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British humor linked to genetics

Sarcasm and self-depreciation, hallmarks of British humor that don’t always travel well, may be linked to genetics, a researcher said.

Rod Martin, a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, said television shows such as “Fawlty Towers” and “The Office,” show people in Britain enjoy cruel or dark humor more than people from other countries, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Martin and his research team surveyed 2,000 pairs of twins in Britain and 500 pairs of twins in North America.

“The British may have a greater tolerance for a wide range of expressions of humor,” Martin said. “In the North American version of ‘The Office,’ the lead character is much less insensitive and intolerant than in the original UK version.”

We don’t get as much access to British sitcoms as I’d like. Recently someone showed me a few episodes of Freezing which I thought was great - though since one of the co-stars is American actress Elizabeth McGovern it doesn’t have as much a British sensibility as the original Office. The talent agent Leon (Tom Hollander) is as pathetic as he is arrogant and insensitive - still he’s a character that you love to hate or hate to love, I’m not sure. Maybe it was because I was part of that crowd that was into Monty Python at some point in high school or college I never thought much about being into Brit humor. It didn’t matter to me whether if was Bill Murray or Michael Palin, funny was funny. Some Brits have told me that most of the stuff that never makes it over here doesn’t for good reason, it sucks. I wonder if they’ve ever seen reruns of Roseanne.

no  frivolity zone  

Found a great new excuse for the boss or professor, Pollution ‘alters brain function’ 

They were wired up to an electroencephalograph (EEG), a device that records the electrical signals of the brain. They were monitored during the period of exposure and for an hour after they left the room.

After about 30 minutes, the brains of those in the exhaust rooms displayed a stress response on the EEG, which is indicative of a change in the way information is being processed in the brain cortex.

This effect continued after they were no longer in the room.

“We can only speculate what these effects may mean for the chronic exposure to air pollution encountered in busy cities where the levels of such soot particles can be very high,” said lead researcher Paul Borm.