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Re: different senses of humour

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Dean BedfordMar 23, 2007
 

 
On Saturday, March 24, 2007, at 12:15 AM, Nathan Leonard wrote:

> I decided to transcribe the relevent paragraph:
>
>      There is an awful lot of guff talked about the English Sense of
> Humour, including many patriotic attempts to prove that our sense of
> humour is somehow unique and superior to everyone esle's.  Many English
> people seem to believe that we have some sort of global monopoly, if
> not on humour itself, then at least on certain 'brands' of humour - the
> high-class ones such as wit and especially irony.  My findings indicate
> that while there may indeed be something distinctive about English
> humour, the real 'defining characteristic' is the value we put on
> humour, the central importance of humour in English culture and social
> interactions.
>      In other cultures, there is 'a time and a place' for humour; it is
> a special, separate kind of talk.  In English conversation, there is
> always an undercurrent of humour.  We can barely manage to say 'hello'
> or comment on the weather without somehow contriving to make a bit of a
> joke out of it, and most English conversations will involve at least a
> degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humorous
> self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness.  Humour is our 'default
> mode', if you like: we do not have to switch it on deliberately, and we
> cannot switch it off.  For the English, the rules of humour are the
> cultural equivalent of natural laws - we obey them automatically,
> rather in the way that we obey the law of gravity.

It's interesting that the writer starts out by saying it's "guff" to say
the English sense of humour is superior to everyone else's - but then
argues it's at least more prevalent than everyone else's. I've only
spent three weeks in the UK but can't really say I noticed that everyday
conversation was more humorous than anywhere else. But perhaps others
here have noticed this while in the UK?

I notice the writer picks up on irony.

Here's another example of something I think is very British humour. JAM
guest Brian Johnston and cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew cracking up
just because one of said them accidentally said something a tad rude.
(A "legover" is British slang for sex.) This was recently voted
Britain's greatest ever sporting commentary. A small clip but I hope you
enjoy it.

rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/radio5/commentary_vote/jonathan_agnew.rm

 
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