Being funny in another language or culture is hard. Really hard.
I consider myself to be a bit of a funny person…well actually I consider myself to be a hilarious person! Haha. See there I go, making a funny. It may not come through in my blog, however, I tend to use humour as a way to make friends and let people know they can be relaxed around me. So, with humour as my go to for friendship building I find I’ve got a disadvantage that I don’t have back home in Canada.
I still try to be funny! I try so, so, so hard, but because of these reasons its sometimes a losing battle. Jokes just aren’t funny when:
I consider myself to be a bit of a funny person…well actually I consider myself to be a hilarious person! Haha. See there I go, making a funny. It may not come through in my blog, however, I tend to use humour as a way to make friends and let people know they can be relaxed around me. So, with humour as my go to for friendship building I find I’ve got a disadvantage that I don’t have back home in Canada.
I still try to be funny! I try so, so, so hard, but because of these reasons its sometimes a losing battle. Jokes just aren’t funny when:
The joke requires a mastery of the English language A piece of rope walks into bar after a hard day and orders a beer. The bar tender says, “I can’t give you a beer, you’re a piece of rope!” “Come on man, please?” replies the rope. “No way, get out of here. You’re a piece of rope.” The rope goes out into the alley frustrated. He stomps around, ties himself all up, and ruffles his ends. He then walks back into the bar and orders the bar tender, “give me a beer!” “Hey, aren’t you the piece of rope I just threw out of here?” the bar tender inquires, not buying the new look. “No, I’m a frayed knot!” [No, I’m afraid not] |
You realize its too much of an inside joke and that maybe its not even funny in your own country, but now you’ve told it and have to realize over and over again its not that funny the more you try to explain. This happened at my parents house. I wasn’t even there but my mom emailed me about it and knowing my dad and brother I found this, and still find it, absolutely hilarious. Situation: My parents have all there small kitchen appliances lined up on the counter. My family is in the kitchen but no one is cooking anything. Brother: Hey dad, why is the microwave beeping? Dad: He’s just trying to pass the toaster oven. |
Those are the most common reasons my absolute gems of jokes hold me back as I travel.
Recently I’ve been trying to adapt a new strategy to be funny by picking up local jokes. This does not always work though because they are just too complicated that no one expects you to be telling a joke or they just don’t make any sense to you.
Recently I’ve been trying to adapt a new strategy to be funny by picking up local jokes. This does not always work though because they are just too complicated that no one expects you to be telling a joke or they just don’t make any sense to you.
This is a joke that plays on the differences between the Indonesian language and a the local language of Makassarese here in Makassar "Kalau kamu kehilangan kuda, itu jarang didapat" Meaning One: if you lost your horse, you found a horse Meaning Two: if you lost your horse, you rarely find it) Explanation: ‘jarang’ means rarely in Indonesian but horse in Makassarese and ‘kuda’ in Indonesian means horse …right!? I don’t get it either… but I still tell it…. Happy Joking! :) |