BS: Separated by a common language

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 08:34 AM

On another recent Mudcat thread, some one mentioned "redd up". This is Pittsburghese for cleaning up your home. That phrase probably comes from the word "ready" as in making a home "ready" for company/guests.

However, in my experience few African Americans who live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and its surrounding communities use the term "redd up." I think that this is a prime example of how different populations within the same city at the same time may be "separated by a common language".

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 08:28 AM

Also, I've received a number of examples from readers to my website on children's playground rhymes that include the word "bum" (meaning "butt") and I realized that because of that I automatically made the assumption that those contributors weren't African American, but I also jumped to the conclusion that they were British. But I'm curious whether the word "bum" meaning "butt", "behind", "hiney", "ass", and "booty"* is used colloquially among Anglo-Americans, Canadians, and people from Australia.

I'm curious about this because I think it points to the fact that populations within the same nation can be separated by a common language.

*Two other words in the USA that mean the same thing as "bum" does in the UK are "bottom" and "backside". When I used to go around to pre-schools and kindergarten classrooms to tell stories, I've heard White teachers say "Sit on your bottoms" to their classrooms of students. But few African Americans (including African American teachers) use the word "bottom". I'm sure that the children learned what "Sit on your bottom" means, but I don't think "bottom meaning "butt" is a word that they had heard prior to going to school. And I doubt that "bottom" is used that way in most African American homes. The word "backside" is more likely to be used.

"Booty" is a colloquial term that is mostly used in dance songs and children's handclap rhymes and cheers (as in "shake your bootie"). A "booty call" means a person who calls another person for some sex.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Oct 09 - 08:06 AM

I'm refreshing this thread because of some questions that I still have about comments I didn't understand that were made on the BBC Question Time show with Nick Griffin. I asked some of those questions in this thread thread.cfm?threadid=124461&messages=213#2751123 but don't want to distract from the serious nature of that thread by asking more.

[I should note that I don't mean to imply that particular thread wasn't serious when I asked those questions. I partly did so to "lighten" the mood a little. And I might have gotten one phrase one. I asked what was a "Whip up" but maybe the correct phrase that an audience member on that show used was "whip around".]

**

Here are the other questions that I have from that show:
Is the BBC referred to as "auntie"? I ask that because the moderator of that show asked Griffin if he considered being on that show as an early Christmas present from auntie. If that reference does refer in general to the BBC, why is that nickname used?

**

During that show, Bonnie Greer said something to Nick Griffin that I interpreted as "toot toot", but which I read in an online article as
"2:2". I gathered that it referred to the number of years a person attended a college or a university. Is that correct?

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: CarolC
Date: 14 Mar 09 - 01:33 AM

And the best of the best: This Hour has 22 Minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuY3oLmzkjE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_BLcap6qao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ6D1nHgO2c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CptXVdqprE


22 Minutes' Shaun Majumder (this one's very funny)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxTyuFBPJsk

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 09:50 PM

Who remembers "Canadian Air Farce"? Still occasionally on the marginal cable channels in Canada. I don't think it was heard in the U. S. or UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 05:38 PM

Ahh yes. Canadian comedy very good too. Second City TV, the Red Green Show.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: gnu
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 01:41 PM

Then, there's a Canuck who moved to Britain from the US...

Stuart Francis

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 11:02 AM

Ah, Giok, it's not the skelpin' I refer to. I enjoy those exchanges

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Azizi
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 09:58 AM

Here are some other points I would like to make:

With regard to your comment, John, that Glasgowian insult exchanges are like the friendly insults of the dozens, I want to mention that 'dissin people' or "rippin on people" (two terms for "dozens like" insulting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) isn't always friendly.

In addition, it occurs to me that American mass media (movies, television, and recorded music videos in particular) are Americanizing or (to coin a phrase) "hiphopizing" culture to the extent that many people throughout the world may think they are hip to what is goin down in the 'hood (meaning in some assumed to be real urban Black neighborhood), but in reality their understanding of real Black culture/s is weak & faulty.
(I mean "weak" in the standard and the hip-hop meaning of that word-though in hip-hop languaging the word used would be "wacked").

