美式幽默

美式幽默篇一：美式幽默

美式幽默

Why Do People Do That?The Rationale behind Behavior

美式幽默

幽默是表达“非正式性”的方法之一。美国人视幽默为“破冰”之要, 它能打破僵局让别人舒服，也建立了友好的气氛。美国人常彼此建议要在报告或会议中加些幽默笑话。因为幽默可以让大家抛开职位、立场的不同，打成一片。美国人常以其有趣的笑话或个人的丑事闻名，可是，很多亚洲人却会将这种好玩的言词，听成一种批评的方式。不可否认的，下至上司、公司董事长，上至美国总统，大家都无法避免的要幽默一下。

很多美国式的幽默跟亚洲一样，都是借由双关语或文字游戏来表现的。有时，很令人尴尬的一点就是你周围每个人都听得懂某个笑话，独独只有你一个人陷在迷雾之中。你可以装成听懂，跟大家一起笑，但心里却觉得不舒服。或者你可以不做任何反应，但心里却觉得不自在。说实在的，在这种情形下，没有什么所谓好的回应办法。唯一能做的，就是告诉自己要了解其他文化中的笑话，其实是一件最难的事。因此要是你可以听懂另一种语言中的笑话，那就是表示你已非常熟悉那个文化了。

奥拉瑞先生被派驻在香港已两个月了，他感到一切似乎都进行得很顺利。有一天，当大家都正在等最后几个人员到齐开每周汇报时，奥拉瑞先生笑着对他的助理赖先生说：“小赖，你身上那条领带真丑!我从没看过这么难看的，你在哪

儿找到的?”赖先生顿时缄默起来，因为他没想到老板会注意他的领带，而且，就算他不喜欢这条领带，也没料到他竟会在公开的场合中说出来。奥拉瑞先生一看赖先生脸色不对，就知道自己说错话了。虽然他绝非有意得罪，但说出来的话已经不能收回了。

有一种嘲讽跟幽默有点关系，但没有特定的名词，我们姑且称它为“善意的嘲讽”。善意的嘲讽就是口里说别人如何不好，但心里并不这么想。这种嘲讽在美国作了一天，你的同事可能会说：“你今天很混哦!”通常，美国人受到这样的评论时，都会以同样的善意嘲讽回应过去。因此，上例中的赖先生，大可以回答说：“我只是不想让你和我相比之下，显得难看。所以，只好牺牲色相了。” 对很多美国人而言，这种互动方式是表示：“我跟你的交情很够，所以我可以讲讲你的坏话，而你也知道我只是在开玩笑而已。”这种沟通方式也表示我们不但彼此认识，而且友谊很深厚。

不幸的是“善意的嘲讽”在亚洲却总是行不通。因为大部分亚洲人对此的自然反应都是感到惊讶和被伤害。 “怎么会有人这样口无忌惮，不在乎别人的感受呢?”很多美国人都知道这招在亚洲吃不开，所以都尽量避免。但对有些美国人来说，真是积习难改。如果你跟美国人工作时，可能会受到这样的嘲讽。一旦发生时，最好提醒自己是处于不同文化规则及语境的观念中，而别只在那里生闷气。

致胜绝招

如果有人用“善意的嘲讽”对你时，你有两个选择。一是以其人之道，还治其人之身。如此一来，会鼓励别人将来也继续用这一招对待你。一是装得听不懂一样，说：“对不起，你说什么?”这样的回应会让那个老美知道这种幽默方式

行不通。他们可能会跟你道歉或是跟你说他们只是跟你开玩笑而已。即使你心里觉得不高兴，也要相信他们。你的这种回应方式应该会让他们避免将来继续这招“善意的嘲讽”对待你才是。

—引自乔 瓦拉治 & 葛儿 麦考夫著的《如何与老美共事》北京：机械工业出版

社：1999

Why Do People Do That?

