I've heard people attribute the failure to perceive humour to the influence of ancestral, puritanical European emigrants to America. With whom "your word" was y

I've heard people attribute the failure to perceive humour to the influence of ancestral, puritanical European emigrants to America. With whom "your word" was your bond. I would lay a very large bet that the "/s" tag is an American invention. I find people pleading for unambiguity in sarcasm on the internet amusing, "sarchasm" being one of the better words invented over the last few decades. (Also an American invention?)