We

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Were off to see the WizardDon and Alleen
Nilsen on International Styles of Humor
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Here we go!
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Physical Humor Translates Well from Culture to
Culture

• This is one of the reasons that comedians in
  Americas silent films had international
  audiences.
• Examples include
• Charlie Chaplin Laurel and Hardy
• The Three Stooges Buster Keaton

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Visual Humor?Helen Keller and Charley Chaplin
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Political Cartoons also Cross International
Boundaries as when New Yorks Boss Tweed was
recognized by customs agents in Spain and sent
back to the U. S.

• BECAUSE . . .
• Cartoons are caricatures in which the salient
  features are exaggerated, so that people are
  easily recognized.
• The cartoons provide epiphanies, i.e. sudden
  insights.
• The point is made quickly and succinctly, much
  like the punch line of a joke.

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Afghanistan at the Crossroads

• Ghenghis Khan came to Afghanistan.
• Marco Polo came to Afghanistan.
• The Silk Route went through Afghanistan.
• The British came to Afghanistan.
• The Americans came to Afghanistan.
• The Russians came to Afghanistan.
• The Kuchis travel through Afghanistan north in
  the summer, south in the winter.
• However, Afghanistan is like New York.
• Its a great place to visit, but nobody wants to
  live there.

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Our Afghan Web Site The Nilsen family lived in
Afghanistan from 1968-1969. Don taught English
at Kabul University, and Alleen taught at the
American International School in Kabul
(A.I.S.K.)Here is Alleens web site called
Afghanistan for Kids

• http//www.public.asu.edu/apnilsen/afghanistan4ki
  ds/

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Humorous Metaphors in Farsi (Iranian Persian)

• NOTE In Farsi, these are dead metaphors and are
  therefore not funny. But to an outsider learning
  Farsi, they are amusing.
• Walking is baa Xate yazdah (going by bus line
  number 11). The 11 stands for your two legs.
• Ladybird is kafsh duzak (little shoe-smith)
• Ostrich is shotor-morgh (camel-hen)

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• Metaphors in Dari (Afghan Persian)
• Popcorn is chos e fil (elephants
  fart)--recently changed to pof-e fil puff
• Turkey is fil morgh (elephant chicken)
• Turtle is sang posht (rock back)
• Walnut is chahar maghs (four brains)
• Thanks to our Dari and Farsi consultants
• Sajida Kamal Grande of the University of
  Nebraska, Omaha
• and Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari, University of
  Tehran

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Mullah Nasruddin
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Afghan Mullah Nasruddin StoriesNOTE Each story
about the Mullah teaches a lesson in logic.

• Tying a balloon to his ankle.
• Looking for a valuable coin in the wrong place
• Stealing watermelons
• Lifting a heavy boulder
• Shooting a hole in his own shirt
• His donkey, the salt, and the wool carpet
• His three Friday sermons

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American Indian Humor Trickster Tales,Pourquoi
Stories Cautionary Tales

• Most American Indian tribes, like many African
  tribes, have trickster tales. The tales are
  cautionary, and they are also explanatory.
• African Anansi tales tell why mosqitoes buzz, and
  why the elephant has a long trunk.
• Indian Coyote stories and other trickster tales
  tell how a person should act often by
  demonstrating how not to act.

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American WHIMSY (1982-1988)World Humor and
Irony Membership Serial YEARBOOK
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Bulgarian Humor

• A yearly humor festival in Gabrovo, Bulgaria,
  attracts visitors from around the world.
• They have a museum called the House of Humour
  and Satire with tanks and guns made out of soft
  cloth.
• In front of the House of Humour and Satire is a
  statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
• They make fun of the fact that they are cheap.
  They erected a statue of their humorous founder
  Racho Kabacho (Racho, the blacksmith) in the
  middle of the river, because that was where the
  land was cheap.
• During the festival, dozens of people dress like
  Charlie Chaplin with mustaches, top hats,
  tuxedos, oversized shoes and canes. They walk
  in straight lines and make right-angle turns.

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Bulgarian House of Humour and Satire Icons
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Canadian Humor Here are some pictures taken in
Canada, which we think are humorous.

• Canada Toronto Edgewalk

• Canada Mount Nimbus

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French Humor

• A French Proverb
• He who lends
• money
• to a friend,
• Loses both.

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Equadors Pailon del Diablo

• A Spanish Proverb
• He who stumbles twice over the same stone
• Deserves to break his neck.

