I was watching the special features on my copy of 'Shreck' the other night, and felt like looking at the one about how they dub movies into other languages, and how they select the actors. At one point in the commentary the narrator says that ultimately the language of humor is universal.
I disagree. Sarcasm for example, does not make sense in Thai, and is not seen as funny (believe me, I've tried...), while humor that is common in Thailand, doesn't make sense outside the culture.
A recent example of this which I quite enjoyed was on a Thai TV show I happened to see the other night. I was at my local restaurant having yet another plate of rice and Thai food. Being somewhat sick of Thai food, the TV show held more interest for me than my plate, so I began to watch earnestly enough to understand much of the dialog. The scene was a Thai food shop/ convenience store where our female main character is on what appears to be a first date with and incredibly dorky looking man whose conversation leaves much to be desired. She looks a little bored. In walks the show's main male character with 2 of his funny supporting characters, and the 3 of them react in shock to the woman on the date. From the corner of the store they discuss the situation, and we get the impression that the main male lead is romantically interested in the woman, thus his disapproval of her choice of dinner partner. finally a plan is concocted to save her from the bad date. (This is where we need to know about Thai culture. The plan that follows would work in no other culture on earth that I know of.) The main man approaches the table, and exclaims, "Oh my... so and so (insert male Thai name)... is that you? You look so different!" So then he explains to her date that she used to be a man, and that she is a gatoy, a lady boy. The date doesn't believe that someone so pretty could ever have been a man, so the main dude starts talking about all the face work she's had done, pulling at parts of her face to show how ugly she used to be. Finally the date demands vocal prof that she is in fact a "he" and the girl, embarrassed, but wanting to get out of the bad date, pulls out the deepest man voice she can muster and convinces her date that she was once a man, sending him flying out of the restaurant.
Gatoy jokes happen all the time on Thai TV, and perhaps the funniest part about them is their believability. Some humor relies on the gags to be believable, and not all circumstances that make them so are universal. Humor is culturally dependent and not universal.
On the subject of sarcasm, I did have one instance in which a Thai woman said something that seemed sarcastic to me. I don't think she meant to be funny nor sarcastic, but of all the people I know she is probably the most capable of understanding that style of humor. I was at the batik house with Pee Dta, working on a skirt I'd designed for another volunteer. I had just called the leader of the batik group, Hap, to tell her that as Pee Nee is about to pop out a baby any day now she can't help and could Hap please come over to work with us. She couldn't for some reason, which has become rather common the past 4 months (she literally hasn't done any work with the group in 4 months). So Dta starts in about how, "it must be nice to be the president of the group. You don't have to work, you get to travel with the government office to trainings in far away places, or stay at home and rest in front of the fan...." I couldn't believe my ears. It sounded so much like sarcasm because of the bitterness that has been displayed towards Hap these past months. She meant what she was saying in earnest, possibly with a note of jealousy as well. I explained to her about how sarcasm works in English and how I thought she thinks just a little bit more like a 'farang' than your average Thai. She laughed and patted me on the back, and for the rest of the time we were working we practiced sarcasm. It was great fun.
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disappointed
