May 4th, 2004
Humor and Language
A close friend of mine who has a keen interest in linguistics once told me, “There are three stages to learning a new language: First, you learn basic grammatical structures and vocabulary, what some people refer to as “survival” understanding of a language; Second, you achieve the ability to communicate your thoughts and ideas accurately and precisely, what some might call “proficiency;” Finally, you begin to identify the nuisances and subtleties of a language that involves cultural understanding of concepts like humor, this can be called fluency.”
It’s the point about humor that is of particular interest to me.
What I have realized from traveling throughout the world is that the bar for what can be considered humorous is lowered considerably when you don’t speak the language fluently.
Case in point: One evening, after visiting a few bars in the first arrondisement, Mary and I stopped to get a hot dog before returning to our hotel.
As we entered the lobby, the elderly man seated behind the reception desk looked up and saw Mary. Suddenly, a sparkle entered his eyes that were assuredly reserved for attractive younger woman.
He smiled and asked her, “You had good night?”
She smiled back at him and responded, “Yes, it was very nice.”
“It is early,” he responded, still looking at Mary while ignoring me completely. “Why are you back?”
“Oh you know,” I answered loudly, attempting to insert myself into the interaction. “Just sleepy I guess, jet lag and all that.”
Slowly, he turned his head towards me as the sparkle in his eyes dissipated.
His eyes turned towards the hot dog I had been munching on and asked brusquely, “What is that?”
“Oh, it’s a hot dog,” I answered lamely.
“Oh, you eat dog?” he shot back, as Mary giggled loudly, causing the sparkle to return to his eye. Turning back to her, he shot a comically quizzical look, as if wondering why she would want to spend her time with someone who did something so horrible as eat canines.
Then again, I am half-Korean.
I just stared at the man blankly and asked, “Do you want a bite?”
What I realized was that this was a guy who was clearly bordering between survival English and being proficient at English, was clearly attempting a linguistic function beyond his ability.
Mary’s reaction struck me as odd, because there was really nothing witty about what he had said.
He had simply heard the word “dog,” and made an awful joke based solely on his recognition of the word as having multiple functions.
What’s even worse is that Mary laughed at the joke, which gave the guy positive reinforcement, which would inevitably result in him making the joke again in the future.
What I then realized was that non-native speakers tend to get more leeway when attempting to step beyond their current linguistic level and be deliberately humorous in a language they haven’t mastered, and it’s not right.
I use the word “deliberately” because I do think it is important to distinguish between intended and non-intended humor.
When I was in Korea, and would attempt to order food in Korean and subsequently elicit a laughing fit from whoever was waiting on me, due to the feebleness of my attempt - this would be an example of non-intended humor.
This is acceptable.
On the other hand, if I had tried to make a stupid joke based on word recognition, it would have been intended humor, and this is unacceptable.
Intended humor from someone who has not mastered a language should result in swift and direct response.
The moment the Frenchman had asked me if I “eat dog,” I should have just punched him in the face and told him never to make that joke again.
Then I should have punched him again for being French and tried to flirt with my girlfriend.
