Italian sense of humour
To be or not be – serious about life
We may be not that polite or courteous, but we like to make people laugh.
There is always time for a good chuckle in Italy. Nearly every chat turns into a rhetorical, sarcastic and above all humourous exchange. Your neighbour, the local shopkeeper, and the man in the newsagent will all try to joke with you, often in such a subtle way that if you are a bit sleepy it can be some time before you realise that you are the main part in the morning’s impromptu comedy sketch.
We generally make fun of ourselves, our politicians and our everyday situations. Comedy shows on TV are dominated by personalities that over-emphasise a regional stereotype, an age-group, or family member, making us laugh at things that could quite easily drive us to distraction.
Instead joking is our sense of civilization. It’s what mainly distinguishes us human beings from the other animals, and helps us through in the face of adversity. And while we’d maintain there is plenty of adversity, we also have plenty of laughs. We don’t get depressed because our country has one of the largest deficits in western world and we don’t get mad if the system doesn’t work, we patiently stand in line and joke about it.
Everything in Italy from political arguments to state projects often end up, as we say, “a tarallucci e vino” – which means eating, drinking and rather too much merriment. Our neighbours in Europe don’t take ourselves seriously. The Italian governments have always struggled to be taken seriously by the other members of the EU. The adjective “serious” probably does not come in the first ten of a list of adjectives defining the Italian character.
And it’s even quite difficult for us to take ourselves seriously. I’m sure is part of our instinct for self-preservation, and that there is a whole body of research that shows that people with a healthy sense of humour live longer does not surprise me at all. So it may not be just our steady diet of red wine and olive oil that propels us into a healthy old age – but also the ability to have a good giggle. felix