I'm concerned about more than whether people in the United States and throughout the rest of the world fully understand the words to rap recordings, or whether people "get" the jokes that are part of BET television, and part of certain American movies. I'm concerned that new versions of old stereotypes are being spread and are becoming embedded in the people's psyches as a result of those videos and movies. One aspect of this that is particularly concerning to me is the view that African Americans (and perhaps also other people with Black African descent) really have chip on shoulder "attitudes" and go around insulting people like folks see in those videos and other material from the mass media.

I believe that a faulty view of "Black people with attitude" is unconsciously being spread via contemporary playground rhymes which have been disseminated through movies and other media sources such as television and the Internet. I've noticed that a lot of the contemporary English language playground rhymes that have been posted or performed by children & teens who are White (by their own identification and/or by my observance) contain lyrics and are performed in the "in your face" aggressive attitude style that appears to me to be modeled after the stereotypical view of what rappers are like. My concern is that young children may grow up thinking that this is how all or most Black people actually act in confrontational situations. For example, see the first video "ABC Hit It" that I feature this month on my Myspace page.

These-dare I say-stereotypical views about how African American interact have been spread to children throughout the world and are reinforced by the popularity of these American movies:
Bring It On cheerleader movies (which feature some "in your face" cheers that a White cheerleader squad learned from a Black cheerleading squad)

and

Dickie Roberts-Former Child Star

(particularly the highly popular "in your face" insult rhyme "Brick Wall Water Fall" which I've been told is also chanted in one of the Bring It On cheerleader movies.)

For those interested in reading some examples of "Brick Wall Water Fall", you can visit this page of my website Cocojams-School Yard Taunts .

**

What I'm trying to say is that I'd rather for us to that we are separated by a common language and perhaps also sometimes by different (real or put on) interaction styles than to think we know how other people live, move, and have their being, but our knowledge is not only incomplete but dangerously flawed.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Azizi
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 08:50 AM

John, I like your play on the word "repartee" in your "It's my partee and I'll cry if I want to"

Kudos!

Yet people who don't know that pop song might not understand your remark at all, and/or might not fully appreciate how witty it was.

Which brings me to a point that I've been thinking of-it seems to me that knowledge about the culture from which the joke comes is often needed in order to really understand (or "get") the joke.

For example, I know that I don't know Scottish culture/s. So when you and MeganL have your exchanges, I "get" that you are engaging in "friendly insults", but I don't understand-and I admit that I don't try to fully understand-what it is you two are saying.

And it occurs to me that some of the references in the comedy videos that I posted, and the way that the comedians go about setting up their joke also depends on cultural knowledge-in these cases-knowledge about American popular culture in general, and aspects of African American culture in particular. To use a somewhat retired slang term, if people aren't "hep" to either of these cultures, then they can't fully appreciate the jokes and the skill of the comedians in making them.

Which refers back to the "separated by a common language" theme of this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Stu
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 07:14 AM

Have any f our American brothers and sisters ever seen Rab C. Nesbitt? Genius.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 13 Mar 09 - 07:06 AM

It's my partee and I'll cry if I want to.


Ebbie, there is quite a tradition in Scotland generally, and in the central belt particularly (Edinburgh-Glasgow),of friendly insults.
I would say they are of the same degree of fun poking as the yo momma jokes.
MeganL and I being both Glaswegians by birth, indulge in this quite a lot eg
Whit like ye auld bauchle how's yer bahookey fur blackheeds
Nae sae bad laddie, ah see ye're still wearin' the monkey's bahookey fur a face. Fancy a kick up the erse?


With apologies to anyone that doesn't believe people actually talk with an accent like that.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 11:00 PM

I agree, M'sieu. Nor do I understand - or appreciate - the vicious attacks on each other here on the 'Cat that they call repartee. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: M.Ted
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 10:14 PM

Personally, I have two problems with those trans-ponders who allegedly share a language with us. First, they shoot, stab, and rob each other and say, "This is the sort of that would happen in America." Second, Benny Hill.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Azizi
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 07:56 PM

Here are some comedy videos that I like:

Sinbad stand up comedy about his mother

(If you can, ignore Sinbad's 1970s or so outfit which is worth some laughs all on its own).

**

Bill Cosby---Grandparents

**
These two segments harken back to the days when storytelling-especially telling tall tales (exagerrated stories) used to be one of the main forms of entertainments.

