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Introduction to language variation
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KOREAN CULTURE REPORT - HUMOR
I was the “funny guy” in my clique of high school friends. Ever since I learned to read English, I enjoyed reading and collecting joke books. I exhausted every single joke book from the small community library in town. Riddles, jokes about animals and wildlife, reasons why I didn’t do my homework, lawyer jokes, and later on, ethnic jokes. I knew they were funny, but I wanted more. Perhaps it was my lack of physical achievements that made me obsess with a need to entertain my peers.
My return to Korea in the summer of 2001 was nothing short of a culture shock. I was in a country I thought I had learned by heart. It was the country I always rooted my identity and pride from. I wasn’t ready for the shock. I was wrong about Korea. What was worse, I was wrong about myself: I wasn’t funny! I was miserable and lonely, my social compass was spinning, and I desperately sought to adjust to a more “acceptable” form of myself. Coming full circle to securing a decent grip on the culture of my “fatherland” took five, maybe eight years. But I still wasn’t funny. At least not in Korean, anyway.
I had to continue trying.. How could I be funny in one language and culture, and not be in another language and culture? Best I could muster was slapstick and self-deprecation. Begging for laughs was clearly the only option left. Simultaneously, hearing my native Korean peers crack jokes that to me were horrendously unfunny, and generally being unable to partake in the joy of Korean TV shows and dramas, was also very discouraging. I often felt excluded and incomplete as a Korean trying to fit back in.
I was not alone in that experience, as many of my third-culture- peers shared such failures in delivering punchlines cr...
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...idiculing them just enough to make ourselves feel better.
Studies have shown that cultures that score high on the uncertainty avoidance prefer explicit, uncomplicated jokes. Uncertain avoidance was very high in Korea, and it is apparent in Korean television in general, as it leaves so little to ruminate or create secondary content from. Anecdotally, I feel that this preference for easy-to-consume humor manifested in the form of repeated delivery in comedy, and its ongoing success.
My observations on popular Korean humor end here. I tried to make more sense of what I cannot fully understand, and try to leave it at that. Much, if not all of the logic and reasonings in this report are based solely on anecdotal evidence gathered by me over the past dozen years. I hope it helps others understand Korean humor better, and maybe even appreciate it to laugh along.
This shows how complex Japanese and Korean interactions with each other are during this time period, because on one hand many people are experiencing extreme racism such as vulgar racism, while here a Japanese person is treating a Korean person with respect and kindness. This shows how nothing is black and white when interacting with people, however it can also be credited for this period of cultural rule and the government’s effort at assimilation with Koreans and Japanese. Kang Pyongju’s experience differs from Ulsu’s experience in which he did not have a close relationship with his business partner, however, the relationship he had with his work was subtle and affective racism where he observed racism and how it disenfranchise him and his people throughout his work. For example, he noticed that now the Bank of Agriculture now decided to let Koreans apply which benefited him and any other Koreans, however it has its flaw when the bank selected more Japanese than Koreans, regardless of how qualified a Korean is. He also noticed that although it appeared as if the salaries for both Japanese and Korean bank managers appeared to be the same, Japanese people received
Clark, Donald N. "1. The Story of the Korean People." Culture and Customs of Korea. Santa
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
“Everyone has a sense of humor. If you don't laugh at jokes, you probably laugh at opinions.” Once said an American poet, essayist, and existentialist philosopher Criss Jami, Killosophy. I also believe that humor and laugh play a big role in our lives. However, there are two types of people’s personality; people who understand humor and more open minded, and those who just cannot get it, and that, in my opinion, just makes their live harder. The article, “That’s Not Funny” by Caitlin Flanagan, is talking about college students that are not allowed to joke because of comedians restrictiveness in what they are talking
Elon Gold is a white, American comedian, he has a comedy special called, Chosen & Taken, in which, he, like many other comedians has a few jokes that he tells in his act, of which are solely based on different accents and or dialects of English as well as a few other languages. Mock language is best described by the definition of mock “to laugh at or make fun of (someone or something) especially by copying an action or a way of behaving or speaking”(Mock). Mock language is the combination of mocking someone specifically in the act of using their language or dialect as an example. Throughout this paper I will be analyzing how comedians (examples by Elon Gold) use Mock Languages in acts and why we find this funny, and not as offensive
Humor is more than just amusing entertainment to pass the time. Though jokes and witty banter can be shallow, humor can go deeper than surface level to convey messages to audiences who would otherwise be close-minded about certain ideas. Humor is a great tool to get audiences to change the way they think, feel, and act. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” Alexander Weinstein uses humor to criticize some of society’s faults such as the way it has become heavily reliant on technology, racially insensitive, and judgmental.
