I think what happened with me is that I'd see some astonishing claim on here, let's paraphrase and say "Muslims are paedophiles", being 'discussed' by people saying, "Yeah that's right innit and they smell funny" to eachother.

Sorry but not worthy of anything more than a one-liner.

If people had such great arguments for their position though, surely this would not frighten them, they could have put forward the statistics to prove it to me.

I don't think statistics are kept on the way people smell.














Sorry, that may have been a one-liner.

Seriously though, yes, there was certainly some of that and I agree with you.

There are also other threads and points though, all over BE - with British people just talking the way British people talk.

Oh bugger.

Flurry of banal inanities alert

Good threads ebb and flow like you said, with wisecracks and serious stuff - I love it.

The more I think about it, the more it seems clear that British culture depends upon the ability to be silly.

Python, Frankie Howerd, Carry On, Benny Hill, The Fast Show, Blackadder, QI, the list goes on and on and on.

The serious news is not exempt either, with programmes like Mock the Week.

It's inescapable.

Private Eye...

The best comics here also use humour but deal with some very serious topics - Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart.

Many years ago there was a comedy programme called 'mind your language'; making fun of many nationalities including the English teachers of the 'language school'.
I still remember an evening when friends from Malaysia (Muslim) was visiting us in UK. The two men were screaming with laughter, at their respective national characters we two wives looking on. They both then brought out their collection of Sikh jokes (turbans make the brain melt etc.) OH then his new collection of Irish jokes.
British comedy making a great evening (the programme later taken off in case of offence!).

Being silly does spread to other "cultures" though (I do dislike that word)!! We take DVDs of various comedy shows to India for rels.
One BIlaw mad about 'carry-on' films, he has seen them all. (they are shown there). Not sure he understands all the jokes though.

Rather than paraphrase could you perhaps post a few links to claims you find astonishing. This would help explain why your now (in)famous one-liners are appropriate.

My American-born, half English, half Mexican son is addicted to Dad's Army. He goes around saying "they don't like it up 'em" at the drop of a hat, much to his American friends' befuddlement. He has also tried "stupid boy" at school - that didn't go so well because of course nobody got it at all.

Perfect analogy, This is exactly what happened when we suddenly found ourselves in TIO. The humour. We don't get it. A lot of the humour that is used in TIO goes straight over my head.

I think one of Sally's one-liners was 'Wilmore' which means nothing to me. I was a bit annoyed because it was a thread I was enjoying. Perhaps you don't realise how much humour you use is actually American and not British

But TIO isn't another country, it's just another bit of server space on a forum largely populated by Brits. The humour there isn't American any more than it is on any other other bits of the forum - god knows I go there precisely to get some British humour given where I live .

I think part of what you are feeling is just because you don't know the people who hang out there, which is largely the same group as post in the Lounge. And most of those live in the US, the UK, Oz, with a scattering from other countries such as Canada, South Africa, assorted countries in the Middle East and Europe. We have been, in some cases, talking to each other for years so yes I'm sure there are shared jokes from shared experiences that newcomers won't get right away. Having said that, the group that posts there is definitely not the same group that was posting there when I first joined. New people have come to The Lounge, and TIO, and been happily integrated after a while. Please keep trying, and also join in The Lounge where you find a very similar group of people but not talking about the controversial topics. You will see a very similar style of jokes, so you can see it isn't aimed at Spain's regular posters in particular. I happened to find PDT had a very different sort of feel - the personal attacks and in some cases downright nastiness was something I hadn't found elsewhere on BE. That has stopped with the departure of a handful of posters.

The Wilmore thing is simply a reference to a poster in Canada who habitually messes up the quotes, that's all. If you don't understand a reference, just ignore it and move on, or ask for an explanation which will probably be happily given. There's no need to take it personally.

But we have always had American comedy on TV in UK, so presumably we are familiar with it. Personally I don't enjoy it (apart from Mel Brooks)! but others do.

I would agree though, that there is less actual discussion in TIO. Some posters put serious posts (including Lion in Winter) others 'jokes' which are irritating to some.

Try The Lounge.

TIO was set up for people to have arguments in. So they tend to do just that.

I find nothing American in it though, except from our actual American posters.

Isn't argument part of discussion? Only when personal insults are traded does It become unpleasant.

The same thing happened on the Goa Forum when newcomers or strangers (particularly PIOs) were not exactly welcomed, including Tommy.Irene who tried to put welcome genuine jokes on the 'laugh' thread instead of the usual sex or nasty race jokes that had been the norm.