Humour

• Tell me a joke…….
• Do you consider yourself humorous?
• What kind of humour do you like?
• Can you give some examples?
• Do you like many kinds?
• Why do people say laughter is the best medicine?
• Have you ever played a prank on anyone?
• Are there any English words you find funny?
• Have you ever been to a live comedy show?
 English Language Jokes
• Q: What's the longest word in the English language?

• A: Smiles.
• (Because there's a mile between the first and the last letter.)

• Q: What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters
to it?

• A: Short
 Funny Riddles
• Q: Why did the man throw a bucket of water out the window?
• A: He wanted to see the waterfall.

• Q: Why did the man throw the butter out the window?
• A: He wanted to see the butterfly.

• Q: What has a neck, but no head?

• A: A bottle.

• Q: What is Black and white and read all over?

• A: A newspaper

• Q: What gets wetter as it dries?

• A: A towel
 British Humour
• Do you think there is much difference between the British sense of humour and
the sense of humour of your country? Could you describe the difference?
• A strong theme of sarcasm and self-deprication runs throughout British humour.
• Humour may be used to bury emotions in a way that seems insensitive to other
cultures.
• Jokes are told about everything and almost no subject is taboo, though often a
lack of subtlety when discussing controversial issues is considered crass.
• Many UK comedy TV shows typical of British humour have been internationally
popular, and have been an important channel for the export and representation
of British culture to the international audience.
 British Humour
• LAUGH AT YOURSELF
• The key to understanding British humour is knowing not to take yourself
too seriously. Our default humour is to highlight our own flaws.
• We make light of our failures so as to appear more humble, approachable
and relatable. There is no room for egos in British humour.
• Awkward encounters, clumsiness and embarrassing moments are all well-
established self-deprecation material.
• Examples:
• “I look like I got dressed in the dark this morning!”
• “I’m so bad at cooking- I could burn water.”
• “I couldn’t run a bath, let alone this race. I make snails look speedy.”
 British Humour
• DON’T TAKE WHAT WE SAY SERIOUSLY
• Brits are famous for being very, very polite, but a sure-fire sign that a Brit likes you is if
they happily ‘offend’ you with the occasional witty, tongue-in-cheek comment.
• These are not mean-spirited statements, but rather a playful exchange of verbal
sparring delivered with a smiling face and no apology. It can be used to make light of
differences with new friends in an attempt to spark conversation.
• A vital aspect of mastering British humour is judging what the people you are with
find funny. A tongue-in-cheek comment is not always appropriate.

• Examples:
• “How have you never seen Frozen?! What’s wrong with you?!”
• “I can’t be friends with someone who doesn’t drink tea!”
• “I can’t be seen in public with an English supporter!”
 British Humour
• BRITS FIND HUMOR IN ALMOST EVERYTHING
• Brits use humour to lighten even the most unfortunate, miserable
moments.
• There are few subjects we don’t joke about.
• It’s not used to shock and offend but rather because Brits turn to laughter
as a form of medicine when life knocks them and those around them down.
• Misfortune and failure are commonplace in British comedy – provided the
jokes are in good taste (although ‘gallows humour’ is not uncommon). In
most cultures, there is a time and place for humour.
• In Britain, this is not the case.
 British Humour
• An Englishman went into a hardware store and asked to buy a sink.
'Would you like one with a plug?' asked the assistant.
'Don't tell me they've gone electric,' said the Englishman.
• “Dyslexic man walks into a bra.”
• A young blonde woman is distraught because she fears her husband is having an
affair, so she goes to a gun shop and buys a handgun. The next day she comes
home to find her husband in bed with a beautiful redhead. She grabs the gun
and holds it to her own head. The husband jumps out of bed, begging and
pleading with her not to shoot herself. Hysterically the blond responds to the
husband, “Shut up…you’re next!”
• Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was
eating fireworks. They charged one – and let the other one off.
• “I’m on a whiskey diet. I’ve lost three days already.”
 LAUGH-AT-LIFE HUMOR

