There is something of a stereotype to the effect that Americans have no sense of humour, or at best, only a somehow "childish" or unsophisticated one.
But the other day, I saw concrete evidence of a cultural divide in this area that I had not expected.
I was looking for a gift for someone who was going to be convalescing for a few weeks, and I decided to get them a couple of humourous books. I don't like buying from Amazon because of their behaviour over the "one click ordering" patent, but on this occasion I really wanted a wide choice of books and quick/reliable delivery. So I decided ignore my reservations and see what they had on offer.
Since I wanted something to cheer up a convalescent, I headed straight for the "Humour" section... and couldn't find it! Which was really surprising, because I was sure that I'd seen it in the past. But although Amazon were offering 35 different categories of books, Humour was not one of them.
Upon investigation, it transpired that I had somehow managed to start the books on the amazon.com site instead of amazon.co.uk, and it turns out that the American site does not have "Humo(u)r" as one of its top-level categories.
Now, I'm confident this isn't a mistake. I assume that Amazon has determined the categories on each site on the basis of market research, or studying logs, or organising focus groups or some such. And so the differences reflect difference between (Amazon's customer groups in) the two societies.
So, for instance, while British and Americans both have "Religion and Spirituality" as a top level category, the Americans also have "Christian Books". And I'm guessing that this reflects the greater importance of Christianity in the US.
Similarly, a stereotype is no doubt confirmed by the fact that the UK has "Poetry, Drama and Criticism" and both "Languages" and "Foreign Languages", while the US does none of these, and by the US having Arts and Photography while the UK has Art, Architecture and Photography.
And maybe the fact that the US has "Outdoors and Nature" when the UK does not is a sign Americans are somehow closer to nature, and more concerned with (being in) their natural environment.
But what does the lack of "Humour" tell us? It seems to me to be an obvious top level category: there are a lot of books that are written to make the reader laugh, and "a book to make someone laugh" is clearly a natural thing for people in Britain to look for.
But that's not the case in America. There, "Humor" is a sub-category of Entertainment, alongside "Movies", "TV" and "Puzzles and Games".
So what does that tell us about the Americans see the world? Or books? Or humour?
Hmmm...
