Wednesday 18 September 2013

There is not such a thing as Polish sense of humour

People say there isn't such a thing as Polish sense of humour, I say it is, but it's miles away from the British one. Even now, after six years of living in the UK I can't say a single joke in English has me in stitches. Laughing out loud even though I don't get the joke always lets me save face! It doesn't mean I don't have a sense of humour, I just don't see these jokes particularly funny. Maybe the barrier arises with the language. From what I gathered, Brits like to play on words so humour often gets lost in translation. Seriously, try to translate the craziest English joke into Polish and it would just sound weird! You know what I mean if you feel the same when the Pole tries to crack a Polish joke on you.

By the way, it is surprising how sense of humour is linked to nationality. It's true that other nations and cultures find different things funny. French are masters of dark humour, Brits with Monty Payton on board, very dry and ironic, German... seem not to have a sense of humour at all (?).

It may seem controversial talking about sense of humour as per usual it all depends on the person. However, I tried to make a list of what makes Poles laugh.

1. This really makes us laugh hysterically - politicians. Everyone who watched the live broadcast from the Parliament knows it is a pretty good comedy. Ubiquitous nonsense, verbal battles and bad grammar became a breeding-ground for all cabaret sketches.
Polish political jokes as such have their roots in 1950's when under communist regime Poles developed their jokes to manifest their criticism towards the communist government. Thanks to those jokes, they were able to cope with tension and overwhelming frustration. Until now, jokes have remained our tool to deal with, so to speak, bad politicians.

(We have promised you everything. What else do you want?)


With many thanks to Janek Koza, the author of the image, who kindly agreed for it to be published on this site. For more images by Janek Koza visit his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Janek-Koza/182464885133893 

2. We also share a lot of banter about policemen and their ignorance. A stereotypical Polish policeman is dull and almost retarded!

A couple of  fine jokes I have been recently told:

A conversation going between two Polish policemen:
- "Have you got the time?"
The policeman looks at his brand new Casio watch. And stares, and stares..
- "Have you got the time?" - asks again the other.
- "Hold on a minute. It's not easy to divide 18 by 32!"    (18:32)

or

Two Polish policemen drive home. At some point the car hits a tree.
- "Never before we have turned up so quickly on the incident location!" - says one to another.

For more Polish jokes visit www.ale-dowcip.pl or the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ale-dowcippl/568966399829710?fref=ts

3. Daily life situations make us often laugh, especially when they are full of nonsense.

(We are running a collection for a fine for illegal collections)

Again, with many thanks to Janek Koza, the author of the above image, who kindly agreed for it to be published on this site. For more images by Janek Koza visit his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Janek-Koza/182464885133893 

4. Polish football team - as we always lose the game...

(It's just bad luck...)

With many thanks to Szczepan Sadurski, the author of the image, who kindly agreed for it to be published on this site. For more images by Szczepan Sadurski visit his website: www.sadurski.com

PS. We love having a laugh at others but can actually we laugh at ourselves?? All comments welcome

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