• You “I don’t take myself too seriously.” When something bad happens,
you’re likely to take a deep breath and look for the absurd in the
situation — and then laugh about it.
• You don’t even need an audience, as you’re very happy to laugh about
something annoying all by yourself.
• People like to be around you because of your sunny outlook
 BONDING-IN-THE-MOMENT
HUMOR
• “We’re in this together, and isn’t it fun?” is your general outlook.
• You’re the type to crack a joke at just the right moment or toss a witty,
light-hearted remark into a conversation before it turns too serious.
• Down to earth, warm and good-natured, you make people feel happy
and good with your attempts at humour.
• This is a very likable type of humour to express, but be careful to
make sure someone isn’t feeling hurt or excluded by what you’re
joking about during conversation.
 GALLOWS HUMOUR
• Is about very unpleasant, serious, or painful circumstances. Any humour
that treats serious matters, such as death, war, disease, and crime, in a
light, silly or satirical fashion is considered gallows humour.
• Gallows humour has been described as a witticism in response to a
hopeless situation.
• It arises from stressful, traumatic, or life-threatening situations, often in
circumstances such that death is perceived as impending and unavoidable.
• A man went into a library and asked for a book on how to commit suicide.
The librarian said: “Go away, you won’t bring it back.”
• “Cats have nine lives. Makes them ideal for experimentation.”
 SLAPSTICK COMEDY

• You think “Mr. Bean" was the best TV show ever made.
• Slapstick comedy relies on physical humour, pranks and absurd
situations for laughs.
• [Link]
 SARCASM
• Your sense of humour is dark, biting and sharp
• Be careful with the way you word your texts and emails, because
sarcasm can come off as unnecessarily harsh without the benefit of
tone of voice and facial expressions to soften the delivery.
• Save it for when you’re together with someone in person and can
temper your biting wit with a smile — and don’t go overboard with it.
• Sarcasm can often be funny and witty, yet simultaneously it can be
hurtful and humiliating.
 DRY/DEADPAN HUMOR

• You can deliver a hysterically funny line without cracking a smile or

raising an eyebrow while everyone around you falls down laughing.
• British comedies often produce great examples of this type of humour.
• The only problem? Sometimes, people don’t realise you’re kidding —
and then the joke ends up falling flat.
• Make sure you have already developed good rapport with each other
before you break out a really deadpan.
• Why do they sterilise needles for lethal injections?
• How come abbreviated is such a long word?
 PUN/WITTY HUMOUR

• You’re clever, and your jokes show intelligence. You’re the type of
person who can find the subtle humour in a situation and tease it to
the surface by using a brilliant one-liner that’s made that much
funnier because no one else thought of it first.
• I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my Grandfather. Not like the
passengers in his car.
• I went to buy some camouflage trousers yesterday but couldn't find
any.
• I slept like a log last night…….. Woke up in the fireplace.
 JOKES AT OTHERS’ EXPENSE

• You don’t have a problem making fun of other people. In fact, it’s the
way you’re most likely to make a joke.
• Ridicule, teasing, and sarcasm can be aggressive and downright mean,
and following up such statements with “just kidding” doesn’t dull the
sting.
• This is a tough type of humour for most people to relate to, especially
when it’s your go-to method of cracking a joke.
QUIRKY CULTURAL REFERENCES

• You’re offbeat and unique, and your sense of humour shows it.
“Quirky” doesn’t always equal “weird” or “strange.” It can be
endearing — and you might find someone with the same appreciation
for such unconventional humour, so you don’t want to try to change
your own personality to “blend in.”
Now we know why some animals eat
their own children
I’m busy now. Can I ignore you some other time?
Anyone who told you to be
yourself couldn’t have given
you any worse advice.
Are you always this stupid or are you making a special effort today.
Please, keep talking. I always yawn
when I am interested
He always finds himself lost in thought; it’s unfamiliar territory.
 Irony
• Situational Irony

•Example: A person who claims to be a vegan and avoids meat but will eat a slice
of pepperoni pizza because they are hungry. It may not make sense, but it is an
illustration of irony.

•Example: A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking
tickets.

•Example: An ambulance driver goes to a nightime bike accident scene and runs
over the accident victim because the victim has crawled to the center of the road
with their bike
 Cosmic Irony
This type of irony can be attributed to some sort of misfortune. Usually cosmic irony is
the end result of fate or chance.

• Example: The Titanic was promoted as being 100% unsinkable; but, in 1912 the ship
sank on its maiden voyage.

• Example: At a ceremony celebrating the rehabilitation of seals after the Exxon Valdez
oil spill in Alaska, at an average cost of $80,000 per seal, two seals were released back
into the wild only to be eaten within a minute by a killer whale.

Cosmic irony feeds on the notion that people cannot see the effects of their actions,
and sometimes the outcome of a person’s actions may be out of their control.
 Murphy’s laws
• If anything can go wrong, it will
• If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the
most damage will be the one to go wrong
• If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway
• If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go
wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly
develop
• Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse
• If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something
• Nature always sides with the hidden flaw
• Mother nature is a bitch
• The cigarette smoke always drifts in the direction of the non-smoker regardless
of the direction of the breeze.
• There is no job so simple that it cannot be done wrong.
• When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
• No one is listening until you make a mistake.
• ‘Push’ is the force exerted upon the door marked PULL.