Funny business

Monday 28 August 2000 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

What makes the British different is our sense of humour. We haven't got one. No, only joking. It's actually our talent for self-deprecation, you see. Self-mockery is what distinguishes us from the rest of the world, according to Professor Christie Davies of the University of Reading in his paper on "The Nature of British Humour", delivered at the International Humour Studies conference in Japan.

What makes the British different is our sense of humour. We haven't got one. No, only joking. It's actually our talent for self-deprecation, you see. Self-mockery is what distinguishes us from the rest of the world, according to Professor Christie Davies of the University of Reading in his paper on "The Nature of British Humour", delivered at the International Humour Studies conference in Japan.

We find doing ourselves down funny. Hilarious, isn't it? Only the British would find it amusing to pretend that our national football team couldn't pass its way out of a paper bag. Only the British would find it oh-so-funny to suggest that we invented cricket, tennis and rugby and are useless at them.

Or that we invented computers, wind-up radios and certain steel-making processes, only to let everybody else make money out of them.

It is just typical of us to run our country down, complaining that our transport system isn't as good as those anywhere in Continental Europe, that our health service might not be up to scratch or that our streets might be strewn with more litter than most places in the world. Very funny. Ha ha.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in