Reading comprehension. Advanced

1. WATCHING THE ENGLISH HUMOUR RULES
friend. 'That's it! How do you do that? How do you know to do that? thigh-slapping funniness: thé humour of English self-deprecation, like
How do you know wben to do it?' 'I don't know,' said my father apolo- that of thé English understatement, is understated, often to thé point
getically. 'I-can't explain. We just do it. It just cornes naturally.' of being almost imperceptible - and bordering on incompréhensible to
This is thé other problem with thé English understatement: it is a those unfamiliar with English modesty rules.
rule, but a rule in thé fourth OED sensé of 'thé normal or usual state To show how it works, however, I will take a relatively blatant
of things' — we are not conscious of obeying it; it is somehow wired example. My fiancé is a brain surgeon. When we first met, I asked what
into our brains. We are not taught thé use of thé understatement, we had led him to choose this profession. 'Well, um,' he replied, 'I read
learn it by osmosis. The understatement 'cornes naturally' because it is PPE [Philosophy, Politics and Economies] at Oxford, but I found it ail
deeply ingrained in our culture, part of thé English psyché. rather beyond me, so, er, I thought l'd better do something a bit less
The understatement is also difficult for foreigners to 'get' because it difficult.' I laughed, but then, as he must hâve expected, protested that
is, in effect, an in-joke about our own unwritten rules of humour. When surely brain surgery could not really be described as an easy option.
we describe, say, a horrendous, traumatic and painful expérience as 'not This gave him a further opportunity for self-deprecation. 'Oh no, it's
very pleasant', we are acknowledging thé taboo on earnestness and thé nowhere near as élever as it's cracked up to be; to be honest it's actu-
rules of irony, but at thé same making fun of our ludicrously rigid ally a bit hit-or-miss. It's just plumbing, really, plumbing with a micro-
obédience to thèse codes. We are'exercising restraint, but in such an scope - except plumbing's rather more accurate.' It later emerged, as
exaggerated manner that we are also (quietly) laughing at ourselves for he must hâve known it would, that far from finding thé intellectual
doing so. We are parodying ourselves. Every understatement is a little demands of Oxford 'beyond him', he had entered with a scholarship
private joke about Englishness. and graduated with a First. 'I was a dreadful little swot,' he explained.
So was he being truly modest? No, but nor could his humorously
The Self-deprecation Rule self-deprecating responses really be described as deliberate, calculated
Like thé English understatement, English self-deprecation can be seen 'false' modesty. He was simply playing by thé rules, dealing with thé
as a form of irony. It usually involves not genuine modesty but saying embarrassment of success and prestige by making a self-denigrating
thé opposite of what we really mean — or at least thé opposite of what joke out of it ail, as is our custom. And this is thé point, there was
we in tend people to understand. nothing extraordinary or remarkable about his humble self-mockery:
The issue of English modesty will corne up again and again in this he was just being English. We ail do this, automatically, ail thé time.
book, so I should clear up any misunderstandings about it straight away. Even those of us with much less impressive achievements or credentials
When I speak of 'modesty rules', I mean exactly that - not that thé to disguise. l'm lucky - many people don't know what an anthropolo-
English are somehow naturally more modest and self-effacing than other gist is, and those who do generally regard us as thé lowest form of
nations, but that we hâve strict rules about thé appearance of modesty. scientific life, so there is very little danger of being thought boastful
Thèse include both 'négative' rules, such as prohibitions on boasting when I am asked about my work. But just in case I might be suspected
and any form of self-importance, and 'positive' rules, actively of being (or claiming to be) something vaguely brainy, I always quickly
prescribing self-deprecation and self-mockery. The very abundance of explain to those unfamiliar with thé term that it is 'just a fancy word
thèse unwritten rules suggests that thé English are not naturally or for nosey parker', and to académies that what I do is in any case 'only
instinctively modest: thé best that can be said is that we place a high pop-anthropology', not thé proper, intrepid, mud-hut variety.
value on modesty, that we aspire to modesty. The modesty that we actu- Among ourselves, this System works perfectly well: everyone under-
ally display is generally false — or, to put it more charitably, ironie. stands that thé customary self-deprecation probably means roughly
And therein lies thé humour. Again, we are not talking about obvious, thé opposite of what is said, and is duly impressed, both by one's
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2. WATCHING THE ENGLISH HUMOUR RULES
achievements and by one's reluctance to trumpet them. (Even in my case, other nations, thé fact that we hâve no concept of a separate 'time and
when it barely counts as self-deprecation, being ail too sadly true, people place' for humour, that humour suffuses thé English consciousness, does
often wrongly assume that what I do must surely be somewhat less daft mean that English comic writers, artists and performers hâve to work
than it sounds.) The problems arise when we English attempt to play this quite hard to make us laugh. They hâve to produce something above
game with people from outside our own culture, who do not understand and beyond thé humour that permeates every aspect of our ordinary
thé rules, fail to appreciate thé irony, and therefore hâve an unfortunate social interactions. Just because thé English hâve 'a good sensé of
tendency to take our self-deprecating statements at face value. We make humour' does not mean that we are easily amused - quite thé oppo-
our customary modest noises, thé uninitiated foreigners accept our appar- site: our keen, finely tuned sensé of humour, and our irony-saturated
ently low estimate of our achievements, and are duly unimpressed. We culture probably make us harder to amuse than most other nations.
