The story of how the ‘British Memes’ subreddit was created is quite a straightforward one—the moderators saw there was a niche and decided to go for it. “British humor is dry and doesn't shy away from making fun of itself,” one of the mods told Bored Panda in a recent interview, adding that memes are fun, so why not give such a subreddit a go?
“I like how relaxed and casual smaller subreddits are,” they added. “Like a village compared to the cities of the big ones.” While the sub might not be considered among the largest fish on Reddit, it has amassed more than 22 thousand members already.
The moderator of the ‘British Memes’ subreddit is arguably right about British humor being rather dry, which is why it might not appeal to everyone equally. A study from 2021 found that users of American English perceived British humor as less funny and were less able to get the ironic and sarcastic aspect of such humor, compared to their counterparts using British English.
The irony and sarcasm adorning British wit might not be amusing to everyone, either, but not taking things personally—when they don’t cross the line of decency, of course—and laughing at certain situations instead can sometimes be beneficial, too. According to the cognitive psychologist Gary Klein, humor can be used to make certain situations easier to bear or to help us keep our cool if needed.
“When we see the humor in a situation, we are less likely to take things personally, less likely to feel defensive and threatened, and more capable of responding constructively to the people involved,” Klein wrote for Psychology Today. That’s what, according to the expert, having a comedy mindset is all about.
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In order to learn more about the comedy mindset, Bored Panda got in touch with Dr. Klein, who emphasized that such a mindset helps people cope with frustrating events, reduce stress, and counter a tendency to take things personally, thereby reducing anger when things don't go their way.
But this coin, too, has two sides. “There is unfortunately a downside to the comedy mindset—finding humor in another person's suffering, which is something to be alert to and to guard against,” Dr. Klein pointed out.
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When it comes to the darker side of humor, the internet seemingly plays quite a significant role in it. According to Dr. Klein, nowadays, the online culture tends towards viciousness rather than humor.
“There seems to be no shortage of people ready to pounce on displays of humor; the online culture seems to drive towards a caustic perspective, rather than a comedy mindset. Even people who do see the humor in things may be intimidated not to express that humor, whereas caustic and sarcastic reactions seem to rule the day.”
While British humor is often accompanied by a pinch of sarcasm, not all of it is based on caustic humor or equally heavy to bear. The Brits can bring wit into something as mundane as cooking, too, and whoever named some of their traditional dishes seemingly did. Similarly to British humor, some of the names used for certain dishes—a ‘toad in a hole’ served for dinner, for instance—might sound bizarre at best, when you’re not familiar with them.
In addition to the toad in the hole—which in reality is some sausages in Yorkshire pudding, unlike what the name suggests—there’s also rumbledethumps (yes, that’s a dish, not a spell from a Harry Potter book), and bangers and mash. Make sure to leave some room for some Eton mess or knickerbocker glory for dessert!
But food isn’t the only thing the British have specific names for. When it comes to vocabulary, there can be problems related to being misunderstood in some places, as the words they use might be different from those used in other English-speaking locations. For instance, asking for chips in the UK and in the US would result in two different forms of snacks; and you would also most likely be surprised about the different outcomes you’d see after requesting a torch.