Over 50's clubs reopen after CV 19

[Gweilo]

Thses are not my words, but I feel they are more elequant than what I write.
It’s often dangerous to generalize, but under threat, I would say that Americans are more “down the line.” They don’t hide their hopes and fears. They applaud ambition and openly reward success. Brits are more comfortable with life’s losers. We embrace the underdog until it’s no longer the underdog. We like to bring authority down a peg or two. Just for the hell of it. Americans say, “have a nice day” whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourselves it’s because 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. 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.”
There’s a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don’t get irony. This is of course not true. But what is true is that they don’t use it all the time. It shows up in the smarter comedies but Americans don’t use it as much socially as Brits. We use it as liberally as prepositions in every day speech. We tease our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out.This can sometimes be perceived as nasty if the recipients aren’t used to it. It isn’t. It’s play fighting. It’s almost a sign of affection if we like you, and ego bursting if we don’t.

You just have to know which one it is.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

So a couple things wrong in here. Going to point those out, rather than the ones that are iffy, or that I partially agree with (I don't fully agree with any).

Also, I'm aware these aren't your words, but they seem to be your sentiment, so I'm responding to them as if you wrote them.

. Brits are more comfortable with life’s losers. We embrace the underdog until it’s no longer the underdog.

Americans as a whole are literally obsessed with the underdog. It's why cinderella stories sell so well. Hell, rocky was a huge underdog (who even was a 'loser' in the first film), and he's an american icon.

We like to bring authority down a peg or two. Just for the hell of it.

America is built on the idea of bringing down authority. That was the idea of the american revolution. It's why all the riots are going on now. It's littered throughout our history between the two.

Americans say, “have a nice day” whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourselves it’s because 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. This is due to our upbringing.

We're not celebrating anything too soon when we are saying it. We're hoping that they will have a nice day. I'm also not sure how Brits are more likely to experience failure and disappointment than Americans.

There’s a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don’t get irony. This is of course not true. But what is true is that they don’t use it all the time. It shows up in the smarter comedies but Americans don’t use it as much socially as Brits. We use it as liberally as prepositions in every day speech. We tease our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important.

I don't know about everyone else on here, but my group of friends (and probably each group that I've had) use irony and sarcasm as our main humor base. Obviously everyone is different, but that's been my experience.

Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out.This can sometimes be perceived as nasty if the recipients aren’t used to it. It isn’t. It’s play fighting. It’s almost a sign of affection if we like you, and ego bursting if we don’t.

You just have to know which one it is.

This sounds more like a class thing than a country thing, although I can't say for certain. It also sounds as if you're confusing self-deprecation with deprecating others.

Since you stated earlier you weren't stereotyping Americans, I just want to point out-this entire post is stereotyping. Also keep in mind stereotypes aren't inherently bad.

I've also noticed, and this is stereotyping as well, that british people (at least those I've interacted with in person and online) seem to have a superiority complex towards americans about a couple things, and one of the biggest is humor. They'll never be direct about it, but it's obvious when they discuss it.

 

[dvcochran]

Yeah he isn't exactly John cleese who flagshiped the idea you don't have to be liked to be funny.

And the opposite it true, you don't have to be funny to be liked.

 

[Steve]

Yeah. But @Gweilo ,why are you guys crapping your pants on the coach? Come on. Thats to random to be fiction. I have to hear the story.

 

[Gweilo]

Yeah. But @Gweilo ,why are you guys crapping your pants on the coach? Come on. Thats to random to be fiction. I have to hear the story.

It wasn't me but a friend, many years ago, early 90's, I used to play football (soccer) for a local sunday team, at the end of the season, we used to have a team day out, players, manager and their families, this particular year, we went to Alton Towers theme park. Just to help you understand a bit, the west country (England) the most common alcoholic beverage of choice is Cider, most of you would of seen the regular cider, amber coloured liquid, carbonated, refreshing on hot days, some of you may of heard of Scrumpy cider, a cloudy more traditional cider, but what you probably have not heard of is rough cider, made entirly of apple juice not filtered, not additives, so needs to be drank within 4 or 5 days, or it turns vinagery. Whilst your regular cider comes in at 4 to 6% abv, scrumpy comes in at 6 to 8% abv, rough cider, its made out on the farms, so its what the farmer says it is for alcohol duty purposes, the was recently a farmer prosecuted because on the label he placed on the container he declared 6%, but when tested it actually came in at 14%, so its all fruit and pot luck on the strength. My friend Darren, family man, works hard, soccer weekends, good at d.i.y, but on holidays, or weekends away, its drinking, this particular day, Darren and his brother in law had been out into deepest Somerset, and bought a few gallons of rough cider for the coach trip to Alton towers, and passed out paper cups of this cider that can only be discribed as a thick orange soup, that tasted like battery acid, passed through grandads old lucky fishing socks, that aint been washed for 40 years, we reached Alton Towers, throughout the day, attractions were riden, inbetween trips to the bar, burgers, doughnuts. At the end of the day, a few of us were pretty worse for ware, on the coach on way home Darren produced a create of Guiness, which they proceed to consume on the way home, as you can imagine, grown men, drunk, in a confined area, we can be pretty childish, there is a tradition in the UK, that drunk men play fart wars, crack a joke, let one rip etc, when it came to Darrens turn, he put a bit too much effort into it, the strained look on his face turned to panic, we made him an emergency pair of underpants out of Tesco carrier bags, until 30 mins or so, we reached the motorway services. And seeing a drunk man trying to wash his underpants and shorts, then dry them with the hand dryers in the 15 mins he had, with 8 or 9 drunk blokes laughing at him, put this trip into local legend.

