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posted by Fnord666 on Friday May 05 2017, @04:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the funny-or-die? dept.

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?


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  • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday May 05 2017, @07:14PM (1 child)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Friday May 05 2017, @07:14PM (#505092) Journal

    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.

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  • (Score: 2) by Soylentbob on Friday May 05 2017, @08:42PM

    by Soylentbob (6519) on Friday May 05 2017, @08:42PM (#505147)

    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.