Why she doesn’t get your jokes

Researchers discover real reason for east-west irony disconnect

SARCASM WAS INVENTED two and a half millennia ago by a guy called Achish, King of Gath.

His advisors brought David (of Goliath-slaying fame) to him.

Achish rolled his eyes and said, “Thanks, my idiot supply was running low.” (Translated literally in older texts as: “A lack of madman hath I”.)

This was considered such a revolutionary example of wit that it was written down and included in the Bible. I am not making this up. You can find it in 1 Samuel 21.

Thus sarcasm (saying one thing to mean the opposite) was born.
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From that day, witty folk followed the Achish technique. The resultant witticisms were so sharp that Greeks called them “flesh-rippers”. Really. After a few pints of beer on a Friday night, Aristotle would say to his mates, “So, do you really mean that or are you just ripping off my flesh?”

In Greek, flesh-ripping is “sarkazo” and gave us the word “sarcasm”.
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But one of the biggest mysteries of sarcasm – why it is often misunderstood between Asians and Westerners—was solved recently. Different communities give different sarcasm signals, Canadian researchers Henry Cheang and Marc Pell discovered after analyzing recordings.

For example, in Cantonese, sarcasm is expressed by speaking with a higher pitch. In English the opposite is true. So even when they are speaking the same language, each side sends AND receives the wrong signals. Sarcasm is heard as sincerity and vice versa.

This explains why conversations between Edward and Connie, a pair of English / Cantonese friends I know, go like this.

Connie: “I parked on a double yellow line and a traffic warden gave me a parking ticket. JUST what I need.”

Edward: “A fine is just what you need? (Thinks: That’s weird). Yeah, the roads are dangerous places. Yesterday I was done for speeding by motorcycle cops. Life sucks. You can imagine how much I love being stopped by big, authoritarian police officers who treat me like dirt.”

Connie: “You LIKE being treated like dirt? (Thinks: This guy is SO bizarre.) I hate being bullied. Life’s hard enough as it is. This morning, I got three emails from people who want me to lend them money. I opened one after another, and I thought: oh great.”

Edward: “You thought, oh great? (Thinks: This woman is a total weirdo.) Etc, etc.”
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Another little known True Fact on this topic is that one of the people who developed a method of identifying sarcasm was Karl Marx, who was rather more famous for his other little invention, communism. Marx liked to show that he was joking by adding an exclamation mark in brackets after his sentences.

Indeed, it’s my theory that the entire existence of communism is an embarrassing mistake. It was all due to the fact that bracketed exclamation marks are missing from printed versions of Marx’s book, Das Kapital. Originally, it said:

“Communism is a great system that will make this world a rich happy place (!) Yeah right (!) Just try it (!)”

The exclamation marks were missing in the versions of the books that went to China, Russia and Poland. The result was 60 decades of misery and 30 million deaths. Oh well, we all make mistakes.

King Achish would have looked at the book’s proofreaders, slapped his forehead and said, “Our idiot supply is running low.”
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Technorati Tags: sarcasm,humor,Karl Marx

Comments

[Nury]

A request to regular readers/ commentators:

I have been asked to collect examples of humor from groups generally considered (by the west, anyway) to be humorless.

Muslims are number one, of course. People think they are totally unfunny but I know lots of funny Muslims.

But I would also like to find humor from other religions and cultural groups -- does anyone know any examples of specifically Hindu jokes, or Buddhist jokes?

Also, jokes from other subgroups considered to be humorless (such as Mainland Chinese).

Many thanks

[Angela]

Angela: Papa! why are you drinking beer? isn't it forbidden?

Papa: Aiyah! it's night time, Allah cannot see in the dark.

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Angela: Kumar, I am so sorry but I used beef for my spaghetti bolognaise. I can offer you the egg sandwich though.

Kumar: I will take the spaghetti. It's not Indian cow so it's ok.

[fardel]

Didn't this King use too much Hacshich?

France has made Sarcasm a religion
It is now called Sarlozysm.
One can be either "pro or con" (in French in the texte, which translate like one is either for s......... or a fool )

[TS]

Omid Djalili once said that he is the only Iranian comedian in the UK, which is three more than Germany.

[Angela]

You know who is a famous humorist in Germany?

He is this writer from HK - Nury Vittachi :)

Make that plus 1 for the Bavarians.

[Ellen]

I'm impressed. A good one-liner in the Old Testament. Who'd have thought it?!

"my idiot supply is running low"

[Ellen]

Does the koran hve any good one liners, Nury or anyone else?

[Jason]

http://www.jokesunlimited.com/jokes/employee_reviews.html

Some of my favourites:

"This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."

"Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming."

"The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead."

[farah]

Islam is taken very seriously and in my knowledge i've never come across any sort of jokes in the Quran or Hadis.

but the biggest joke being played out with Islam is the terrorist label and recently a ban on the burqa. sure some people do misuse both the religion and the burqa but for some female it's following what's required of a female Muslim. normally a man is required to keep a beard and a woman wear a hijab (that's covering from head to toe) but we dont. but after performing Hajj one is required to follow the post-Hajj rules and regulations.

[Christy]

Funny Muslims? My Arabic teacher is one :) I absolutely adore this crazy Egyptian!

Christy: Dr Abbas Dr Abbas what does allahyisalimik mean literally? (it is the response to "get well soon" or "until we meet again")

Dr Abbas: It means God give you peace, you know anything can happen to you, when you are walking on the street something can fall on your head, or you might get hit by a car, or even in the middle of this lesson the roof can crush your head... (followed by at least 5 other morbid examples)

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Christy: Dr Abbas I sent a card to Cairo!

Dr Abbas: your friend won't get it. The Egyptian postmen, they are lazy so they throw your mail away. When my son got married we sent 50 cards, only 4 people got anything at all. You, no chance.

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Dr Abbas: learn this greeting Assalamu Aleikum, every time you say it Allah will give you one point.

Christy: What about salaam, do I only get half a point for short form?

Dr Abbas: I don't know about Allah but if you say it to me, I will deduct 10 marks from your grade.

[Angela]

Abbas had just completed his immigration card at the airport when he was approached by a Pakistani man who spoke to him in urdu and asked for help to fill up the white card as it was in english and he can't read english. Abbas obliged, fished out his pen and filled up the information as supplied by the man. Finally last box ticked, Abbas is happy to have helped a countryman. As he handed the card back to the man he was shocked to see a long qeueu of Pakistani workers all waiting behind the first guy.

[Mahjuja]

Who's the 'she' here?

[P. B.]

Another very good one!

I particularly liked the bit about Marx.

Shortly after the Berlin wall fell I visited East Berlin with a German friend who lived in West Berlin ( many of of the buildings still had the bullet holes from WW 2 in their walls......... can you believe that ? )

In a prominent plaza there was a statue of Karl Marx on a 4 -sided plinth. On each side of the plinth someone had written in neat graffiti an epithet to Mr K . I forget what 2 of them were, but the other 2 were: " Sorry ... I got it wrong"

" See you at the unemployment office"

[Angela]

Legend has it, this is what really happened during the last supper of Jesus and his 12 apostles.

Jesus: .....one of you will betray me.

Matthew: Is it I master?

Jesus: No, it is not you.

Peter: Is it I master?

Jesus: No, it is not you. But before the cock crows you will deny me three times.

Judas: (with great trepidation) Is it I master?

Jesus: IS IT I?!!! IS IT I?!!! IS IT???!!!

At this point I wish I could show you the facial expression of a sarcastic Jesus.

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I can cite some stories from the new testament when Jesus seems to be answering/speaking in sarcasm but he is a Jew afterall and Jews like to answer a question with a question. I think Jerry Seinfeld said that.

[Nury]

Thanks for the comments, very useful.

I have been emailed a few religious jokes, following my request yesterday, and some of them are quite good.

One Muslim reader wrote to tell me that Mohammad himself had a sense of humor.

An elderly woman came to him with a request: “Pray to Allah for me, that I may enter heaven.”

The prophet replied: “There will be no old women in heaven.”

Bursting into tears, she left the room.

Mohammed told his assistant to run after her with the punchline: “Because old women will be made young again.”

That's not bad for a religious leader.

I've been told that Asians in general, and Muslims in particular, are widely considered to have no sense of humor.

I think it will be very valuable if we can build up a database of muslim, buddhist, hindu etc humor. One writer wrote to me to say that proving that Muslims have a sense of humor may be the single most valuable thing a community like this could do. He has a good point and sent several links showing that the culture gap is considered highly dangerous for global peace.

I may stick a plea into the newspapers next week and see if we can build up a bank of examples of good humor from east to west.

Of course the tricky thing is to make sure that it is not offensive.

Thinking about people I know, I think that Jewish people deserve their reputation for being good-humored, as their jokes are very sharp. And Christians are the most self-deprecating -- they are always telling jokes about themselves and their people.

My father was a serious Muslim but he had a good sense of humor.

I know there are a couple of hindu comedians in town, but I have never seen them in action.

If you could put on your thinking caps and ponder this subject, I'd appreciate it.

[fardel]

I do not believe that Muslims , Chinese or anybody else is different than the rest of the of us.
But Jokes about religion , about peoples' belief can hurt sensitive individuals or communities.
In this cases , humorous stories could slap back at their authors;

But................... but

Under different looks ( skin color, shapes, sizes and languages ) every human is built from the same template.
If a good laugh is good for us,it is good for them ( the ones who did no learn to laugh.... yet.)
We can teach people to laugh and get a good sense of humor.
These columns are the proof that there is no lack of international humor.

I suggest that we start a universal attack on grimness.

[Vaibhav]

Sikhs undoubtedly have the best sense of humour. They often laugh at themselves and that is an appreciable fact.

1 tamil gets on a train full of sikhs(sardars). they ask him to tell a joke and he starts "Once there was a tamil..." a sardar slaps him and says when sardars are alive why are you making jokes about tamils.

[Les]

Im a bit confused from where do people get that muslims are humourless? Im a muslim myself and i laugh at a good joke and so does my other muslims i know. What we dont appreciate is that people taking the mickey out of ones principles and beliefs. It is sensitive to us because what makes you a whole person if you laugh at your own principles in life. Wont you just be laughing at yourself then for believing in it in the first place?? Will you laugh, say, at 'honesty' or 'trustworthyness'.

Im an avid reader of your website and i do enjoy very much the jokes here. But when you started dissing muslims being this, and muslims being that, although most of it are actually local cultures (i donno about other religions), it just shows how much ignorant you are about islam and muslims, eventho you're showing otherwise.

Cheers.