front of it is just redundant.
B) Why the hell do we need gender-differentiated nouns for professions anyway? Actor/actress, steward/stewardess, comedian/comedienne--it's pointless and stupid. Just use the un-gendered base version for everybody. Drawing attention to the gender serves what purpose, exactly?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @04:14PM (3 children)
I, on the other hand, find de-gendering everything equally ridiculous. Women should not aspire to be men, nor men aspire to be women. They both bring so much to the human experience, if in different ways. If there's such a thing as a nightmarish gender future, it's androgyny. Actresses should remain actresses, because they're awesome and powerful. "Female actor" is an insipid, pitiful abridgment. Sorcerers exude magic, sorceresses can melt knights at 50 paces. "Female sorcerers" imply lesser creatures that would scamper into a corner to cry.
Men think differently than women do. Women lead differently than men do. Men stand tall when women shelter. Women show steel when men fall apart. If you torture and contort them to fit in a one-size-fits-all box you lose all of that, and gain nothing.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday May 05 2017, @04:49PM (2 children)
See, I wouldn't use the term "female actor" either. Just call them an actor; most of the time you can tell what their gender is if you really care by their name.
Of course men and women are different, I just don't see the need to draw attention to that in e.g. headlines and other passing references. It's like whatever that article was earlier in the week "Black man graduates college" or whatever. Is him being black and male actually relevant to this discussion?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday May 05 2017, @04:52PM (1 child)
I suppose it comes down to whether you consider "actor" a gendered term. Is "actor and actress" male and female, or generic and female? I lean towards the former; you, the latter.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday May 05 2017, @04:54PM
blarg. vice versa. frack
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Whoever on Friday May 05 2017, @05:06AM (5 children)
You mean like Charlie Chaplin?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday May 05 2017, @06:17AM (1 child)
Why, you [youtube.com] knucklehead ...
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday May 05 2017, @06:59PM
* honk * [youtube.com]. That guy always had the best lines.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by snufu on Friday May 05 2017, @09:16AM
There is no distinct American sense of humor, just as there is no distinct American culture. "Physical comedy" is slapstick, and like visual faux pas designed to transcend cultural boundaries.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday May 05 2017, @12:22PM (1 child)
He did try to be American, but America would have none of it...he's very big in Japan though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin#Limelight_and_banning_from_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limelight_%281952_film%29#Reception [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday May 05 2017, @07:00PM
Huh? Chaplin was HUGE in the U.S. Yes, at the end of his career, he had problems with the U.S. (that came from a collection of issues). But he was instrumental in DEFINING what Hollywood movies were! His "Tramp" character basically defined American cinema in the 1910s, and he was able to demand huge salaries because his films brought in millions.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @06:28AM (1 child)
America's sense of humor is anything that seriously hurts or harms the libtards/demoncrats. Followed closely by anything that hurts brown/yellow people or "furiners".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @07:22AM
anything that seriously hurts or harms the libtards/demoncrats.
That's not America! That is only Fox News! Which really, is why they are not funny. It is like listening to the jokes of high school jocks. Not enough intelligence to really be funny. This is why the Fox News attempt to clone The Daily Show was a royal disaster of a hot mess of shite sandwich. Not funny. Because, not smart. Conservatives are stupid and unfunny! Ha! Isn't that funny? No? Glad to see that you see how it doesn't work.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday May 05 2017, @08:52AM (11 children)
Each country is targeted with its own kind of jokes, Germans are humorless engineers, French are silly romantics, Scots and Dutch are stingy and so on. And per country different groups of people, cities or even villages receive jokes about their supposed traits.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday May 05 2017, @09:28AM
I am still very partial to Canada's "Just For Laughs", which I believe they actually improved on Allen Funt's "Candid Camera", which was my favorite laugh show when I was a kid.
