英式幽默与美式幽默-差异何在-
英式幽默与美式幽默:差异何在?
Humour is a phenomenon which is influenced by culture. It can be difficult to determine what aspects define a certain n of humour. A nation’s wit is linked to the historical development of the country. How funny somebody finds a certain incident depends on many factors including age, personal experience, level of education and geographical location.1 Therefore humour is something which is not always transferable2 in another country.
What somebody from one area may find hilarious may not be amusing at all to somebody from another location.3 Whether or not someone gets a joke is determined by their interpretation, filtered by the cultural context.4
What about when both countries speak the same mother tongue? Does that mean that they will then share the same n of humour, or can differences still occur? Let’s take the exa
mple of Britain and America. Not only do Americans and British spell the word “humour” differently, most claim that American humor and British humour are quite different in nature. Time and time again, people say that Brits5 and Americans don’t“get” each other’s n of humour. To what extent is this true, if at all?
There’s a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don’t get irony.6 It is often believed to be one of the most
common differences between the British and American n of humour. This is of cour not true. One of the major differences
ems to be how often both nations u irony. Brits u irony on a daily basis7. We u it as liberally as prepositions in every day speech.8 We tea our friends. We u sarcasm as a shield and a weapon.9 We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of10 people we like or dislike basically. And ourlves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of lf-deprecation.11 This is our licen to hand it out.
But it is not the foundation of American humour. I think Americans understand British irony (most of the time anyway!); what they don’t understand is the need to u it so frequently.
When Americans u irony they tend to state that they were “only kidding”.12 They feel the need to make a joke more obvious than Brits do, maybe this stems from13 a fear of offending people.
The American n of humour is generally more slapstick14 than that in Britain. I think this aris from15 a cultural difference between the two. Their jokes are more obvious and forward, a bit like Americans themlves. British jokes, on the other hand, tend to be more subtle but with a dark or sarcastic undertone.16 There is usually a hidden meaning. This may stem from the fact that British culture is more rerved17 than American culture.
Americans say, “Have a nice day” whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourlves it’s
becau we don’t want to sound insincere, but I think it might be for the opposite reason. We don’t want to celebrate anything too soon. Failure and disappointment lurk around every corner.18 This is due to our upbringing. Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States. Brits are told, “It won’t happen for you.”
Yet certain American comedies have gained huge success in Britain and vice versa19. Therefore, although there are differences between both comic styles, there is still an appreciation and understanding of the other n of humour. Both the British and America versions of the comedy The Office20 are hugely successful on both sides of the Atlantic. Both shows have their own cultural differences, yet they portray a lifestyle which both Americans and Brits alike can relate to.21 Although both nations have subtle differences in their wit, they can both appreciate the other’s n of humour.
1. 一个人发现某件事的可笑程度要依赖很多因素而定:年龄、
个人经历、受教育程度以及地理位置。
游记题目2. transferable: 可转移的。
3. hilarious: 极可笑的，令人捧腹的;amusing: 有趣的，好
笑的。
4. get: 〈口〉懂，理解;filter: 过滤。
5. Brit: 英国人。
6. received: 普遍承认的;irony: 讽刺，反讽。
7. on a daily basis: 每天。
春节结婚对联8.我们在日常对话中大量地使用反讽，就如同使用介词一样频繁。
liberally:大量地，丰富地;prepositions: 介词。
9. 我们把嘲讽当作盾牌和武器。
10. take the piss out of: 取笑，嘲弄。
11. 我们的自以为是与得意忘形其实也满载着同等程度的自嘲。
qq文案swagger: 得意忘形，妄自尊大;lf-deprecation: 自嘲，自贬。
12. 当美国人使用反讽时，他们往往只是在“开玩笑”而已。
13. stem from: 基于，由……造成。 绿豆排骨汤的做法
14. slapstick: 充满胡闹的。
15. ari from: 起源于，由……产生。
16.另一方面，英式幽默往往会更加微妙，但却带有一种阴郁隐
晦或嘲弄挖苦的意味。undertone:(言行的)含意，意味。
中标通知书17. rerved: 拘谨的，内向的。 同是陌生人
18. 挫败与失望潜伏于各个角落。
什么是梦想19. vice versa: 反之亦然。
20. The Office: 《办公室》，美国的一部喜剧片，该片根据大受欢迎的英国BBC同名喜剧改编，记录了一群办公室白领的日常生活。 刘英美
21. relate to: 发生共鸣，认同。
