Anthropology approach

There is a lot of information about English Sense of Humour. Many British people seem to consider their sense of humour to be unique and superior to everyone else’s. They believe that they have a sort of global monopoly, if not on humour itself, but at least on certain aspects of humour – the high-class ones such as wit and especially irony. But the most distinctive feature is the value they put on humour, the importance of humour in British culture and social interactions.

In other cultures, there is ‘a time and place’ for humour; it is a special, separate kind of talk. In British conversation there is always an undercurrent of humour.

Most British conversations involve at least some degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humorous self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness. During any negotiations, one can notice some kind of humour, because British people cannot switch it off. Humour became a cultural equivalent of natural laws. It became a part of their life.

One of the distinguishing features of the English humour is its classless. The ban on earnestness, the rules of irony, understatement and Self-deprecation are obeyed by all class levels. All these rules are universally understood and accepted.

The importance of not being earnest rule

The English humour is probably more acutely sensitive than any other nation’s humour. The importance of not being earnest rule should be understood if the person really wants to get to know British psyche. According to this rule, seriousness is acceptable, solemnity is prohibited, sincerity is allowed, and earnestness is forbidden. If the person is not able to grasp the distinction between ‘serious’ and ‘solemn’, between ‘sincerity’ and ‘earnestness he will never understand the British – and even if he speaks the language fluently, he will never feel or appear entirely at home in conversation with the British, because the behavioural ‘grammar’ will be full of glaring errors.

‘Serious matters can be spoken of seriously, but one must never take oneself too seriously’. The ability to laugh at themselves, although it may be rooted in a form of arrogance, is one of the most interesting and endearing characteristics of the British. So any speech of any famous person should not be enormously solemn otherwise it fail and be blamed.

Irony

Some British people are consider that they have a better, more exquisite, more developed sense of humour than any other nation, and specifically that other nations are all tediously literal in their thinking and incapable of understanding or appreciation irony. Humour is universal, irony is a universally important ingredient of humour. No single culture can possibly claim a monopoly on it. But it is the dominant ingredient not only in English humour but also in British people’s life. The British are conceived in irony. It became a constant, a normal element of ordinary, everyday conversation. Some foreigners claim that it is very hard to understand when British people are joking or not. But they should remember that ‘the British may not always be joking, but they are always in a state of readiness for humour’. They do not always say the opposite of what they mean, but they are always alert to the possibility of irony.

The understatement rule

The understatement is a form of irony, rather than a distinct and separate type of humour. It is by no means an exclusively British form of humour. The British are rightly renowned for their use of understatement, because they do it so much so it became a way of their life. Their strict prohibitions on earnestness, gushing, emoting and boasting require almost constant use of understatement. The understatement rule means that a debilitating and painful chronic illness must be described as ‘a bit of nuisance’; a truly horrific experience is ’well, not exactly what I would have chosen’, a sight of breathtaking beauty is ‘quite pretty’; outstanding performance is ‘not bad’ and so on.

Needless to say, the British understatement is another trait that many foreign visitors find utterly bewildering and infuriating. This is the problem of English humour. It is not actually very funny and even the British, who understand it, are nit exactly riotously amused by the understatement. It only raises a slight smirk, because it is a restrained, refined, subtle form of humour.

Every understatement is a little private joke about Britishness and the British may probably be laughing at themselves for doing so.

Even those foreigners who appreciate the English understatement and find it amusing cannot use it themselves. The understatement ‘comes naturally’, it is deeply ingrained in British culture and British psyche.

Self-deprecation rule

Like the British understatement, British self-deprecation can be seen a form of irony. It usually involves not genuine modesty, but saying the opposite of what person really means or what he intends people to understand.

It doesn’t mean that the English are naturally more modest and self-effacing than other nations, but they have strict rules about the appearance of modesty. These include both ‘negative’ rules, such as prohibitions on boasting and any form of self-importance, and ‘positive’ rules, actively prescribing self-deprecation and self-mockery. The very abundance of these unwritten rules suggests that the British are not naturally or instinctively modest, but they place a high value on modesty, they aspire to modesty. The modesty they actually display is generally ironic.

They play by the rules, deal with the embarrassment of success and prestige by making a self-denigrating joke out of it all, as is their custom. There is nothing extraordinary or remarkable about it, they are just being British. They do it automatically, all the time.

The problems arise when The British attempt to use self-deprecation rule with people outside their culture, who do not understand the rules, fail to appreciate the irony, and therefore have an unfortunate tendency to take British self-deprecating statements at face value. But among British, this rule works perfectly well. Everyone understands that the customary self-deprecation probably means roughly the opposite of what is said, and is duly impressed, both by one’s achievements and by one’s reluctance to trumpet them.

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