( I thought the kid serving mints in the mall that he was apparently was getting out of the urinal [youtube.com] ( 1 min 37 sec ) was a classic! The look on those women's faces with the mint in their mouth was priceless. )
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @01:18PM (9 children)
How different countries are construed varies a lot, too. When I watch British shows I am frequently struck by English stereotypes of Scots, which don't track with stereotypes of Scots in America. For example, yesterday I was watching an episode of Dr. Who and there was a flippant remark about how he could now complain a lot because his new incarnation seemed Scottish. To me Scots seem least likely to complain, being more stubborn and willing to put their heads down and get through difficulty.
Also Germans are not humorless engineers, but either Nazis or black turtleneck wearing Mods whose favorite pastimes are S&M and abstract art.
Dutch? Dutch are nothing. What's a 'Dutch?' Is that a country?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday May 05 2017, @01:40PM (8 children)
Obviously you're not from Europe.
Look up Scottish jokes, for instance: "Little known fact - copper wire was invented by two Scotsmen fighting over a penny".
Typical German joke: "What is the thinnest book? Answer: A Millennium Of German Humor".
And the Dutch are people from the Netherlands, or Holland as our country is often mistakenly referred to, while "Deutsch" is the language of the Germans.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @02:23PM (5 children)
Pfah. "Dutch" is when you make the girl split the check with you at the end of the date. Everybody knows that.
The correct answer to the question, "What do you call someone from the Netherlands?" is, "Huh?"
The right response to, "'Deutsch' is the language of the Germans," is "I'm sorry, but I don't speak Spanish. I mean, I took it for three years in high school, but..."
And Europe? We totally saved yer asses. America, fuck yeah!
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @02:36PM (4 children)
"Dutch" is when you make the girl split the check with you at the end of the date.
Scotch is when she pays the whole bill.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @03:48PM (2 children)
What is it when you drag her behind a dumpster and rape her?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @04:16PM (1 child)
20 to life?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @04:36PM
20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday May 05 2017, @08:28PM
"A Scotsman took his new young lady friend to the boardwalk pier, and arm-in-arm, they enjoyed the afternoon sights and sounds of the seaside. After passing by the Aquarium and the roundabout, neither of which he took notice, his companion exclaimed, 'They're cooking up chips, doesn't that smell delicious?'
Not one to miss a hint, the Scotsman replied, 'Aye, they do! If you're game, we can stand a bit closer for a better smell of 'em!'"
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @03:53PM (1 child)
If you think the Scots get it bad, you don't know the Irish. There's a whole class of jokes that begin "An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman walk into a bar....". Clue: the punchline is always about the Irishman.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @04:30PM
Indeed. But who do the Irish make fun of, the Manx? The Cornish?
The thread still hasn't revealed what Dutch are known for, but the Flamebait mods suggest they share traits with Drax the Destroyer. They are clearly a literal people who cannot detect metaphor or tongue-in-cheek remarks that are actually mocking of how many Americans do or would regard specific European nationalities.
Me, I think Dutch are incredible engineers who are innately practical and level-headed. Germans are a dynamo that sometimes doesn't know when to quit. English are indomitable when it comes to contesting with outsiders but strangely supine when it comes to freeing themselves of their oppressive social caste system. They are all admirable and have a lot to teach others. So it's funny to learn how they lampoon each other. It's a bit like watching a real life dysfunctional family dramedy like the Royal Tenenbaums.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @10:46AM
Since the PC brigade gained momentum and muslims moved in, no, australia has no sense of humour now
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @11:23AM
What's with this article? This is just because the sources of humor are heavily rooted in knowledge and socialization. Different cultures have different standards because of different shared backgrounds. You see the same things with censorship- different standards because of different cultures (Americans hate sex in their media, Germans hate violence, etc).
In Japan, racial stereotype humor is often much more stinging/stereotyped than in the US (where it is often more self-depreciation or flat-out insults). They are less racially diverse so there's less pushback against this kind of thing; you wouldn't get away with it as easily in the US. You think Americans are good at physical comedy - look up a Boke and Tsukkomi routine, considered a classic setup. The British have Punch and Judy routines which are a vaguely similar classic.