3. Apte, Mahadev L. Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1985.
Soh, C. S. (2001). South Korea. In C. R. Ember & M. Ember (Eds.), Countries and Their Cultures (
Australian humour is very unique to Australia, and many other cultures find it quite unusual. It can be described as dry, anti-authoritarian, self-mocking, very ironic and as to stretch the boundaries of what is acceptable. Our humour is seen through our use of slang, print cartoons, radio sketches, comedy series’ on television, films, everyday life and in Australian literature. According to the Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus , humour means, “The quality of being funny; the ability to appreciate or express that which is humorous; situations, speech or writings that are humorous”. Due to its unique qualities, it will become apparent that Australian humour is quiet different to that of America and England and other nations. To highlight the importance of humour through the development of Australian identity, five main elements have been identified. These are, the part Australian humour plays in Australian identity, its unique qualities, its integral part in the Australian identity, the role of humour in times of great hardship and other nation’s perceptions of Australian humour. It is through these elements that it will become evident that humour is an important part of the development of the Australian identity.
The mo lei tau culture can be referred to a type of humor that includes a variety of irrelevant elements and nonsense. The culture can be found earliest in the 1990s films, especially in Stephen Chow’s films. According to Farce, Pathos, and Absurdity in Stephen Chow's Film Comedies: From Beijing with Love and CJ7 Reconsidered by YU, K.W.E. (2010), a lot of Stephen Chow’s jokes and gags that are classified as mo lei tau are considered rather “low-down” because they are silly or vulgar and not generally acceptable. These kinds of mo lei tau jokes also appeared in Vulgaria, as the main characters are requested to have intercourse with a mule to get a movie deal. Just like some of Stephen Chow’s movies, some people also view Vulgaria as a film that cannot attract audience with taste; however, these kinds of movie included humor that only Hong Kong people can understand. The dialogue and setting of these films are familiar to Hong Kong people, some of the jokes inside the films do not have explanation and foreigners may not understand them when they are watching the film. Mo lei tau culture are deeply rooted in Hong Kong, jokes and gags that appeared in films will soon become a trend to include in daily
In my opinion, everyone has a right to feel comfortable with a comedic act, and not feel as though their culture, appearance, etc. is the main subject of comedy. If a comedian only seems to be able to make jokes about one subject, perhaps they should not be hired, as it seems as if they are only scrutinizing one group of people. In addition, if certain jokes are considered very harsh about another person’s culture, or even hateful, I believe it is then considered off limits. On the other hand, there is a line where one or two jokes about a group of people can be acceptable. I am not saying comedic acts should be filled with jokes regarding a specific group, but I believe college students have simply become too oversensitive to a joke here or there, as they seem to not be able to take a joke and move on.
Language or the way in which words are used is one of the most important components of a comedy. Through an intelligent use of word play and the ability to add
In this interview Ben Bagley asks Theresa Han about the difference between Korean and American culture. Theresa is a teenager who recently moved to the United States so she has an excellent perspective for understanding the differences and similarities between these countries.
In the study, ten random people are chosen as informants for the interview. Based on the results, all of them agreed that Filipino humor is something that is innate to us. Meaning to say, the constitution of Filipino humor is independent of any external influences. In addition to this, data results showed that the Filipino humor is one that is anchored in the personal level – that is, Filipino humor emanates from within the self. This is where the “kapwa” as the core concept of Sikolohiyang Pilipino comes into picture. Kapwa is the unity of the “self” and the “others” (Enriquez, 1992). If Filipinos find a joke funny, it is because it is something that they can easily relate to. The two most popular themes of Filipino humor are political themes and themes that have something to do with physical appearances and physical defects. According to Romero (n.d. as cited in Lapeña, 2012), firing back at the authority with the use of humor showcases the Filipino values like “hiya” and