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How about American irony and sarcasm? Here in Asia sarcasm is almost non-existent. Also, Americans value humor as a way of showing affection for someone. Whe
by holdenc 16y ago
How about American irony and sarcasm? Here in Asia sarcasm is almost non-existent.
Also, Americans value humor as a way of showing affection for someone. Whereas in Asia displays of servitude are a sign of affection. For example, if I engage in a humorous conversation with you, that means I like you. Even if I don't pour your tea for you!
- arethuza 16y agoActually, by British standards America appears an irony and sarcasm free zone. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it is very noticeable.
- danieldk 16y agoIndeed, but Britain is probably the other extreme. I believe there is only one country that could've produced magnificent material such as Monty Python or Fawlty Towers ;).
- bioh42_2 16y agoYou know, unlike English some languages have a sarcastic tense.
- nebaneba 16y agoFascinating. Sarcasm is inherent in the grammar? Can you give some examples? update: searched a bit, cannot find any supporting evidence for bioh42_2's statement.
- jarin 16y agoHe used it in his post, you must have missed it.
- bioh42_2 16y agoInferential or renarrative mood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferential_mood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferential_mood Not always intended as sarcastic, but: The main body of the news report tends to use the renarrative correctly - but sometimes, again, it is intentionally avoided. (...) This is because, due to its ambiguity, the renarrative in such cases could be perceived as a passing of judgement or expression of doubt by the reporter...
- burgerbrain 16y agoWouldn't that spoil the humor, similar to how "sarcasm tags" on the internet do?
- geebee 16y agoBut what country could have produced "Airplane!", or "O Brother Where Art Thou?" You could say that something like "Seinfeld" (and "Curb Your Enthusiasm") is more the product of a very unusual subculture (in fact, this is the basis for much of the humor, how poorly new yorkers fit in the rest of US culture), but keep in mind Seinfeld had the highest ratings of any sitcom in US history, so the appeal is obviously very broad.
- arethuza 16y agoTo be clear I wasn't talking about humor in media - of which there are a lot of excellent examples, but the amount of humor that seems to be part of day to day life. Incidentally, I wouldn't regard Monty Python as being very representative of "natural" British humor - I'd probably suggest Al Murray in his "Pub Landlord" persona to be far more like the comedy you are likely to encounter in real life (or Frankie Boyle for us Scots).
- capstone 16y agoIt really depends on where you are. America's states are analogous to European countries, albeit with a common language. The cultures are very, very different.
- paylesworth 16y agoI agree. American humor can be pretty tame by comparison http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2011/01/golden_globes_controversy http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2011/01/golden_globes...
- crasshopper 16y agoIt really shows up in British vs American versions of "The Office" television show. The American boss is more likeable than Ricky Gervais, and the show's tone is cheerier.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- autarch 16y agoI think that's also because the American show was intended to last longer. Ricky Gervais' character was truly repellent, and probably wouldn't have been tolerable for 7 seasons. FWIW, I think both versions have their charms.
- bdhe 16y agoI've noticed people from the Indian subcontinent tend to be a lot more sarcastic than Americans. I wonder if it is a relic of the British colonization.
- FraaJad 16y agoDefinitely not. They were not here long enough and did not interact with enough people to have that influence. Most of the sarcastic comments, the tone and the nature of sarcasm does not even parse for a westerner. In fact you will see a lot of Indian language sarcasm directly "translated" to English leading to hilarious situations. British just came, looted and left. It would be good if people stopped attributing every god-damned thing about India to the "British Influence".
- bdhe 16y ago> British just came, looted and left. It would be good if people stopped attributing every god-damned thing about India to the "British Influence". My bad. I just wondered, considering that British humour is a lot dryer than American humour. I apologize if my comment was misconstrued in anyway.
- FraaJad 16y agoSorry for being a little harsh there. At the height of British occupation , there were not more than 1700(!) British people at the same time on the Indian subcontinent. Which itself is a fantastic testament to the British Raj's bureaucratic machinery. The English education was an instrument in creating that machinery.
- arethuza 16y agoThat's a surprisingly low number - the Wikipedia page on the Raj gives a count of 125,945 Britains in India in 1861 of which 84,083 were in the Army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj
- bioh42_2 16y agoBingo. Speaking as someone who was once a foreign student, generic descriptions of what Americans are like are almost useless. What is very valuable is to describe them in terms of how they are different from your culture. Thus compared to Asia they are very sarcastic, and compared to Britain hardly at all.