Nowadays it seems to me that there's much less stortyelling in stand-up comedy, and comedians rely on putdowns, cursing, and raunchy jokes to get laughs.

Tommy Davidson is a contemporary comedian who can be dirty, but who also has some funny, dramatized/storytelling aspects to his stand-up acts.

Here's a link to one of his shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=738t_x56WBY&feature=related

**

**
Here's another comedy video I think is funny:

Eddie Murphy- James Brown/Hot Tub

**
I think that the humor (humour) in these videos transcend racial and national lines. I'm curious if you agree.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Rowan
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 05:45 PM

Peace, I never knew you were really a New Zealander. Well, well.

Cheers, Rowan
also from the other side of the rather larger lake.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Al
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 05:31 PM

When I watch a DVD movie with British actors, I almost always have to turn on the English subtitles to understand them.
Al

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Peace
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 05:19 PM

"And how do we feel about puns?"

IMO, if she has nice puns we feel about them gently . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 04:46 PM

Canadians are, of course, the funniest of all (as compared to USAns and UKs).

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: gnu
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 04:10 PM

How? I don't really care. It's better than most. Just a head's up for our buddies far and wide.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: meself
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 04:03 PM

Hey, but that's Canuckian. Not sure how that fits into this. But I agree, a great show.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: gnu
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 04:01 PM

Wingfield. I had some great chuckles last night. Bravo TV. Two half hour shows. Wednesday. 10PM ASDT.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 03:39 PM

Some of the routines by Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball, on TV years ago, I still recall. Most of the shows did suffer from poor scripts, however.
"The Honeymooners" was great comedy, with great characters.
"Fawlty Towers" was excellent English comedy with a master at the helm. Another British hotel series is running now on cable, but I find it very second-rate. Can't remember the name.
"Last of the Summer Wine" was a British show I really enjoyed, but I don't know anybody else who liked it.

"The Vicar of Wakefield" is running on both PBS and BBCCanada at the moment- a few good bits, but not a show I go out of my way to watch.

To comment on something posted earlier, randy is common in U. S. as well as UK. A very old word, 17th c.
The main differences I see are the English uses of the plural- Army are, or Chelsea are, rather than Army is (American and most Canadians), and the placement of the main stress in some polysyllabic words.

Did the "Beverly Hillbillys" show in England? If so, what was the reaction? I thought it was rather tired comedy, but so much on TV is (was).
Is "Eastenders" popular all over the UK?

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: meself
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 03:28 PM

And how do we feel about puns?

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Peace
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 03:15 PM

"The big difference I've noticed is Irony"

Something at last I understand.

"The grenade exploded near his leg and now his leg is very irony."

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 03:06 PM

UK attempts at Oprah style TV programmes fail miserably
What a blessing that is. Trisha Goddard is still driving the burberry bus on Five and occasionally being vilified on comedy game/panel shows. I bet the original plan was that she would be the UK's answer to Oprah. Be grateful that didn't happen.

British comedy is so much richer, darker just better quality than American. Brass Eye, Coupling, Black Adder, One Foot in the Grave. That Mitchell & Webb Look, Bremmner, Bird and Fortune. I could go on and on. Very little in the US compares. God! Even Red Dwarf and Keeping up Appearances beats out Friends and Seinfeld and other embarrasingly, flaky, candidates for the analysts couch, unfunny 'comedy'.

I will give on Simpsons. It is simply brilliant. Maybe my problem is I have not been exposed to much American comedy, especially since moving to UK. When I lived in US, I had little time or energy or interest in TV, except what I found on PBS on Saturday nights (namely excellent British comedy).

Think I will watch some Python, Black Adder or Coupling tonight. I need a good laugh.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: bubblyrat
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 02:46 PM

I am still unable,at the age of 62,to understand how ANYONE,but especially Americans,could possibly find Lucille Ball even REMOTELY funny. I thought Vincent Price in "The Fall of The House of Usher" was funnier than Lucille Ball------The best thing about her show was Gale Gordon doing a cartwheel--now that WAS funny !!

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 01:20 PM

"...the US gave us Twin Peaks"

I had almost forgotten that... it WAS exceptional, but even here it got only a cult following. You really needed to see all episodes in order to follow the plot...much as I guess it is with "Doctor Who". I have friends who follow THAT fanatically, but I never was able.

