Hi there,

I am currently working in Mackay, northern Queensland, and although I am having fun, my very British sense of humour gets me into trouble frequently - and has given some people quite a wrong impression of me. For example:

I was talking with some of my co-workers about the old desk I had been using which was falling apart. Attempting a joke, I said "Well, it doesn't exactly scream 'successful young executive does it?'" with a smile. My line manager, listening a few desks across looked quite angry and said "Your not a executive! You've only been here five minutes!"

She mistook my attempt at a joke as if I really thought I was a 'successful young executive' when I was actually poking fun at myself - fully aware that I am just the opposite to what I had said.

This pattern has continued several times - and some people think I am quite 'up myself' because of it. You can see why some Aussie's mistakingly say that British people think they are better than everyone else. Anybody else experience this? Its very frustrating to say the least!

lol, oh dear, im not there yet, but i gues i ll have to watch my ps and qs when i get there, lol or where a gag,no comment please

tracey.

Hmmm...now, as an Aussie, I would say that kind of "lack of sense of humour" isnt necessarily an "Australian trait".

See now I would have found that pretty funny. I think you will find there are people all over that will either "get it" or not....perhaps she was just having a bad day?

Not trying to make excuses just because I am Australian, but you find that kind of person everywhere....

I don't think Aussie's lack a sense of humour, its just that irony and sarcasm are often taken literally. Actually a very sharp receptionist I get on with where I work told me that although she finds it funny, lots of people don't understand a dry sense of humour in Queensland - "unless it is laugh out funny - its not funny here".

Back in the UK, before I left I went into a hotel near the airport to stop for the night before we flew out to Australia. We went to the reception and I asked the man “Have you got any vacancies?". The man looked puzzled for a second, then went on to say "Well, we are looking for a chef as ours just left." I laughed and said "Have you got any rooms free then?" To which he replied, "We have 30 rooms, but there is no free ones. We charge for them all".

Not cutting edge comedy, but he made me chuckle. I can't help think that my line manager in the same situation would just think this guy was either stupid or very rude. Because that is exactly what she has said to other people about me!

Tell them to chill & keep at them. One of life's great sports is winding Aussies up, they bite so easily.

Irony is a great British trait, thats why we have the best comedies in the world.
'The Office' could only be written by Brits. The Americans dont get it(obviously) Maybe the Aussies are similar.

The Americans tried to do Fawlty Towers but they wanted to do scenes which showed that Basil really loved his wife!!!! Thats the whole joke...Basil loathes EVERYBODY but the yanks cant have it like that.

There has never been a TRUE British comedy running on primetime TV in the States. Everything has to be full of smarm and love each other like 'Friends'...... yawn.

Remember that not everyone is endowed with the neccessary intellectual horse power to see the illogical possibilities - pick your target. Fart jokes can be an endless source of amuzements for some.

Remember Australians can be as dry and ironic as English, I know my office is full of them. In fact, they are masters at it. We all laugh oursleves silly, my boss is an amazing wit, we really get on with the humour. So I find it sad when people complain about it being an Australian thing.

The key is "delivery". This doesn't mean you have to sound "funny out loud".
You may have been too intense. It's not even the joke itself, or the words you use, or the timing. I find Aussie irony works well when you're VERY deadpan, VERY slow. This doesn't mean you have to telegraph it miles in advance, you can either do it or you can't.

Its like telling jokes, the content is funny, so it should be, but if you're intense, and nervous, it will fall flat every time. A Pommy accent can sound weird and intense to a northern Queenslander. So it's delivery, not content.

Also, sometimes an Australian response or retort can be taken wrongly as well...now I understand clearly the bloke in your situation didn't get it, but sometimes when a bloke snaps at you or berates you, it's also 'taking the piss'. YOU may now not be getting the joke...my fire brigade captain is like this...but this is also an AGE thing, not a Pommy/Aussie thing.

I remember being a very naive 17 year in the British Army, and I noticed that the blokes who were nasty and rude were actually taking the piss back. I find Australian humour very similar to Forces humour which is VERY black. Anything else can sound up your self. It's hard to explain. All I know is that I can get on with both English and Australians with humour, so I must be doing something right.

I reckon this is a fair and considered reply, so if anyone wants to have a go - I'll roll my eyes..in advance

Badge

I don't think it is specifically a Qld problem, not even a rural Qld problem - I think you just happen to work with a bunch of people who have had a sense of humour failure.

I have been here nearly 4 years. Two of the Aussie guys I work with have a very similar SOH - dry, ironic, cynical, sarcastic - we get on just fine. It was one of them who first put me onto watching The Office on ABC. One of the other chaps I work with has a SOH and understands the UK SOH - though he is too nice to actually be bitter and twisted and cyncial. Yet another colleague thinks he has a sense of humour, but takes himself (and everythng else) far too seriously. Fortunately, in our office, he is outnumbered, so though he sometimes looks a bit confused by us, he realises that we must be joking (I think).

Maybe you need to wait till the next time something you say is misunderstood by your line manager and just make some self-deprecating remark about your weird Pommie sense of humour getting you into trouble again. I have found that even the Aussies without a SOH seem capable of appreciating any comment you make that is having a go at the poms - especially if you can get the comment out before any of the locals.

Cheers,

DagBoy

I dunno... I'm Canadian but that would've made me chuckle...

Then again, I love dry wit and sarcasm. Fawlty Towers had me in hysterics as did The Office.

Even my hubby has said "Must you be sarcastic ALL the time?" LOL

I think most likely... she just doesn't have a good sense of humour. Some people find the subtleties of irony and sarcasm hard to pick up on (unless it's packaged in Chandler Bing-ish "Can you BE any more annoying?" bash you over the head type witticisms.)

Siren

That is probably true down below deck or with the squaddies, but when I worked with the RN I found that generally, the more gold braid on the sleeve, the less chance of finding any hint of a SOH. I spent many happy hours in the MoD winding up naval officers who were full of a sense of their own self importance.
Cheers,

DagBoy

You'd be right. It all depends on the service and branch. A paratrooper officer will muck with the blokes, and in the mess will probably wind up his fellow Cavalry Officer something cronic. "Hey, you've got 400 years of tradition, but we're just plain GOOD - how'd you deal with that". (Like the Australian/UK argument maybe !!!!!!) The Royal Navy are a bit of a funny lot, especially the officers, they seem the most up themselves. Army officers are a bit rougher they can take it more. The RAF, well they're civilians in uniform..they don't give a damn about anyone.

Yep. Though I did hear a great putdown of the RAF (I think from an RN officer) when visiting an RAF mess. Someone mentioned that something or other was a "tradition". The reply was "The navy has traditions, the Army has traditions, The Air Force just has habits - most of them bad."

Cheers,

DagBoy

My line manager was not taking the piss back because she told several people that she was amazed that I thought I was an executive after only a few weeks...!

The good thing about people not having seen The Office over here is that I have been able to use some of the lines as my own. After a particularly lengthy session of pommy bashing, I retorted "Look, your lucky to have me. You'll never work with someone like me again - someone who is basically a chilled out entertainer." That got a laugh, but my line manager asked us to keep the noise down....

Yep, have to agree with this.

It'll depend on who you're talking too.

Btw, I also think it's funny, and I do Fawlty Towers and lots of other British stuff, as do my parents(never seen the Office though. And I think I've seen 'Little Britain', but that's a bit to annoying for me)

A friend of mine here likes 'Lano and Woodley' (something like that, anyone know them, were on ABC I think). I think it's stupid, and I'm sure a lot of other Aussies would too, but she thinks it's hilarious :scared: