I think you hosers are too close to the Brits. As a frequent sufferer from excessive dryness on the humor front, though, I can sympathize. On that note, an article that was titled "Irony as a weapon" on the index page, economist.com
Tee hee economist.com
British self-regard on the subject of humour is hilarious
THAT Britain lags behind America in trivia such as productivity, innovation, entrepreneurship and higher education worries few people. That the national sense of humour is supposedly hugely more sophisticated, by contrast, is a source of great pride. This week the Daily Mirror, the country's second-biggest tabloid, published an extraordinary apology to Steve Bing, a Hollywood film producer, who had tangled with a popular British actress last year. The paper had treated Mr Bing fairly robustly, even by the standards of the British gutter press. He sued for $40m.
This week, the Mirror published what seemed like a parody of a grotesquely grovelling apology—although it in fact used the exact text suggested by Mr Bing's lawyers in lieu of damages. To help any readers inclined to take it seriously, the paper ran a piece on a facing page on “Why Americans can't understand irony or sarcasm”.
It is true that the language used by American (and other) lawyers is almost beyond parody. And it is also true that many foreigners (not only Americans) find the dry, self-deprecating humour favoured by some Brits baffling and unfunny. The Mirror's joke may backfire. Mr Bing's lawyers are extremely unamused and say they may sue again.
The punchline, though, is that the heyday of British comedy is long gone. There are no British shows to match the popularity and sales of American series such as “The Simpsons” and “Seinfeld”. Those patronising witticisms about America are tinged with envy. |
