Beyond parody and satire, many kinds of humor are built from culture preferences and culture comparisons and culture clashes.

A seed of humor is planted when one culture sees another’s preference as nonsense. Often cultural differences are slight or inconsequential, which is why Culture Comparison Humor frequently employs exaggeration. As long as there’s some recognizable element of truth within the distinction, the humor resonates.

The formula for comparison humor is trivial: X are like ___ and Y are like ___, where X and Y represent different cultural groups and the blanks are different cultural preferences.

Humor events of all kinds and in all categories rely on cultural knowledge. Let’s go back to the simplest piece of humor, the humor kernel. Here again are the nine adjectives describing nonsense elements within three major families:

Silly Family
ATYPICAL
FOOLISH
SURREAL
BUMBLING

Contrary Family
IRONIC
CLEAR

Improper Family
INAPPROPRIATE
AWKWARD
VULGAR

Everything these adjectives describe, along with their sense counterparts within humor kernels, varies due to culture.

The simplest breakdown of humor culture is the three humor families from the spectrum of sense and nonsense. SILLY humor and CONTRARY humor and IMPROPER humor aren’t just humor divisions; they’re also culture divisions. Some folks are happy to participate in all three cultures and some prefer one or two over the others. Finer distinctions along the spectrum are also culture subdivisions. Subtypes like SURREAL humor or AWKWARD humor are not universally enjoyed, and the differing levels of use and enjoyment are perfectly normal.

Return to the third broad category Culture

Return to the second Humor Culture category Satire

Continue to the fourth Humor Culture category Wit