ABSTRACT
This chapter provides two examples of ways in which jokes can be used in comparative analysis. It looks at the two cross-cultural comparative studies, paying particular attention to problems of language and translation, and especially between French and English. In any case, the jokes do not need to be translated into English in order to establish that they exist. It is enough to note that the same kind of stupidity jokes that depend on a foolish misuse or misunderstanding of words exist in English, French, and Spanish, and indeed in other languages. With regard to the stupidity jokes about the material world, for the reasons indicated earlier, it does not really matter in what language they are told or published. In British jokes about the Irish, the use of Irish ways of speaking English is common. The English, by contrast, tell jokes about the dangers of speaking too quickly.