Americans really like parodies, a lot, as well. We sort of inherited it from the British I guess. Stuff like the Onion being an actual "newspaper" has baffled the Chinese a few times; or at least the people running their media were baffled. They've had state papers/politicians quote it like it was real. The Chinese prefer wordplay-driven humor and don't like their mass media being goofy. American presidents have been known to make inappropriate jokes from time to time in the public eye by contrast.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday May 05 2017, @11:24AM (2 children)
Canadian humour is a joke: the joke is
"That American is really funny!"
"That American is really Canadian."
http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/canadian-comedians-and-comic-actors [ranker.com]
(Man, didn't know Nathan Fillion was Canadian as well! That gives me some Serenity!) ;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @02:36PM (1 child)
Penn & Teller had a sketch called, "The Invisible Thread." Alien efficiency experts come to Earth and demand humans demonstrate they add something unique and different to the universe, or else they will be destroyed.
Canadians could save us all with their humor. It's great.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday May 05 2017, @04:53PM
Damn, i watched a movie like that, but can't remember the name: would like to watch it again:
The movie starts with a woman in an electric wheelchair driving up a mountain road, drinking and tossing empty bottles to the side of the road. The chair breaks down/runs out of power, so she gets on her cell-phone and calls social services.
Next thing, a black helicopter comes up and attaches a tether to her chair and flies her away to a 'concentration camp', where people who have used/abused 'the system' are made to tell why they should keep getting social assistance.
Families on perpetual social assistance get kicked off. Artists who have taken grants and produced nothing of worth get kicked off.
A guy who stole from the system is given a gun and told to kill himself.
You've worked hard your whole life and now are old/disabled? No problem.
I'd love to see that implemented.
When Mike Harris' workfare came into Ontario i saw my 'welfare' neighbours have to work for their cheque and saw them improving themselves because they weren't drunk all the time.
Now, if only i could remember the name of the movie......
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Soylentbob on Friday May 05 2017, @12:25PM (8 children)
Living as a German in Germany, I rarely hear jokes about German stereotypes, but since I like to laugh about other stereotypes I'd like to hear some more targeting us.
(Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Friday May 05 2017, @12:47PM
Why do Germans bury their dead so far down?
Deep down, they're real nice people.
:)
(Score: 3, Funny) by richtopia on Friday May 05 2017, @12:54PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightbulb_joke [wikipedia.org] Lightbulb jokes typically cover the standard stereotype held by Americans:
Q: How many Germans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: One, they're efficient and not very funny.
(Score: 4, Informative) by SunTzuWarmaster on Friday May 05 2017, @01:39PM (3 children)
Firstly - you can make almost any engineering joke a German joke by making it nationalist. As an example, replace the accountant/businessman/engineer with brit/french/german:
A [frenchman], [englishman], and [german] were all to be executed by guillotine. The [frenchman] laid his head down, said his [typically french] last words, but when the guillotine was to strike his neck an behead him, it got stuck a mere 10 cm from him. It was pronounced a miracle and he was pardoned. The [englishman] laid his head down, said his [typically english] last words, but when the guillotine was to strike his neck an behead him, it got stuck a mere 10 cm from him. It was pronounced a miracle and he was pardoned. The [german] laid his head down facing up, because he wanted to die facing God. "Oh I see your problem right here!".
Next - there are the typical stereotype jokes such as "Everything has only one end... Only the sausage has two.".
Next - there are the German anti-jokes. As an example: How many Germans does it take to change a lightbulb? One. We are efficient and humorless.
As another - "You know what really grinds my German gears?" "Nothing, they are well-designed."
Next there are the WWII-related jokes. As an example: Angela Merkel arrives at Passport Control at Paris airport.
"Nationality?" asks the immigration officer.