John is correct that 'humor' and cultural norms differ widely in various areas of the US, and advertising on TV shows is often contrived and changed for the same program in different parts of the country. I simply could not live in parts of the Deep South.. I know HOW to avoid certain issues and jokes, but it's too much strain to do every day.

I see very few American comedy shows that I consider really funny any more here...they are either totally based on sexual innuendo or aimed at stereotypes so blatant that they are painful. The UK has sent us several that were truly 'different', and several that were just UK versions of stereotyped running jokes..("Are You Being Served")
The shows which depend on knowing the accent, vernacular and slang of the UK go right by me.

Yes John, it IS amazing we are able to communicate at all!

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Megan L
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 12:46 PM

Carol he is so auld and decrepit Historic Scotland are thinking o pittin a preservation order on him

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 12:37 PM

Sorry Carol should have included you, but I did say 'the only one I could remember was Peace' but I'm an old man you know, and we forget things.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 12:25 PM

I've had heated arguments with some of the BNP types who have posted here at times. I just didn't use any expletives while doing so. I'm pretty sure there were other people from this side of the Atlantic who also argued with them. I don't think the lack of insulting language should be construed as a lack of disapproval.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: HuwG
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 12:02 PM

To the best of my knowledge, the German hi-tech engineering firm of Kulhne, Kopp und Kausch are far from dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 11:43 AM

Well yeah they're here but so is every other weirdo group under the sun, so most fall of the general public's radar (unless some magazine or TV show decides to change that.)

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 11:35 AM

Went looking for the KKK too, and found this instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 11:23 AM

John Birch Society, still extant it seems.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 11:20 AM

have a nice day................

we laugh at that in the UK. While rolling on the floor.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 10:52 AM

'You have the KKK and the John Birch Society...'

I haven't heard of the John Birch Society in years, and the KKK is almost dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 10:48 AM

Things sure are complicated now that we have cable TV.

Curb Your Enthusiasm was produced for HBO, which is considered a premium channel on cable TV. In other words, it's an optional channel (or group of channels) that you have to pay extra for, over and above the basic cost of cable TV. I get something like 120 channels, but I don't get HBO, so I've never seen Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I suppose I could rent a DVD, or request it from Netflix, but I haven't done so.

How do you get it in the UK? Is it free?

I've never seen Arrested Development, either, unfortunately.

By "Fatty Owls" do you mean "Fawlty Towers"? That wasn't obvious to me at first. I did see, and love, Fawlty Towers.

The idea of having nicknames or abbreviated names for TV shows is a custom that hasn't caught on here, either, to my knowledge. Maybe you have to watch a lot of TV, and discuss it a lot, for that to appeal to you. I don't do that much, and neither do my friends. At least, we don't often discuss "entertainment" shows. If we discuss anything about TV, it's likely to be news and documentaries.

I am very interested in comparisons between British and American culture, and maybe that's why British TV shows appeal to me more than they do to most Americans, and why British TV shows often appeal to me more than similar American TV shows. I appreciate the insight and information they give me about British customs. For instance, I might never have heard of Eurovision if it hadn't been for Father Ted.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 10:40 AM

I heard an Italian tourist demanding of a waitress: "I wanna two fokella on da table!"

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 10:33 AM

Why not lay the table as an encore?

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 10:02 AM

I thought this was more about language and why I got some funny looks when I told a waitress in Chicago that I was going out to roll a fag...

:D (eG)

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 09:53 AM

Somewhat subjective Jack, but then all personal preferences must be so, by nature. However it';s not really about the relative merits of our respective TV programmes.
The reason I brought up Oprah was as an example of a type of programme, not the programme itself, although the programme would be yet another Jerry Springer genre thing, were it not for the personality and style of Oprah herself.
It's the public self examination aspect I was trying to convey. Brits aren't comfortable airing their foibles and freaks on TV, whereas it would appear to be more common in the USA.
I find this at odds with Americans I know personally, who on the whole, do not like taking about themselves. This might account for the reputedly high number in analysis ;)
Micca is right on the irony front, although it is all to often the given reason for differences in what makes us laugh. I think there are other, and deeper reasons, but I'm not sure what they are.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Stu
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 08:44 AM

The Americans can do quality in a way we don't here in the UK, although the production values are beginning to seep down into our own programming. Hack

Doctor Who is living proof that good scripts and high production values like those seen in US show like the X-Files etc make for excellent entertainment.

