Humor in HP

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186554

Brian wrote:
>
> Finding humour in tragedy is very British.  You only have to look at the reaction after the London tube (metro) and bus bombings.
> 
> When the news reporter said "Shopkeepers are opening their doors  bringing out blankets and cups of tea," I just smiled. It's like yes.  That's Britain for you. Tea solves everything. <snip>

Carol responds:
Right. We see that with Hagrid's buckets of tea (which I, not being British, didn't chuckle over) and possibly in McGonagall's fierce insistence that Harry eat a biscuit (I think it was a Ginger Newt), Yeah, that'll solve everything, Professor. :-)

Brian wrote: 
> If anyone dared to find humour in 9-11, Americans found it offensive.  The Brits are just different in that way.  Just as medics and nurses tend to have humour which others would find in bad-taste because of all they deal with on a day-to-day basis, perhaps all Britain endured with the blitz had a lasting effect on British humour.

Carol responds:
I can't imagine joking about 9/11. It would just seem sick. But I do recall an American sitcom of the 1960s in which Nazi soldiers were made into comic figures, so anything is possible. And there's also Woody Allen: "I could have been a lampshade," or something like that.

Still, you're right. Even if we (Americans) joke about serious topics, we don't generally joke about death and destruction, and jokes about disfigurement are considered to be in bad taste. While I found George's courage and his ability to find humor in his lost ear endearing, I found his bad puns ("holey," "'ear, 'ear," etc.) disconcerting, even ghastly, and distinctly unfunny. (But I did note their immediate reassuring effect on Fred and admired George for understanding his twin so well.)

Brian: 
> I find JKR's humour very British. "Oh of course, we're going to be hunting down the Horcruxes in a mobile library," etc.

Carol:
I liked that one, too. Also Ron's response when Hermione tells him that if she ran him through with a sword, his soul would remain intact: "Which would be a great comfort to me, I'm sure," or something like that. Understated irony, I suppose. Whatever it is, I laughed.

Carol, considering the possibility that JKR's humor, like young Tom Riddle's magic, is "all kinds"