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**SOgLak** · 09-09-2006, 08:00 AM

Marieke, I deleted my "who cares" comment. But yes I do agree that knowing what makes different cultures laugh is interesting and possibly important. However, as soon as you start analysing a joke it inevitably loses the one thing that made it funny in the first place - sponteneity.

It is an interesting topic because there seem to be profound differences between what is funny to (say) Americans and (say) British people. They both speak the same language (sort of) but laugh at completely different things. For example I am a Kiwi of British descent and can watch an American comedy programme on TV and see almost nothing funny in it, but a UK programme like "Fawlty Towers" will have me rolling on the floor. Why is that? Because over the last 150 years our cultures have been moulded by different social and ethnic forces. Does this mean that northern Thais laugh at differentr things from central or southern Thais? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was so. I have seen some indication that urban Thais laugh at different things than rural Thais.

09-09-2006, 08:00 AM	#20
SOgLak Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 377 Senior Member	Marieke, I deleted my "who cares" comment. But yes I do agree that knowing what makes different cultures laugh is interesting and possibly important. However, as soon as you start analysing a joke it inevitably loses the one thing that made it funny in the first place - sponteneity. It is an interesting topic because there seem to be profound differences between what is funny to (say) Americans and (say) British people. They both speak the same language (sort of) but laugh at completely different things. For example I am a Kiwi of British descent and can watch an American comedy programme on TV and see almost nothing funny in it, but a UK programme like "Fawlty Towers" will have me rolling on the floor. Why is that? Because over the last 150 years our cultures have been moulded by different social and ethnic forces. Does this mean that northern Thais laugh at differentr things from central or southern Thais? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was so. I have seen some indication that urban Thais laugh at different things than rural Thais.
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