The Rationale behind Behavior

A daily newspaper featured a front-page photo of the state

department’s leading international diplomat holding hands with an Arab diplomat of the same sex (male). Our international expert was using, appropriately, an Arab gesture to express friendship with an Arab. The intent of the goal here is to see the logic behind any example of cross-cultural behavior—however bizarre or perplexing the behavior initially may appear to culture-bound eyes.

When an individual attempts to satisfy a basic need he or she usually has to employ many interacting cultural patterns that form a relatively

cohesive structure. Some of these patterns are linguistic; others are not. For example, maintaining the respect of male peers in upper-class Guatemala City might involve skill in telling jokes and discussing literature, knowledge of English and of wines and liqueurs, having a resort home in which to entertain guests away from the city, and dressing conservatively.

The Motive behind Human Behavior

We hear “people are the same all over the world.” Yet there are obvious differences. How can we reconcile this universality of the species with the uniqueness of its many cultures?

People everywhere are impelled to satisfy certain basic needs such as for food and shelter, for love and affection, and for self-respect. People have banded together to meet these needs. Predictably, different bands of people have developed different ways of doing so. An Eskimo might convey love and thoughtfulness to an elderly person by helping the person’s friends and relatives hang him or her when he or she wishes to die. An American might manifest the same sentiment by attempting to prolong the life of an incurably sick elder in constant pain from cancer. The question students of intercultural communication can ask of any observed or reported behavior in the target culture is: What universal need is the

individual trying to satisfy?

Maslow’s sense of what motivates humans (he calls it “a holistic-dynamic theory”) begins with satisfying fundamental

physiological drives. “A person who is lacking food, safety, love, and esteem would most probably hunger for food more strongly than for anything else.” When physiological needs are relatively well gratified, a new set of needs emerges. Maslow calls these “safety needs”; Security;

stability; dependency; protection; freedom from fear, anxiety, and chaos; need for structure, order, law, limits; strength in the protector; etc. If both physiological and safety needs are fairly well gratified, “belongingness and love needs” will emerge. These needs evidence themselves as a “hunger for affectionate relations” within the

individual’s group or family. This individual will “feel sharply the pangs of loneliness, of ostracism, or rejection, or friendlessness, or rootlessness.”

Maslow maintains that in addition to physiological, safety, and belongingness and love needs, every healthy person also has “esteem” needs. There are two types of esteem needs: (1) the desire for strength, for achievement, for adequacy, for mastery and competence, and for independence and freedom, and (2) the desire for reputation, prestige, status, fame, and glory. Finally, Maslow says even if all of these needs are satisfied, one will still experience a “new discontent and

美式幽默篇二：美式幽默与英式幽默的区别

Humour is a phenomenon which is influenced by culture. It can be difficult to determine what aspects define a certain sense of humour. A nation’s wit is linked to the historical development of the country. How funny somebody finds a certain incident depends on many factors including age, personal experience, level of education and geographical location. Therefore humour is something which is not always transferable in another country.

What somebody from one area may find hilarious may not be amusing at all to somebody from another location. Whether or not someone gets a joke is determined by their interpretation, filtered by the cultural context.

What about when both countries speak the same mother tongue? Does that mean that they will then share the same sense of humour, or can differences still occur? Let’s take the example of Britain and America. Not only do Americans and British spell the word “humour” differently, most claim that American humor and British humour are quite

different in nature. Time and time again, people say that Brits and Americans don’t“get” each other’s sense of humour. To what extent is this true, if at all?

There’s a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don’t get irony. It is often believed to be one of the most common differences between the British and American sense of humour. This is of course not true. One of the major differences seems to be how often both nations use irony. Brits use irony on a daily basis. We use it as liberally as prepositions in every day speech. We tease our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out.

But it is not the foundation of American humour. I think Americans understand British irony (most of the time anyway!); what they don’t understand is the need to use it so frequently. When Americans use irony they tend to state that they were “only kidding”. They feel the need to make a joke more obvious than Brits do, maybe this stems from a fear of offending people.

