Sense of humor in Europe

[zabu of nΩd]

I recently became curious about this. I've always heard the anecdotal stereotype about German people having no sense of humor, and though i've never really met a German person before i befriended a Polish guy recently and he seems to fit the stereotype to a t. Rarely makes jokes or smiles, to the point of being awkward.

Is this specific to certain countries/regions? What exactly is going on here, is it a cultural thing or a political thing or what? Do these people know their sense of humor sucks, and just prefer it that way, or is there some kind of lack of emotional education?

 

[Episteme]

I know a few European people and I find that the Germans have a very dry and deadpan sense of humour. The British on the other hand are the same but are a little more animated and crude.

We Aussies take on the British sense of humour a little; dry, self-mocking, ironic.

I think like everything in the world, humour is very culture specific. Look at the Japanese, their idea of humour is fucking strange and usually very slapstick.

 

[Rumpole]

The stereotype of Germans being unfunny/overly serious/cold etc is unfair. I've been there thee times now and always have a blast, you never have a hard time meeting people. Krauts are always easy to get along with.

 

[Zephyrus]

Moss former boss from Switzerland never responded warmly to my jokes and humor.

 

[Blind Guardian]

I saw a tv-program about this, where they speculated that southern Europeans, having so called 'gut humor', tend to laugh much more at slapstick, whereas in the north the humor is much dryer.

 

[damnromulans]

I haven't spent a whole lot of time in Europe, but I have befriended jokers everywhere I've gone. People laugh less and more quietly outside North America but as far as developed countries go, everyone is really the same the world over.

Germans, Dutch etc are more direct about stuff though, so you probably won't get courtesy laughs or politely cushioned responses to stupid questions. "Does this make me look fat?" may very well be answered with "A little, it's too tight around your stomach."

 

[Draehl]

The northern/southern European dichotomy is an interesting topic. I was actually discussing it with a friend a few days back. We think it comes down to two things.

1) Climate. Northern Europe has to kind of buckle down harder due to a shorter growing season and long, harsh winters vying to survive. Leads to a much more to-the-point humorless, uptight, etc. demeanor.

2) Exposure. Much of southern Europe lies on the Mediterranean which exposes the people to much more social interaction with different peoples. This leads to a more social culture, humor, etc. and also explains the fine culinary tradition of southern Europe compared to northern Europe.

Seriously, what does the north have? Fish and chips? Lutefisk? Sauerkraut and sausages?

 

[damnromulans]

metal and handsome dudes and gender equality and lots of money and good cars and progressive architecture/style/fashion. AND lutefisk.

southern europe is barely different from the middle east. annoying loud rude people who treat women like shit.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

The point about people being more direct/honest about matters having a bearing on self-esteem is an interesting one. I've talked to a few people born outside the U.S. who seem to think there's a lot more bullshit (i.e. meaningless statements and 'white lies') involved with social interactions in the U.S. On one hand there's a lot of fear of offending people, and on the other hand people are really uncomfortable with silences in conversation so there's a tendency to use a lot of "filler".

So yeah, if people are more "chatty" in the U.S. then that could explain the prevalence of a "quantity over quality" sense of humor here.

 

[Blind Guardian]

The northern/southern European dichotomy is an interesting topic. I was actually discussing it with a friend a few days back. We think it comes down to two things.

1) Climate. Northern Europe has to kind of buckle down harder due to a shorter growing season and long, harsh winters vying to survive. Leads to a much more to-the-point humorless, uptight, etc. demeanor.

2) Exposure. Much of southern Europe lies on the Mediterranean which exposes the people to much more social interaction with different peoples. This leads to a more social culture, humor, etc. and also explains the fine culinary tradition of southern Europe compared to northern Europe.

Seriously, what does the north have? Fish and chips? Lutefisk? Sauerkraut and sausages?

Saying that any people is "humorless" is dead wrong. There's simply different ways of showing your humor, and Northern Europeans have a bit more subtle humor, which might pass completely over the heads of some outsiders.

 

[Draehl]

Saying that any people is "humorless" is dead wrong. There's simply different ways of showing your humor, and Northern Europeans have a bit more subtle humor, which might pass completely over the heads of some outsiders.

I'm of northern European stock myself and would probably fit that description better than the American one, wasn't meant to offend.

 

[Tonka Time]

My grandfather is from Austria and makes jokes every once and a while. Other than that he is usually serious. He doesn't immediatly get it if I use sarcastic humor. I can really only tell when he's joking if he's laughing. The jokes usually arn't funny at all otherwise.

 

[King Richard]

Ze Germans are too busy engineering greatness while everyone else is circle jerking. T'would be my guess as to why they are seemingly the serious type.

 

[-CC-]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Wherever I go in Europe, I always receive heartwarming laughter from my dead baby jokes.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

I knew a dude from Finland who struck me as strange with his sense of humor. He found things that no one else found funny as hilarious. This was back in the days when smoking in an American bar was legal. I made a joke about stealing the ashtray and he fucking lost it. Like it was the funniest thing he ever heard. I'm not sure if he just had his own bizarre sense of humor of it was a Finnish thing.

 

[challenge_everything]

I like the Eastern European sense of humour, it's really off the wall, politically incorrect, frequently black.

 

[Blind Guardian]

I'm of northern European stock myself and would probably fit that description better than the American one, wasn't meant to offend.

I don't think different kinds of humor are equal in quality for that matter, even if everyone has a sense of humor. I don't laugh at southern European humor, and they don't laugh at mine. The difference, however, is that I tend to understand or 'see through' their humor, but they don't understand mine, and therefore I think my Swedish sense of humor is also better. The clip below is insanely funny to me, while an Italian would probably go "huh?".

 

[Tonka Time]

I don't think different kinds of humor are equal in quality for that matter, even if everyone has a sense of humor. I don't laugh at southern European humor, and they don't laugh at mine. The difference, however, is that I tend to understand or 'see through' their humor, but they don't understand mine, and therefore I think my Swedish sense of humor is also better. The clip below is insanely funny to me, while an Italian would probably go "huh?".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJuEnww9Xw8

Looked like someone struggling to tell a story while awkwardly smiling....

I can see the humor in what happened, but the story by itself is not really worthy of more than a smirk.

Like if the video was of the man asking for a bucket and the other guy replying with "I've made a crossbow" it would be funny, but instead it's just the guy telling what happened.

Reminded me of this for some reason:



I find that similarity in humor is the biggest part for me in becoming good friends with someone offline.

 

[damnromulans]

Different cultures have different "mainstream" ideas of what's funny, but I think a lot of things are up to the individual's sense of humor and unrelated to culture.

The funniest things to me, aside from base poo jokes, are awkward and uncomfortable situations like in the show "Peep Show."

 

[Cronopio]

I have a simple rule. If I laugh, it's funny. I am Swedish. That is no laughing matter, btw.