- Hello everyone, and welcome back to "English with Lucy."
Today, I've got a very different video,
but it's been extremely highly requested.
A lot of you have been telling me
that you don't understand British humour
or that you would like to understand British humour.
So today, I'm going to talk you through British humour,
help you to understand it a little bit more
and give you some phrases that you can also use
to participate in British humour.
So, our sense of humour can do two things.
It can make people feel excluded
because they don't understand what's going on,
and it can also make people feel offended
because it can be, or it can appear to be quite offensive.
But don't worry, we're going to cover all of that today.
This video might be one of the most important
videos I've ever done on my channel.
Humour, the British sense of humour, is very important to me.
Quickly before we get started,
and no, this isn't sarcasm but we will cover that later,
I would like to thank the sponsor of today's video.
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Right, let's get on with this very humorous lesson.
Well, I'm gonna break it down into eight categories.
But in general, we just love to ridicule and make fun of
every day life, the absurdity of every day life.
One of our most popular comedians is Michael McIntyre.
And literally all he does is make witty remarks
He makes us laugh about ourselves.
And the things that we do that we don't even think of,
he makes us analyse them and think,
I'll leave a link to some of his videos
and his work in the description box below.
So first, let's talk about irony.
This is when we highlight when something is different from
or the opposite of what is expected.
This is incredibly important in British humour.
our local fire station burnt down last night. (laughs)
Obviously, you would not expect a fire station to burn down.
You would expect that they would take care of their building
just as they take care of other buildings.
We love highlighting these ironic situations,
"You know our friend Pat, the marriage counsellor?
"Unfortunately her and her husband are getting a divorce."
We would find that very very funny.
Obviously, we'd be sad for Pat and her husband
but, the irony would not be lost on us.
(laughs)
So, if somebody says something to you
that you think might be ironic,
Or, you could also say, oh, how ironic.
Or better yet, say nothing at all, just smile.
Just a coy smile would be fine.
Now, one step on from irony is sarcasm.
This is something that we are famous for.
Sarcasm uses irony to mock or ridicule.
A great example of British sarcasm in it's purest form
was actually performed by my father
at his father's, my grandfather's funeral.
We like to make light of any situation here in the U.K.
Before we start, my grandfather had a great sense of humour.
and he would've absolutely loved this.
of writing the eulogy for the funeral,
and he also had to read that eulogy out in the...
(plane whooshing and beeping) It is not a cockpit.
Will.
What's that place where you do a reading in a church?
(idea light pinging on) Pulpit!
Thank you, I got it. (door closing)
Okay.
So, he had to give this reading of the eulogy in the pulpit,
to everyone who was attending the funeral.
Now, because this eulogy was so long
they divided it into two parts.
They were gonna have a little break, and his sister,
my aunt, Marie, was going to choose three songs
that Yeti really liked, that reminded her of Yeti.
And she was going to put them in this interval.
So, all was going well, she turned on the songs very well.
But when it came to turning the music off,
(music abruptly stopping) (record scratching)
And my father, still using his funeral voice,
with not a smile on his face, just said,
"Beautifully faded out, Mary."
And then just continued delivering this eulogy,
But I did think, had my students been at this funeral
they would have been so shocked and offended
that my dad would make a joke at this funeral. (laughs)
My granddad would have loved it,
and the whole family found it hilarious.
And actually, that's a really good example
of deadpan or dry humour, which we'll talk about next.
But first, a couple of phrases you can use
when you are attempting to use sarcasm.
If somebody misunderstands you and gets offended,
you can say, I'm being sarcastic.
Also say that with no smile, 'cause that's quite funny.
So, if you're worried that they might not understand,
as soon as you say something sarcastic you can say,
I absolutely loved your dancing.
So yes, as mentioned before, deadpan or dry humour.
This is when you say something amusing or funny
with a very straight face and a very serious tone.
The best jokes are delivered dryly.
because you know that your joke is funny,
you have the confidence and intelligence
to know that what you've said is funny,
because you've said it with a straight face
but people have still laughed.
It can add that extra shock factor.
to offend people with British humour.
We often confuse Americans because they,
their humour. I love American humour.
But their humour is more obvious and in your face.
So sometimes, if we say something
that appears insulting with a straight face.
Well, they would normally make a joke like that
or making it obvious that they're joking.
So there can be some confusion.
Next we have my favourite one, which is wit,
This is making quick and intelligent remarks and comments,
preferably with a straight face.
This is all about being quick thinking and clever.
We love feeling in awe of someone
when they make a completely unplanned or off-the-cuff joke
that fits in perfectly with the conversation.
This can be really really hard for non-native speakers.
I experienced exactly what you're experiencing in Spanish.
Because I'd want to make a quick comment,
but by the time it actually came out of my mouth
the conversation had moved on.
So to make witty comments and to be witty,
you have to be really clever and really quick,
and good with your language skills.
To be described as witty in the U.K.
is the mother of all compliments, it really really is.