The American sense of humour is generally more slapstick than that in Britain. I think this arises from a cultural difference between the two. Their jokes are more obvious and forward, a bit like Americans themselves. British jokes, on the other hand, tend to be more subtle but with a dark or sarcastic undertone. There is usually a hidden meaning. This may stem from the fact that British culture is more reserved than American culture. Americans say, “Have a nice day” whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourselves it’s because we don’t want to sound insincere, but I think it might be for the opposite reason. We don’t want to celebrate anything too soo(来自:www.zhaoQt.NeT 蒲公英文摘:美式幽默)n. Failure and disappointment lurk around every corner. This is due to our upbringing. Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States. Brits are told, “It won’t happen for you.”

Yet certain American comedies have gained huge success in Britain and vice versa. Therefore, although there are differences between both comic styles, there is still an appreciation and understanding of the other sense of humour. Both the British and America versions of the comedy The Office are hugely successful on both sides of the

Atlantic. Both shows have their own cultural differences, yet they portray a lifestyle which both Americans and Brits alike can relate to. Although both nations have subtle differences in their wit, they can both appreciate the other’s sense of humour.

美式幽默篇三：谈笑风声：出国必备的十个美式幽默

谈笑风声：出国必备的十个美式幽默

美国一些比较幽默的说法也许在日常生活中不是那么常见，但如果在适当的时机使用，必可收画龙点睛之效。

1. Is she big-boned? 她是不是很魁梧啊？

Big-bone看字面解释就知道是指骨架很粗大。这对美女（美国的女人）来说是见怪不怪的。在电影Something about Mary中就有一句:“Is she big-boned?”

2. We have a female shortage here.

我们这里闹女人荒。

理工学院的男女比例自然是不均匀，连老美也不禁如此感叹。这样的说法是不是听来很特别？

3. You are a freaking Yankee. 你是怪怪的北方佬。

老美彼此之间很喜欢拿对方的出生地做文章。因为南北的差异，所以或多或少北方人看不起南方人，南方人也看不起北方人。Yankee是南北战争时北军的士兵叫Yankee。现在一般指北方佬。而freaking是说这人很怪，或者解释成怪胎也可以。

4. I am laying low. 我猫起来了。

当别人问How are you doing?的时候可以这样回答。laying low就是说躲的低低的，怕被别人看到，就是想办法混就对了。

5. I cut the cheese. 我放屁了。

一般人说放屁这个字都会用fart这个字，但是cut the cheese也有放屁的意思在里面，但这样的用法似乎并不常用。

6. Do you go out with your gun loaded?

你要带著你上膛的枪出门吗？

此枪非彼枪。使用时机就是有些男人出去跟女人约会，满脑子想的就是如何跟她上床，你要糗糗他，就可以这么说Do you go out with your gun loaded? She probably will get hurt.

7. She is a big gossip. 她是八卦夫人。

Gossip指的就是八卦新闻，但它也可以拿来形容一个人很八卦。或者说你也可以说，She is gossipy.

8. If the boys stare at you, they have guts to suck your teeth!

如果男生盯著你看，他们就有胆亲你。

很有趣，但是像这种句子是小孩说的，难登大雅之堂。亲嘴还有另外一个口语的用法：smooch. 例如：I didn’t smooch that girl last night.我昨晚没有亲那个女孩。

9. She is vertically challenged. 她向她的身高挑战。

这样的说法就是说人家很矮的意思，但是是比较婉转的说法、什么什么challenged就是说心智障碍，也就是低能儿的意思。

10. Where can I dump these white elephants?

这些无用的垃圾我要丢到哪里？

比如说家中的286计算机用之无味，弃之可惜，放在那里一摆就是好几年，这种垃圾就叫white elephant，只是这样的说法真的很少见。

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