Humour is by definition an Anglo-Saxon concept, the equivalent in French of 'esprit', 'farce' (prank) and 'humeur' (a state of mind, or mood), but certainly not humour. Monty Python is hysterical in this video on 'history of the joke'. If you think of England, among different things, its dry sense of humour using absurdity and self-derision comes up as an obvious humour base. Let's be honest, we are somewhat jealous of British humour that allows people to be intelligent, witty and fun at the same time.
But surely not for a strong sense of humour! Dramas, romanticism, debates, food, are definitely more associated to France than humour. One of the reasons may be that we love the language and a large part of the humour is based on it, which makes it difficult for non-French speakers to understand.Īs a French person, I will be honest and acknowledge that France is known for gastronomy, fashion, luxury. What can we say about the French sense of humour? It seems that it is not fully understood or appreciated outside of French borders. But what happens when humour uses words, playing on words, sometimes untranslatable in another language, or culturally meaningless in another culture?
The world famous Marcel Marceau and Charlie Chaplin used mime, a form of non-speaking humour, based on gestures and this form (rather then language) is universally understood.