 

[JR 137]

It wasn't me but a friend, many years ago, early 90's, I used to play football (soccer) for a local sunday team, at the end of the season, we used to have a team day out, players, manager and their families, this particular year, we went to Alton Towers theme park. Just to help you understand a bit, the west country (England) the most common alcoholic beverage of choice is Cider, most of you would of seen the regular cider, amber coloured liquid, carbonated, refreshing on hot days, some of you may of heard of Scrumpy cider, a cloudy more traditional cider, but what you probably have not heard of is rough cider, made entirly of apple juice not filtered, not additives, so needs to be drank within 4 or 5 days, or it turns vinagery. Whilst your regular cider comes in at 4 to 6% abv, scrumpy comes in at 6 to 8% abv, rough cider, its made out on the farms, so its what the farmer says it is for alcohol duty purposes, the was recently a farmer prosecuted because on the label he placed on the container he declared 6%, but when tested it actually came in at 14%, so its all fruit and pot luck on the strength. My friend Darren, family man, works hard, soccer weekends, good at d.i.y, but on holidays, or weekends away, its drinking, this particular day, Darren and his brother in law had been out into deepest Somerset, and bought a few gallons of rough cider for the coach trip to Alton towers, and passed out paper cups of this cider that can only be discribed as a thick orange soup, that tasted like battery acid, passed through grandads old lucky fishing socks, that aint been washed for 40 years, we reached Alton Towers, throughout the day, attractions were riden, inbetween trips to the bar, burgers, doughnuts. At the end of the day, a few of us were pretty worse for ware, on the coach on way home Darren produced a create of Guiness, which they proceed to consume on the way home, as you can imagine, grown men, drunk, in a confined area, we can be pretty childish, there is a tradition in the UK, that drunk men play fart wars, crack a joke, let one rip etc, when it came to Darrens turn, he put a bit too much effort into it, the strained look on his face turned to panic, we made him an emergency pair of underpants out of Tesco carrier bags, until 30 mins or so, we reached the motorway services. And seeing a drunk man trying to wash his underpants and shorts, then dry them with the hand dryers in the 15 mins he had, with 8 or 9 drunk blokes laughing at him, put this trip into local legend.

How’s that funny? Is it because I’m not British and don’t get British humor? Am I not sophisticated?

 

[Steve]

How’s that funny? Is it because I’m not British and don’t get British humor? Am I not sophisticated?

have to say, I actually laughed out loud when I read, "Am I not sophisticated?" The very idea that one must be sophisticated to "get it" is inherently laughable. Witty? Sure. Clever? Sometimes.

But British humor is mostly pretty low brow, even the clever stuff. Even in this thread, @Gweilo 's shared several examples of some admittedly funny stuff. But it's all basically scat humor. R. Soles shoe stores and drunk friends crapping themselves. Funny? Sure. Sophisticated? That's funny.

 

[Gweilo]

Even in this thread, @Gweilo 's shared several examples of some admittedly funny stuff. But it's all basically scat humor.

What can I say, welcome to my world, but its funny how you only found the scat bits funny, which suggests IMO, you do not have a sophistcated sense of humour, if you do have a sophisticated sense of humour, explain the following cartoon.

 

[Steve]

What can I say, welcome to my world, but its funny how you only found the scat bits funny, which suggests IMO, you do not have a sophistcated sense of humour, if you do have a sophisticated sense of humour, explain the following cartoon.

View attachment 23060

Well, as i said, I like British humor. So, yeah, it's a little unsophisticated.