"German," she replies.
"Occupation?"
"No, just here for a few days."
Then there are language-related puns, such as - "No matter how kind you are, German children are kinder." or "A German girl gave me her number - it was easy to remember - 999-9999".
Others exist, of course.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @03:49PM
Beware of Germans bearing gift.
In Russia, drugs are your friends.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday May 05 2017, @07:14PM (1 child)
That's a pretty good summary of the main types of jokes about Germans.
One that you missed however, for those who into more scatological humor -- for some reason, there's a lot of jokes about Germans and coprophilia. I don't know enough about actual German "tastes" in that regard to know whether this stereotype is based in factual preferences or not (compared to other countries). In my historical research, I have seen an inordinate amount of German scatological humor though, seemingly more than other European sources of the time.
(Score: 2) by Soylentbob on Friday May 05 2017, @08:42PM
That's an angle I saw some times, but never quite understood. I never consciously met a person into that, and never felt any tendencies in that direction myself.
(Score: 2) by Soylentbob on Friday May 05 2017, @02:29PM
Will reply to myself instead of picking one of the thread-contributors: Thanks, I liked them so far, unfortunately don't have enough mod-points for all replies :-)
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 05 2017, @02:29PM
I can't say I know any jokes about Germans, because the silliest people in the world to laugh at are North Dakotans (ie, "Q: Why don't they have ice cubes in North Dakota? A: The lady who knew the recipe, died.").
But I did once hear a funny quip about Germans. Shortly after being re-admitted to world soccer after years of being banned, the English team played the German team in Italy. The German team won. In response, the English fans began rioting in the streets. The incredulous Continental reporters asked the rioters, "Why are you doing this when you just got re-admitted to world soccer after years of being banned for rioting?" The Englishmen replied, "If the Germans are going to beat us at our game, we're going to beat them at theirs."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday May 05 2017, @02:20PM
Genetic makeup influences the culture which influences jokes etc.
Of course the environment plays a big role too.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday May 05 2017, @08:28PM (3 children)
Three things will shape a nation's general sense of humor: the structure and vocabulary of its language(s), its environment, and its social climate.
For example, much Russian humor is very dry, sarcastic, usually contains some truth, and can be seen as biting commentary on the absurdities of life. Japanese humor features a lot of puns because of how many homophones there are, and things like Manzai shows riff on social rankings sometimes. And so forth. British humor, as mentioned, is a gentle but firm series of pokes at the rigid internal class structures and social norms, some of which may or may not be becoming outdated at the time of the joke-making.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Friday May 05 2017, @08:37PM (2 children)
Truth be told, at least in the cities, much of what was "British" in the culture has become very Americanized. Or maybe "Media-tized". The consumption of cultural products that reflect global corporate capital interest have had the same effect on the UK as any overt colonial occupation.
English children having a naughty laugh over "spotted dick", something that they would have literally palated without comment, prior to the 1990's.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 4, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday May 06 2017, @04:30AM (1 child)
British cooking sounds more male-homoerotic than pro wrestling. Spotted dick is just the beginning: toad in the hole, cock-a-leekie soup, faggots in gravy...it's like someone was going out of their way to make schoolkids snicker.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Saturday May 06 2017, @03:41PM
Well, YOU'RE the one, making all the "holes" and "leekies" masculine, eh? :-)
You are right. Stiil, when I was younger, nothing was thought of either Bangers or Bubble and Squeak.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday May 06 2017, @09:38AM
Monty Python may have joked about the Killer Joke, but The Goodies actually achieved it [wikipedia.org].
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday May 06 2017, @10:06AM
Various parts of Scotland have particular types of humour. Irony and sarcasm are particularly prevalent on the West, especially in places like Glasgow.
Teasing seems to be standard everywhere.
At one place I worked when I was a teenager, every morning, several people (including company directors) would say, "You're nae a bonnie loon," and laugh at me.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].