One of the challenges of an esl learner is to understand double sense and puns, humour in general. Humour is a phenomenon which is influenced by culture. It can be difficult to determine what aspects define a certain sense of humour. A nation’s wit is linked to the historical development of the country.
A student of English as a second language will probably find American humour easier than, for example, British humour. While the former seems to be more "down-the-line", the last has to be read "between-lines" . 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.When Americans use irony they tend to state that they were “only kidding”. They feel the need to make a joke more obvious than Brits do, maybe this stems from a fear of offending people.
The following activity will show you the difference between American humour and British humour:
Watch the following video and try to get double sense words:
Think in terms of register and the context of the conversation. What seems to be out-of-place? What context could this conversation be found in?
Now, have a look at this other sketch from the Simpsons:
Where are the funny things? Was it easier to understand?
