What’s funny
by Chuck
Dan used a lot of humor in his speech. Whenever there was someone not a native to the U.S. present, he or she was the only one not amused. Since they were not raised in our culture, the gist of what Dan was saying went over their head. The most interesting man in the world, the commercial says, has inside jokes with foreigners, which is truly, truly amazing. He indeed must be the most interesting and worldly being alive to have inside jokes with someone from a totally different culture. Seven years in England acclimatized me to their way of life..a little. After 7 years there I still believe it is true that ‘we are divided by the barrier of a common language’. When I first arrived nothing was funny. Oh ‘Fawlty Towers’ was funny, but that would be funny in any language. They didn’t tell inside jokes on that show or write scenes that a foreigner wouldn’t understand. “Nice dog “ says the slightly senile Colonel to a lady holding a dog in her arms in the hotel bar. ‘What breed is it?’. ‘It’s a little Shi Tsu’, replies the lady. “Yes, but what breed is it?”, repeats the Colonel. That’s funny, I don’t care where you’re from.
In the 18th Century London, the east end of London, due to government over regulation and poverty in general , there arose a community of crime. The whole community, in order to make their way in life, developed a liberal interpretation of ‘legal’. The entire London East End was ‘on the fiddle’, surviving any way they could, and attempting to stay one jump ahead of the ‘coppers’ or ‘crushers’ as they were referred to, by evolving a language, a code, as it were, that no one but them understood, especially the Police. Cockney slang was born. Specifically Cockney rhyming slang; enduring through the ages to even be included in literature, and eventually become part of the language. Lady from Bristol: pistol, apples and pears: stairs. After these expressions evolved into common usage in East London, and indeed extending eventually throughout entire city, and eventually, the world including the police community, they started getting abbreviated. Loaf of Bread: Head became simply ‘loaf’, Hair: Barnet Fair morphed to Barnet, Mince pies: Eyes to Minces, porky pies: lies became porkies and so on.
The Dan observation reinforced itself several years after returning to the US from England. While watching a movie, I forget which one, but it was a typical family movie in a theater with the family , in one particular scene, a rather buxom young lady paraded herself through the brass doors of an expensive hotel. As she passed, the hotel doorman leaned forward and whispered directly at her:”Nice bristols”. I was taken completely by surprise and almost rolled out of my chair. I then realized, after noticing others watching me with quizzical looks, that I was the only one in the entire theater laughing. It became apparent to me that if anyone in that theater had spent any time in London, it was only as a tourist. Bristol Cities: titties.
by Chuck
Dan used a lot of humor in his speech. Whenever there was someone not a native to the U.S. present, he or she was the only one not amused. Since they were not raised in our culture, the gist of what Dan was saying went over their head. The most interesting man in the world, the commercial says, has inside jokes with foreigners, which is truly, truly amazing. He indeed must be the most interesting and worldly being alive to have inside jokes with someone from a totally different culture. Seven years in England acclimatized me to their way of life..a little. After 7 years there I still believe it is true that ‘we are divided by the barrier of a common language’. When I first arrived nothing was funny. Oh ‘Fawlty Towers’ was funny, but that would be funny in any language. They didn’t tell inside jokes on that show or write scenes that a foreigner wouldn’t understand. “Nice dog “ says the slightly senile Colonel to a lady holding a dog in her arms in the hotel bar. ‘What breed is it?’. ‘It’s a little Shi Tsu’, replies the lady. “Yes, but what breed is it?”, repeats the Colonel. That’s funny, I don’t care where you’re from.
In the 18th Century London, the east end of London, due to government over regulation and poverty in general , there arose a community of crime. The whole community, in order to make their way in life, developed a liberal interpretation of ‘legal’. The entire London East End was ‘on the fiddle’, surviving any way they could, and attempting to stay one jump ahead of the ‘coppers’ or ‘crushers’ as they were referred to, by evolving a language, a code, as it were, that no one but them understood, especially the Police. Cockney slang was born. Specifically Cockney rhyming slang; enduring through the ages to even be included in literature, and eventually become part of the language. Lady from Bristol: pistol, apples and pears: stairs. After these expressions evolved into common usage in East London, and indeed extending eventually throughout entire city, and eventually, the world including the police community, they started getting abbreviated. Loaf of Bread: Head became simply ‘loaf’, Hair: Barnet Fair morphed to Barnet, Mince pies: Eyes to Minces, porky pies: lies became porkies and so on.
The Dan observation reinforced itself several years after returning to the US from England. While watching a movie, I forget which one, but it was a typical family movie in a theater with the family , in one particular scene, a rather buxom young lady paraded herself through the brass doors of an expensive hotel. As she passed, the hotel doorman leaned forward and whispered directly at her:”Nice bristols”. I was taken completely by surprise and almost rolled out of my chair. I then realized, after noticing others watching me with quizzical looks, that I was the only one in the entire theater laughing. It became apparent to me that if anyone in that theater had spent any time in London, it was only as a tourist. Bristol Cities: titties.
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