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German Schadenfreud Humor

• Germany has Der Struevelpater, a dark figure
  who burns up little children who play with
  matches and cuts off the fingers of little
  children who play with scissors.
• This dark figure is designed to teach children
  that there are serious consequences for doing bad
  things.

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Germanys Wurzburg Forest

• A German
• Proverb
• Young twigs will bend but not old trees.

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Classical Greek Satire

• Most humor is situated both in time and space.
• Horace wrote mild and gentle humorous satires.
  These were called Horatian satires.
• Juvenal wrote bitter and sardonic satires. These
  were called Juvenalian satires.
• We also have modern Horatian and Juvenalian
  satires.
• Jonathan Swift wrote the Horatian satire
  Gullivers Travels, and he also wrote the
  Juvenalian satire A Modest Proposal.
• Similarly, George Orwell wrote the Horatian
  satire Animal Farm, and the Juvenalian satire
  1984.

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The Irish Rogue

• The Irish Rogue is not a criminal, but he is
  bright, charismatic, and subversive.
• Eoin Colfers Artemis Fowl (written for young
  readers) is a typical Irish Rogue, in the
  tradition of Christy Mahon in John Synges
  Playboy of the Western World, Mr. Boyle in Sean
  OCaseys Juno and the Paycock, Finn MacCool in
  James Joyces Finnegans Wake, and Sebastian
  Dangerfield in J. P. Donleavys The Ginger Man.
• Jonathan Swift was even being a bit roguish when
  he wrote A Modest Proposal.

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• Rogues are revered in Ireland, because it was the
  Rogues who fought back when the English were
  taking over Ireland.
• Rogues break rules and laws, but it is always for
  the greater good.
• Rogues are entertaining and high spirited, and
  they diffuse violence with their use of humor.
  Although they are flirtatious, they seldom form
  any lasting alliances with women.

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• Many rogues are linked to an aristocratic figure,
  usually an Irish rebel chief, for whom they risk
  their lives.
• The rogue is articulate, good natured, fun
  loving, and exhibits an irrepressible élan vital.
  
• Rogues tend to be imaginative and resilient comic
  figures.

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Japanese Humor

• The Japanese are very serious during working
  hours. They consider their bosses and their
  fellow workers part of their family, and they do
  their best to be productive and impress their
  working companions.
• But after working hours, they go to Karaoke bars,
  drink saki, and make fun of their bosses and
  their companions. Such humor is usually
  slapstick and silly.

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Navajo Humor

• In contrast to Japanese humor, Navajo humor is
  part of everyday life. It tends to be physical,
  and it involves many practical jokes. Navajos
  will often parody white men by talking loudly,
  boasting, and interrupting others.
• When a child is born into a Navajo family,
  everybody tries to make the child laugh, and the
  first person who is successful in doing so
  becomes a part of the family. There is even a
  formal ceremony to induct this laugh-inducer into
  the childs family.

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• In Native American cultures, contraries or
  ritual clowns do things backwards, as
  demonstrations of what not to do, e.g. they
• Ride their horses backwards.
• Wear little clothing in the winter and much
  clothing in the summer.
• Lift great weights with ease and have difficulty
  lifting light weights.
• Attack a powerful enemy, and cower at a lesser
  power.
• Say the opposite of the truth.

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Netherlands ISHS 2014
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Norways Trolltunga Rock
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Norways Eslil Ronningsbakken
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Perus Wayna Pichu at Machu Pichu

• A Spanish Proverb
• Beware of enemies reconciled, and of meat twice
  boiled.

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Polish Humor International Society for Humor
Studies2012 Conference in Krakow, Poland
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Romanian Humor

• When a group of Romanians came to our ASU humor
  conference in 1986, they sent us this news story
  about the event published in their home town
  newspaper.
• All we recognized was the sketch of Gammage
  Auditorium on the right.

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Russian Humor

• These men from the Soviet Union came to our 1986
  humor conference at ASU.
• Our closing dinner was at Rawhide and they
  slipped away to have their pictures taken with an
  American barmaid.

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Spains Cross-Road Ladder in Bermo, Basque
Country
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South African Mountain Climbing
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Switzerlands Elbsandsteingebirge Stairs
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Indias Cand Baori Fountain
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Portugals Red Bull Cliff
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Hawaiis Haiku Scale in Oahu
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In conclusion, especially when studying
international humor, life is a journey