Please read this interesting analysis of the Economist contrasting French wit and prank with British humour. I admit that I prefer the French style of witty humour and wordplays to the light-hearted and self-derisory British humour.
I agree with the article that the best French humour is untranslatable (like the examples of the comics 'Asterix' or the movie 'Les Visiteurs'). In some cases the jokes are so subtles that they are difficult to understand even for native French speakers at the first hearing/reading, which makes it virtually inaccessible to even quite advanced non-native speakers (especially in 'Les Visiteurs' where pseudo-medieval French is used).
Interesting that the word 'humour' with its current meaning originally comes from English and wasn't used in French until the late 19th century and accepted as a French word until 1932. I wonder when the word appeared in other languages if at all. Does that mean that humour, as opposed to wit, caricature/satire, prank or drollery, didn't exist in the world before its 'invention' in Britain ? What do you think ? Many non-Western countries are still quite intolerant of mocking humour applied to religion or politics.
For example, travelling around Turkey I came across a story that a Turkish journalist was jailed for revealing the fact that a municipality in south-western Turkey (Dat?a) banned dogs from swimming into the sea because that was un-Islamic. This sounded as a quite funny story, but visibly the Turkish government has acquired the concept of 'humour' yet. I was all the more surprised as Turkey is probably the most liberal of the Muslim nations, and most Turks (in that region) do drink alcohol, watch porn, don't mind bikinis on the beach, and the vast majority certainly doesn't stop for prayers when the minaret reminds them 5 times a day (no wonder Europeans feel Turkey isn't politically ready to join the EU, although maybe the people are).
I agree with the article that the best French humour is untranslatable (like the examples of the comics 'Asterix' or the movie 'Les Visiteurs'). In some cases the jokes are so subtles that they are difficult to understand even for native French speakers at the first hearing/reading, which makes it virtually inaccessible to even quite advanced non-native speakers (especially in 'Les Visiteurs' where pseudo-medieval French is used).
Interesting that the word 'humour' with its current meaning originally comes from English and wasn't used in French until the late 19th century and accepted as a French word until 1932. I wonder when the word appeared in other languages if at all. Does that mean that humour, as opposed to wit, caricature/satire, prank or drollery, didn't exist in the world before its 'invention' in Britain ? What do you think ? Many non-Western countries are still quite intolerant of mocking humour applied to religion or politics.
For example, travelling around Turkey I came across a story that a Turkish journalist was jailed for revealing the fact that a municipality in south-western Turkey (Dat?a) banned dogs from swimming into the sea because that was un-Islamic. This sounded as a quite funny story, but visibly the Turkish government has acquired the concept of 'humour' yet. I was all the more surprised as Turkey is probably the most liberal of the Muslim nations, and most Turks (in that region) do drink alcohol, watch porn, don't mind bikinis on the beach, and the vast majority certainly doesn't stop for prayers when the minaret reminds them 5 times a day (no wonder Europeans feel Turkey isn't politically ready to join the EU, although maybe the people are).