The English humour

Fun seems to be the possession of the English race. Fun is JohnBulll's idea of humour, and there is no intellectualjudgment in fun. Everybody understands it be-cause it is practical. More than that, it unites allclasses and sweetens even political life. To studythe elemental form of English humour, you must look to the school-boy. It begins with the practical joke, and unless there is something of his natureabout it, it is never humour to an Englishman. Inan English household, fun is going all the time. The entire house resounds¹ witn it. The father comes home and the whole family contribute to the amusement; puns, humorous uses of words, little things that are meaningless nonsense, if you like, fly round, and every one enjoys them thoroughly² for just what they are. The Scotch³ are devoid⁴ ofthis trait, and the Americans seem to be, too.

 

If I had the power to give humour to the nations I would not give them drollery⁵, for that isimpractical; I would not give them wit, for that isaristocratic, and many minds cannot grasp it; but Iwould be contented⁶ to deal out fun, which has nointellectual element, no subtlety⁷, belongs to oldand young, educated and uneducated alike, and isthe natural form of the humour of the Englishman.

 

Let me tell you why the Englishman speaks only one language. He believes with the strongest conviction that his own tongue is the one that all people ought to speak and will come in time to speak, so what is the use of learning any other? He believes, too, that he is appointed by Providenceto be a governor of all the rest of the human race. From our Scottish standpoint we can never see an Englishman without thinking that there is oozing⁹ from every pore of his body the conviction that he belongs to a governing race. It has not been his de-sire that large portions of the world should be under his care, but as they have been thrust upon him in the proceedings¹⁰ of a wise Providence⁸, he must discharge his duty. This theory hasn't endeared him to others of his kind, but that isn't amatter that concerns him. He doesn't learn anyother language because he knows that he could speak it only so imperfectly that other people would laugh at him, and it would never do that a person of his importance in the scheme of the universe should be made the object of ridicule¹¹.

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