cannot very well then turn round and say: 'No, hey, wait a minute, you're Whether or not this results in better comedy is another matter, but my
supposed to give me a sort of knowingly sceptical smile, showing that impression is that it certainly seems to resuit in an awful lot of comedy
you realize l'm being humorously self-deprecating, don't believe a word - good, bad or indiffèrent; if thé English are not amused, it is clearly
of it and think even more highly of my abilities and my modesty'. They not for want of effort on thé part of our prolific humorists.
don't know that this is thé prescribed English response to prescribed I say this with genuine sympathy, as to be honest thé kind of anthro-
English self-deprecation. They don't know that we are playing a convo- pology I do is not far removed from stand-up comedy — at least, thé
luted bluffing game. They inadvertently call our bluff, and thé whole thing sort of stand-up routines that involve a lot of jokes beginning 'Hâve
backfires on us. And frankly, it serves us right for being so silly. 1 you ever noticed how people always . . . ?' The best stand-up comics
invariably follow this with some pithy, acute, élever observation on thé
HUMOUR AND COMEDY minutiae of human behaviour and social relations. Social scientists like
me try hard to do thé same, but there is a différence: thé stand-up
Because thé two are often conflated and confused, it is worth pointing comics hâve to get it right. If their observation does not 'ring true' or
out that I am talking hère specifically about thé rules of English humour, 'strike a chord', they don't get a laugh, and if this happens too often,
rather than English comedy. That is, I am concerned with our use of they don't make a living. Social scientists can talk utter rubbish for
humour in everyday life, everyday conversation, rather than with thé years and still pay their mortgages. At its best, however, social science
comic novel, play, film, poem, sketch, cartoon or stand-up routine. Thèse can sometimes be almost as insightful as good stand-up comedy.
would require another whole book to analyse - and a book written by
someone much better qualified than I am.
Having said that, and without pretending to any expert knowledge H U M O U R A N D CLASS
of thé subject, it seems clear to me that English comedy is influenced Although elsewhere in this book I scrupulously identify class différences
and informed by thé nature of everyday English humour as I hâve and variations in thé application and observance of certain rules, you
described it hère, and by some of thé other 'rules of Englishness' iden- may hâve noticed that there has been no mention of class in this chapter.
tified in other chapters, such as thé embarrassment rule (most English This is because thé 'guiding principles' of English humour are class-
comedy is essentially about embarrassment). English comedy, as one less. The taboo on earnestness, and thé rules of irony, understatement
might expect, obeys thé rules of English humour, and also plays an and self-deprecation transcend ail class barriers. No social rule is ever
important social rôle in transmitting and reinforcing them. Almost ail universally obeyed, but among thé English thèse humour rules are
of thé best English comedy seems to involve laughing at ourselves. universally (albeit subconsciously) understood and accepted. Whatever
While I would not claim that English comedy is superior to that of thé class context, breaches are noticed, frowned upon and ridiculed.
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3. 1 Multiple Choice :
Circle thé correct answer
1. Self-deprecation is :
A saying thé opposite of what we genuinely want
B expressing thé opposite of what we really mean
C intending to say thé opposite of what we understand
2. The English...
A are naturally modest and prefer self-mockery to self-importance
B hâve few strict rules about thé appearance of modesty
C aspire to modesty even though they are not instinctively modest
3. The humour in English self-deprecation is...
A funny in a thigh-slapping way
B barely perceptible
C bordering on thé unfamiliar
4. The author's fiancé...
A read books on Philosophy, Politics and Economies before becoming a brain surgeon
B thought he'd do better in a brain insurgency
C Studied Philosophy, Politics and Economies at Oxford at some point
5. The author's fiancé's comment on plumbing was :
A Simply his way of abiding to thé unwritten English rule
B Deliberate and calculated false modesty
C A self-denigrating joke dealing with success and embarrassment
6. People are generally impressed...
A both by other people's achievements and their not trumpeting them
B by other people's achievements unless they trumpet them too much
C by other people's achievement and their reluctance to play thé trumpet
Find thé words or expressions matching thé following définitions :
- to puff oneself up in speech : speak vaingloriously / to speak of or assert with excessive
pride
- busybody: a person who meddles in thé affairs of others
- to accept someone or something just as it appears; to believe that thé way things appear is
thé way they really are.