Re: Pakistani Sense of Humour
Punjabi humour certainly gets very ruthless, and when it gets ruthless, it’s not a joke, it’s basically an attack. An attack carried out in a very humourous way. That’s why think Punjabi humour is best when it’s done amongst friends and is conversational, it needs to be a totally two way street or else it’s not a joke - one person will always end up feeling offended. However, when the banter is going on, you should not allow yourself any time to feel offended instead you must prepare your next offence. Punjabi humour is very much about pace, timing and flow, there is definitely a certain rhythm to it. But it’s quite amazing, how much you can say and get away with Punjabi humour, you really don’t need to get all angry and put on a stroppy face stick someone in their place and claim a psychological edge.
I often feel with Punjabi humour, it’s always the third person that gets offended as oppose to people who share the joke. Punjabi humour doesn’t really need to sound pretty on the ears and just because it doesn’t sound so pretty and sophisticated, doesn’t mean it’s all evil. Most of the humour in Punjabi is improvised on the spot and then personalised instantly. Again, refering back to my point that it’s typically a very matey sense of humour - must be done between individuals who are familiar with each other or else, it’ll be misunderstood.
Even within Pujabi humour, there is lowbrow and highbrow divide. There is one type of humour which heavily relies on particular speech style, stylistic dialogues, certain words and expressions and quick witted remarks - that’s highbrow. Then there’s epic level of quick snappy ridicule and that’s obviously quit lowbrow percieved as humour of working class.