So if anyone ever says, that was very witty
you should take that as a really really big one.
Next we have self-deprecation, self-deprecating humour.
This is one that you may have seen
in a lot of my videos actually,
But it's hard to not overdo it actually,
it can just get depressing after a while.
This is simply making fun of oneself,
like me making fun of myself or you making fun of yourself.
We don't like to show off too much in the U.K.
This is a very important component of British humour,
Americans might say, America is the greatest.
And Brits might say, Britain is a great place to visit
if you don't mind poor weather and questionable food.
We love making fun of ourselves,
whether that's ourselves as a person
Going into work and saying, ugh,
I look like I got dressed in the dark this morning.
Or, talking about how bad you are at cooking,
I'm so bad at cooking I could burn water.
They're just little comments that are quite amusing
that we throw out, and they are making fun of ourselves.
Then we have innuendos or double entendres.
This is when we intentionally say things
that could be interpreted as taboo or sexual in meaning.
These are a huge part of British culture and British humour,
because they're so easy to slip in anywhere,
because they're not directly offensive or rude.
But once you know the meaning of them,
it can be quite shocking to see
that they are in the newspaper
or in a children's TV programme.
An example could be, there's a plate of sausages over there,
would you like to give her one?
Well, to give him or her one means to
give them sexual intercourse, I guess.
And obviously, the fact that sausage is involved
But actually, sexual innuendos and double entendres
can be found anywhere, especially in headlines of newspapers
I remember being around six years old.
My childhood home was very near to my lower school.
And I was sitting underneath a hedge,
so I was hidden from the path that led to my school,
and I was watching my dad do work in his vegetable patch.
but people could see in and see my dad.
And I heard one of my teachers
walking along with another teacher, say to her. (laughs)
Say to her companion, "I'd rather see his meat and two veg."
And I remember going, "Daddy, why did Mrs. (mumbles)
"want to see your meat and two veg?"
And he obviously went very red.
They had gone by then, but I remember him telling
my mom about it over dinner and her being shocked
And it took me a couple of years
to understand what they meant.
Obviously, meat and two veg means a man's private area,
I guess, because of the shape of.
Anyway, let's not go too far into it.
But it took me a while to understand.
But yeah, that's a good example of sexual innuendo.
And obviously, it was my teacher saying it,
Ugh, banter is rife in the U.K.
This is playful teasing, that can actually be quite harsh.
It's normally used with our friends and family,
that we know we have that rapport with.
But we can also use it against other cultures,
especially Americans, Germans and French.
There seems to be some good banter going on between us.
It's very common in pub culture and lad culture.
So for example, if a male friend
well, he will probably be picked on
and teased about that in his group of friends.
But don't worry, it's just banter.
It can be quite offensive sometimes
But, in general, it's a really funny thing.
There is a difference between banter and witty banter.
Witty banter is much more intelligent and clever.
Banter can just be teasing sometimes with an excuse.
I love it though, I think it's hilarious.
A common form of nationwide banter is
the rule that if anyone in a pub anywhere
drops a glass and it makes a noise,
And it's so embarrassing for that person.
It's happened to me, it's happened to most people.
But yes, make sure you join in with the, way!
if you're in a pub in the U.K. (laughs)
Lastly, we have puns or play on words.
by bending and using the language.
This is something that we love to hate.
We all go ugh, and groan when we hear a bad pun.
But we might go, ooh, very good,
if we hear a really clever one.
It's very common to see puns on shopfronts, shop names.
For example, there's a fish and chips shop
Play on words with the Godfather.
We have a hairdressers called A Cut Above the Rest,
There's a kebab shop called Abrakebabra,
A bakery called Bread Pitt. (laughs)
And a greengrocers called Planet of the Grapes.
They are terrible but brilliant
and they are very very British.
In fact, if you search shop-name puns on Google
you can spend a good couple of hours
laughing at the creativity of these shop owners.
most of the bases of British humour.
If you have any other doubts, please comment them down below
and will try and help you out.
And also, let me know about any similarities
or differences with your culture and language.
I'd also love to know if you have any good puns or jokes.
Always up for a laugh when I'm checking my comments section.
It divides up the hate quite nicely.
Right, that's it for today's lesson.
I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something,
a couple of your doubts about British humour.
Don't forget to check out Lingoda,
the link is in the description box.
And you can use my code, lucy11 to get 20% off
all Lingoda packages for your first month.
Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.
I've got my Facebook, I've got my Instagram
And I shall see you soon for another lesson, mwa.
a little bit of a different video, but a highly (mumbles).
Lingoda is an online language e-school.
Okay.
Lingoda is an online language.
Eh!
Eh!
Oh, it's 'cause I cleared this room.
There used to be loads of stuff on the floor.
And now it's clean, so it's echoing.
- [William] Sponsored by Adidas.
Now I have to take it off. - Sorry.
Just disclaimer, he's not sponsored by Adidas.
But, if they're interested, he would be well up for that.
Mm.
You know your friend Pat, the marriage counsellor?