Getting It: Culture and Community Influences

Smiling Have you ever laughed at a joke and realized that if you were from anywhere else in the world, it just wouldn't be funny? Culture and community offers much when it comes to joking around. There are economical, political and social issues that are so easy to "rip off" and laugh about (e.g. crime in South Africa), but only the people in the community may understand it. For example, read the next joke and ask yourself if you found it very funny:

Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Nicola Mancino were all flying in an aeroplane. At one stage, Clinton stuck his hand out and said "yip, we're flying over America." "How do you know?" the other two asked. He said, "I just touched the Statue of Liberty's crown."

A little while later, Mancino stuck out his hand and said, "And now we are flying over Italy." "How do you know?" "Because, I just touched the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa."

After a few more hours, Mandela stuck his hand out and said, "We are now flying over South Africa." "How do you know?" "My watch has just been stolen."

This is a typical South African joke, looking at the common joke theme of the crime situation. It is constantly rising and incredibly scary for many people. Joking about it is like laughing the enemy in the face (so is used as a coping tool), and it forms a bond between fellow South Africans, "we're all in it together!" But, jokes on the crime situation in South Africa cannot be enjoyed as much internationally, the same as jokes in Australia or any other country.

North America, however, is an exception to this general "rule." It is such a big and influential country, that most people around the world know what is going on there, due to films and news coverage. Jokes made up about a situation in North America can therefore be enjoyed all over the place. Here is one such example:

Did you hear about how Ford Motor Company is going to be naming their next line of cars after Bill Clinton?

They are going to be calling it the Dodge Draft.

Another example of a different cultural humor is the San people, in Southern Africa. They see animals displaying pain as humorous. According to them, the animals are really impersonating humans, "pretending" to be in pain.