My sarcastic, awkward, dry and immature sense of humour has not gone over as well in Russia when compared to the US/Canada. Of course the language barrier offers some challenges but I've been hit with blank stares of confusion when telling some 'jokes'.
But, since I need my sense of humour to me through most situations in life I had to adapt and try to figure out how to make a Russian laugh. With some people here it isn't so hard but there are some sticklers who make it very difficult for me to even get a smile from.
One of the harder cases was the receptionist at my gym, very tough to crack using conventional ways but, in the end, it was a basic solution. On Women's day I decided to learn how to say 'Happy Women's Day' in Russian and I was going pass on my well wishes to all the Russian women I saw from then on. So, even though this receptionist usually gives me plain faced, disapproving looks i decided to say 'поздравляю с женским днем!!!' (which is not an easy phrase to get out.) Paste it into google translate and you can listen for yourself.
Well, this seemingly sincere statement turned out to be one of the funniest things she must have heard in the past year because not only did she start cracking up instantly but as I left the gym an hour later she still couldn't look me in the eye without laughing. I'm an international master of comedy.
You really make me laugh with this post!
ReplyDeleteWell now you know you can use that sentence (I listened and I agree, it's very difficult to say...) and stole laughs from the russian people! :)