 

[Steve]

 

[Steve]

Thses are not my words, but I feel they are more elequant than what I write.
It’s often dangerous to generalize, but under threat, I would say that Americans are more “down the line.” They don’t hide their hopes and fears. They applaud ambition and openly reward success. Brits are more comfortable with life’s losers. We embrace the underdog until it’s no longer the underdog. We like to bring authority down a peg or two. Just for the hell of it. Americans say, “have a nice day” whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourselves it’s because 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. 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.”
There’s a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don’t get irony. This is of course not true. But what is true is that they don’t use it all the time. It shows up in the smarter comedies but Americans don’t use it as much socially as Brits. We use it as liberally as prepositions in every day speech. We tease our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out.This can sometimes be perceived as nasty if the recipients aren’t used to it. It isn’t. It’s play fighting. It’s almost a sign of affection if we like you, and ego bursting if we don’t.

You just have to know which one it is.

Hey, in other news, I think it's really, really funny that you're actually copy/pasting from an article that was written by Ricky Gervais.

 

[JR 137]

@Gweilo I guess you didn’t get the sarcasm in my previous post. Didn’t you say something about Brits and sarcasm, and we don’t get sarcasm or something? I’d look it up and post it but don’t have the energy nor inclination.

 

[Buka]

We have cooler hats.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I shall not be appologising for my sense of humour, the British have a vastly different sense of humour to Americans, its a sophisticated thing, take the following photo, Americans probably wont get or understand it, but here is a shoe shop in Brighton (thats in England).
View attachment 23052
The Australians will get it. P.s it is a real shop.

Somehow, I don't say it right in my head with the dot. When I looked at the URL, I immediately heard it in my head the right way.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

A sense of humour is unique to an individual, like MA, it can have similarities, but it is unique, and just because you do not understand it, does not make it wrong. I have said before, just because Americans keep telling themselves they are the best country in the world, does not make it true. Americans speak English, and for some reason tell the English they have spelt certain words incorrectly (I find that funny), for a country only a couple of hundred years old, how did you become perfect human beings so quickly?

View attachment 23054

How did this become about America?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

That’s not a “sophisticated” thing; it’s dialect. Americans generally don’t use the term ar se (sorry for the spacing, auto-censorship and all). If it was commonly used, then it would be instantly funny to far more of us rather than having to think about it. I’m sure we have many terms Brits (and Aussies, along with others) don’t commonly use and therefore wouldn’t immediately see the pun and find it humorous. It wouldn’t be due to sophistication or a lack there of, but rather being a term that’s not easily thought of.

Eddie Izzard has a bit about being confused by EZ Pass. Made no sense to him, at all.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

We are funnier than we look.

I'm not sure that's even possible for some of us.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

we for example can trip over hurt ourselves get up and laugh about it, as a way to deal with the embaressment, Americans first response to a trip, is probably to find out if they can sue someone, we also use humour to break the ice

I'm not sure you know much more than stereotypes about Americans.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

You’re really stereotyping Americans here, and doing a horrible job of it. Do you honestly think none of us laugh at that stuff and have never laughed at it before? The current state of affairs has really put a damper on what comedians and everyone else can get away with; I’ll grant you that. BLM, Me Too, etc. have really made it tough for comedy nowadays, but that’s quite recent, relatively speaking.

Honestly, your post couldn’t be further from the truth. Especially when you reference the 70s and 80s. One only needs to look at our TV shows, movies, and stand up comedians from back then to see my point.

Heck, a look on Youtube for the pranks construction workers pull on each other in the US will quickly show Americans laughing over their own embarassment (and sometimes minor injuries).

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I don’t need glasses. Perhaps your memory needs jogging...
“My personal opinion there is a difference in what is funny between the USA and the UK, we for example can trip over hurt ourselves get up and laugh about it, as a way to deal with the embaressment, Americans first response to a trip, is probably to find out if they can sue someone...”

Not stereotyping?

“...your at the bar and you see someone from your school days, an American would go up to this person and say Hi, didnt you used to go to saint Bernandino High, Dave isnt it, but the British person would walk up and say hello Dave who the FF cut your hair...”
Not stereotyping?

I find humor in the things in your previous post. I find white trash hillbillies endlessly entertaining. Along with every other group of everyone. Absurdity has no racial, gender, cultural, religious, et al boundaries. Everyone and everything is fair game, first and foremost I am fair game. Anyone who’s ever met me gets that vibe very quickly.

I have plenty of friends and acquaintances from the UK and far more places. Trust me, the humor isn’t much different. Some things are more sacred to others, but those aren’t too many. Funny is funny. Someone getting hit in the nuts is practically always funny, regardless of where they’re from and what language or dialect they speak.

There's a reason so many British shows (Monty Python, a bunch of the BBC comedies, etc.) have strong followings in the US.