As for humour, Americans must see Father Ted as it's a work of genius, listen to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue to gain insight into our sense of humour, and have a listen to Count Arthur Strong to hear we can still do brilliant original comedy.

I love US comedy, and as far as I am concerned Curb is brilliant but the jewel in the crown is Arrested Development - the funniest show ever, possibly. Certainly up there with Fatty Owls, Ted, Mr. Brent and Del boy.

Also, the US gave us Twin Peaks, the best television series ever. Something like that would never be made in the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Micca
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 08:11 AM

The big difference I've noticed is Irony, it seems a lot less common in the US than in the UK especially on TV. Many, if not most, of the mudcatters I have met both on here and in 3D seem to be possesed of a well developed sense of Irony, and in many cases its "companion" skill the ability to laugh at themselves and not to take themselves too seriously, it is, I believe, these that seperate Most Mudcatters from the "common herd" and may appear to be the difference between US Humor and UK Humour, In this respect, for example, Maine, wwhich has a unique style of sort of self-deprecatory humour is much closer to the UK than to the rest of USA IMHO When Kendall performed at Sharps FC here in London the ENTIRE audience where with every nuance and change of direction in his stories and were laughing so much it hurt. I thought the guy next to me was going to have a seizure during the "Hunting for Winter" story (If you havent heard this gem, Buy, beg, borrow or steal a copy.)

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 07:56 AM

The main reason I don't get upset about Jade Goody is that I don't have a clue who Jade Goody is! Never heard of him (or her?) except by seeing that name in a Mudcat thread title.

Similarly, I have only a vague idea of what the BNP is, and what I know, I know mainly from seeing them mentioned in Mudcat threads.

Such things simply aren't mentioned in the US media.

I'd say Brits seem to know more about Americans than vice versa; but Brits can be misled, too. You mention the KKK and the John Birch Society. At least you've heard of them, but I have a hunch you overestimate their importance. Americans (not just Mudcatters) mostly ignore them because they really are a tiny segment of society, and they are much less significant today than they were in the past.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 07:14 AM

It's not so much the TV aspect as the cultural differences which are evinced by the things which amuse and annoy us.
For instance, the only transponder I can remember getting upset about the BNP threads on Mudcat was Peace, similarly the unlamented Jade Goody thread aroused a lot of ire in the UK, but none in the US.
Now you have your social misfits and misanthropes in the US, but I can't remember any prurient threads on the lady who had the octuplets for instace. Just general disapproval.
You have the KKK and the John Birch Society, and they seem to be largely ignored by US Mudcatters.
Could it be that the comparative sizes of the two countries is a factor. With we Brits living in each others pockets,figuratively speaking, and while a plane is required to get across the USA, we can drive from one end of the country to the other on less than 24 hours?
It's difficult to quantify what I mean on this one, but basically it's my view that in spite of the number of non US residents posting on Mudcat,it still remains an American website, with the commensurate values attached thereto.
I await the brickbats.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Michael
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 05:45 AM

I think that this discussion is based on a false premise, It isn't so much UK v US as me against thee, or (to risk a generalisation) Mudcatters against the world. I like, and find funny, certain things on TV. You like, and find funny, certain things on TV.On some points we agree, on some we don't.

On the whole, reading previous posts, we all appreciate the same humour.
And we all dislike the same programmes(I said "on the whole").

There is good and crap TV on both sides of the pond.


Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 05:33 AM

For me, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" has to be some of the best American humour out there - it treads a fine line between laugh-out-loud funny and too-excruciatingly-painful-to-watch funny. A bit like a darker, more grown-up Frank Spencer without the slapstick.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Acorn4
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 05:18 AM

I've never really appreciated American humour, with one or two exceptions. I think the Simpsons is wonderful, and used to love the series "Cheers", set in a Boston bar, and "Roseanne", starring Roseanne Barr - never really got into "Friends" though - not sure what it is that sets some US humour apart - then again , it's all a matter of individual taste.

Subject: RE: BS: Separated by a common language
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 12 Mar 09 - 04:15 AM

I don't know if as many of the Americans suffer from Victor-Meldrew-in-my-Daily-Mail-hell syndrome as the Brits do. They have their own problems.