British humour icons: the Monty Pythons. IMPRESSION OF A BRIT Season of Cheer: what makes Europeans laugh? The problem with humour is that what sounds right to a Brit isn't necessarily funny to a German and is almost certainly unfunny to a Frenchman. Humour is one of the subtlest expressions of culture. As Peter Collett, a research psychologist at Oxford University, says in his insightful and entertaining book ‘Foreign Bodies’, "because of their reliance on shared assumptions, most jokes travel very badly". Richard Hill A cademics still argue about the fundamentals of humour. One school, with which I have a lot of sympathy, maintains that the most effective humour is based on the shock effect of the association of things that are incongruous – but what is incongruous to one culture may be congruous to another… A second school of thought asserts that humour is essentially derisive and debunking, extending at its extreme to the Schadenfreude that is by no means the exclusive domain of the Germans. Yet another school identifies humour less by its origins than by its intention to serve as a social safety valve. Whichever theory makes sense - the answer is probably an amalgam of all three - Europe is conclusive proof that humour is culture-related. For the Nordic and Germanic cultures, it essentially means telling jokes. For the French it means spiritualité, for the Italians it means bawdy slapstick… For the English, it tends to be all these things. Contrary to the folklore, the English are not the only ones who can laugh at themselves. It comes as a shock to many of my fellow-countryfolk to discover that the Italians and even the Germans (but generally not the French!) are equally capable of such eccentric behaviour, though it's better if the joke comes from them rather than from the other party. If you can't resist the temptation to be jokey then, I suggest, do two things as a general rule, when dealing with people of another culture than your own. First, tell true stories (that at least gives you an alibi) and, second, laugh gently when you've finished (that will tell your host that you're being funny and, out of sympathy, there's a chance he or she will laugh too). Whatever happens, don't keep a straight face as a lot of English people do, and don't laugh uproariously as the Nordics and Germanics are inclined to do. Peter Collett lists five key characteristics of English humour in his book: bitter-sweetness, dryness, stoicism, childishness and nonsense. Variations include 'gallows humour' and (as a recent development thanks to Monty Python and others,) 'alternative humour' which both makes fun and makes a point. Television is helping to europeanise this and other versions of the art: it is remarkable how British TV comedy shows like Benny Hill (slapstick) and 'Allo Allo' (farce based on cultural stereotypes) have jumped the cultural divide of the Channel. Of course many of these jokes have an ethnic slant directed at domestic Aunt Sallies or at close neighbours. But the apparent contempt conceals both familiarity and fondness. Ethnic jokes can be brilliantly revealing, like this Belgian bon mot which tells you as much about the Belgians as it does about the French: "The surest way to make a profit is to buy a Frenchman for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth" Where jokes originate is often hard to tell. I like to think the following is a German joke. Certainly the Germans enjoy telling it: "Sir Alec returns to his London club, fresh from his holiday in France. 'Did you have a good time?', his friends ask him. 'Yes, excellent', he says. 'Did you have any problems with the language?'. 'No', says Sir Alec, 'I didn't, but the French did'." I guess that might even make a Frenchman laugh. I'm still looking for a good Luxembourg joke... ● BECI - Bruxelles métropole - décembre 2015 53
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