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Re:Getting to Know Americans by holdenc on Monday April 04, 2011 @10:17AM (#2406480)
How about American irony and sarcasm? Here in Asia sarcasm is almost non-existent.

Also, Americans value humor as a way of showing affection for someone. Whereas in Asia displays of servitude are a sign of affection. For example, if I engage in a humorous conversation with you, that means I like you. Even if I don't pour your tea for you!

Re:Getting to Know Americans by arethuza on Monday April 04, 2011 @10:28AM (#2406536)
Actually, by British standards America appears an irony and sarcasm free zone. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but it is very noticeable.
Re:Getting to Know Americans by capstone on Monday April 04, 2011 @11:17AM (#2406806)
It really depends on where you are. America's states are analogous to European countries, albeit with a common language. The cultures are very, very different.
Re:Getting to Know Americans by danieldk on Monday April 04, 2011 @10:36AM (#2406582)
Indeed, but Britain is probably the other extreme. I believe there is only one country that could've produced magnificent material such as Monty Python or Fawlty Towers ;).
Re:Getting to Know Americans by geebee on Monday April 04, 2011 @01:22PM (#2407482)
But what country could have produced "Airplane!", or "O Brother Where Art Thou?"

You could say that something like "Seinfeld" (and "Curb Your Enthusiasm") is more the product of a very unusual subculture (in fact, this is the basis for much of the humor, how poorly new yorkers fit in the rest of US culture), but keep in mind Seinfeld had the highest ratings of any sitcom in US history, so the appeal is obviously very broad.

Re:Getting to Know Americans by arethuza on Monday April 04, 2011 @01:53PM (#2407680)
To be clear I wasn't talking about humor in media - of which there are a lot of excellent examples, but the amount of humor that seems to be part of day to day life.

Incidentally, I wouldn't regard Monty Python as being very representative of "natural" British humor - I'd probably suggest Al Murray in his "Pub Landlord" persona to be far more like the comedy you are likely to encounter in real life (or Frankie Boyle for us Scots).

Re:Getting to Know Americans by bioh42_2 on Monday April 04, 2011 @12:19PM (#2407176)
You know, unlike English some languages have a sarcastic tense.
Re:Getting to Know Americans by nebaneba on Monday April 04, 2011 @01:41PM (#2407598)
Fascinating. Sarcasm is inherent in the grammar? Can you give some examples?

update: searched a bit, cannot find any supporting evidence for bioh42_2's statement.

Re:Getting to Know Americans by bioh42_2 on Tuesday April 05, 2011 @11:31AM (#2411318)
Inferential or renarrative mood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferential_mood

Not always intended as sarcastic, but:

The main body of the news report tends to use the renarrative correctly - but sometimes, again, it is intentionally avoided. (...) This is because, due to its ambiguity, the renarrative in such cases could be perceived as a passing of judgement or expression of doubt by the reporter...

Re:Getting to Know Americans by jarin on Monday April 04, 2011 @02:59PM (#2407985)
He used it in his post, you must have missed it.
Re:Getting to Know Americans by burgerbrain on Monday April 04, 2011 @01:59PM (#2407715)
Wouldn't that spoil the humor, similar to how "sarcasm tags" on the internet do?
Re:Getting to Know Americans by paylesworth on Monday April 04, 2011 @11:19AM (#2406825)
I agree. American humor can be pretty tame by comparison http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2011/01/golden_globes...
Re:Getting to Know Americans by crasshopper on Monday April 04, 2011 @12:05PM (#2407102)
It really shows up in British vs American versions of "The Office" television show. The American boss is more likeable than Ricky Gervais, and the show's tone is cheerier.
Re:Getting to Know Americans by autarch on Monday April 04, 2011 @12:46PM (#2407302)
I think that's also because the American show was intended to last longer. Ricky Gervais' character was truly repellent, and probably wouldn't have been tolerable for 7 seasons.

FWIW, I think both versions have their charms.

Re:Getting to Know Americans by bdhe on Monday April 04, 2011 @11:59AM (#2407070)
I've noticed people from the Indian subcontinent tend to be a lot more sarcastic than Americans. I wonder if it is a relic of the British colonization.
Re:Getting to Know Americans by FraaJad on Monday April 04, 2011 @12:18PM (#2407170)
Definitely not. They were not here long enough and did not interact with enough people to have that influence.

Most of the sarcastic comments, the tone and the nature of sarcasm does not even parse for a westerner.

In fact you will see a lot of Indian language sarcasm directly "translated" to English leading to hilarious situations.

British just came, looted and left. It would be good if people stopped attributing every god-damned thing about India to the "British Influence".

Re:Getting to Know Americans by bdhe on Monday April 04, 2011 @01:45PM (#2407634)
> British just came, looted and left. It would be good if people stopped attributing every god-damned thing about India to the "British Influence".

My bad. I just wondered, considering that British humour is a lot dryer than American humour. I apologize if my comment was misconstrued in anyway.

Re:Getting to Know Americans by FraaJad on Monday April 04, 2011 @01:53PM (#2407682)
Sorry for being a little harsh there.

At the height of British occupation , there were not more than 1700(!) British people at the same time on the Indian subcontinent. Which itself is a fantastic testament to the British Raj's bureaucratic machinery. The English education was an instrument in creating that machinery.

Re:Getting to Know Americans by arethuza on Monday April 04, 2011 @02:15PM (#2407765)
That's a surprisingly low number - the Wikipedia page on the Raj gives a count of 125,945 Britains in India in 1861 of which 84,083 were in the Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj

Re:Getting to Know Americans by FraaJad on Monday April 04, 2011 @02:29PM (#2407844)
thanks for the citation. I had a feeling that 1700 was too low a number.
Re:Getting to Know Americans by known on Monday April 04, 2011 @02:46PM (#2407921)
Sarcasm and hypocrisy are inbuilt by birth in https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Caste_system_...
Re:Getting to Know Americans by bioh42_2 on Monday April 04, 2011 @12:12PM (#2407140)
Bingo. Speaking as someone who was once a foreign student, generic descriptions of what Americans are like are almost useless.

What is very valuable is to describe them in terms of how they are different from your culture.

Thus compared to Asia they are very sarcastic, and compared to Britain hardly at all.