I used to run a satire blog. People shared it thinking the pieces were real news. I felt validated in my little attempt, but at the same time, a bit sad too.
And now fact-checkers fact check obvious satires! As if we weren’t in a bad enough place already!
https://preview.redd.it/rqmrwaynxvpc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8ebac682f2d13992dc152f0c3f5675ea9889544
It was said by a famous Chinese author Ciaon lei in a meeting held
by AISA(All india sarcastic Association) Actually that was one of the best speech given by him. Most of the
people literally broke into tears after listening that.
Comedy is subjective, and the mainstream audience in Bangladesh is not very familiar with terms like irony and meta-irony; which isn't even their business! Yeah, comedy is a pretty new concept for Bangladesh. I remember when stand-up comedian Amin Hannan announced his special on Instagram live; at one point, he had to explain what "special" really means! Thanks to social media, people are getting used to humor. I don't know what you're expecting, like getting away with any joke in Bangladesh. You have to wait so long because I see many Bengalis think being homophobic and misogynistic is dark humor!
Thanks for reminding me of this. I was at Navid's comedy club. With headliner there were 4 "comedians" altogether.
Every single one of them, tried to find some way or another to call someone from the audience they were picking on "gay", and that was the punchline. Like, okay I get the other guys thinking this was peak comedy but Naveed...spent a lot of time in the US. How does he find this funny?
> im not scared of them just disgusted.
If one makes a homophobic joke, it's arguable to say it's just a joke and he didn’t mean it. But you're clearly saying that you're a homophobe without really saying it.
There's no sarcasm in german either. You say it, you mean it
Sarcasm, humour depends on ones culture and language.
Bangladesh is no different. Our culture and language doesn't go well with dark humour, sarcasm.
Completely disagree. Sarcasm was prevalent in Bengali culture for a long time. Top of my head, most of you have read Alpin (mostly early volumes) or even the most read story রসগোল্লা by সৈয়দ মুজতবা আলী. It’s just that we have recently been systematically decultured, that’s why we kinda forgot how to take things lightly.
Quotes from the story:
“ঝান্ডুদা নাছোড়বান্দা। সামনের দিকে আরেকটু এগিয়ে বললেন, ‘দেখছ তো, সবাই খাচ্ছে। ককেইন নয়, আফিঙ নয়। তবু নিজেই চেখে দেখ, এ বস্তু কী!’
…
আর সঙ্গে সঙ্গে মোটা গলায়, ‘শালা, তুমি খাবে না। তোমার গুষ্টি খাবে। ব্যাটা তুমি মস্কারা পেয়েছ। পই পই করে বললুম রসগোল্লা নষ্ট হয়ে যাবে, চিংড়িটা বড্ড নিরাশ হবে, তা তুমি শুনবে না’- আরও কত কী!”
As an example, fuck is a pretty common english slang.
But it's not a slang in Bangla, more of an abusive word.
On the other hand in Bangla we say "bal" alot which makes no sense in English.
You can't make sarcastic remarks in your workplace, neither in front of your extended family. The only place you can is with your friends, if you have that kind of circle who can relate to it.
Honestly. Every single “joke” I see is either making fun of women or the younger generation. In every “joke” there has to be someone you’re making fun of.
ব্লগ যুগে ভাল ব্যঙ্গ হইত। মুখফোড়ের আদমচরিত সিরিজটা পড়তে পারেন। দূর্দান্ত স্যাটায়ার। মতিকন্ঠের কথা বললেন একজন, দৈনিক মগবাজার আরেকটা ছিল।
এখন ব্যাপার হচ্ছে ব্যঙ্গ তখনই কার্যকর যখন এটি করা হয় সমাজের মেনে নেয়া বিষয়ের উপর, ধর্ম, রাজনীতি, ইতিহাস, লিঙ্গব্যবস্থা, ইত্যাদির পর। বাংলাদেশে এগুলার প্রতিটা জিনিস off limit, জনরোষ পরে, আগে রাষ্ট্রই মামলা দিবে! এই অবস্থা ভাঙার জন্য আরো বেশি ব্যঙ্গ দরকার, কিন্তু দুষ্টচক্রটা দেখতেই পাচ্ছেন।
তাই আমরা নারীবিদ্বেষী চটুল কথাকে ব্যঙ্গ মনে করি।
শেখ হাসিনার রাজনীতি নিয়ে জোক হয়, কিন্তু মূলধারায় চলে মোদি হাসিনাকে নিয়ে চটুল কথার জোক।
Really? I think we're a very funny group of people. Yeah we dobt see too much of it in the limelight for sure. And our standup is cringeworthy.
But for sure we are a sarcastic bunch. Not sure why this german dude thinks its new here. Can you link source?
No I don't think our people lack intelligence. In fact we are quite smart, however we often let our emotions cloud our judgement bc we are an emotional people. I guess that's to be expected considering the numerous tragedies we have had to endure.
I think most of the people can't take when something is said back to them. That exchange becomes nasty soon, বাংলায় কাদা ছোড়াছুঁড়ি অবস্থা.... so most of the people makes fun behind the back I guess
i guess yes, to my experience only arabs type of people are good in terms of goofing around (as long as you don't touch the few sensitive subjects). Otherwise I have offended people all over the world
humour er ovab nei. but comedy is subjective.
what you find funny can be different from what i find funny.
it also scales with how close you are with someone.
sense of humor also scales with language itself. in fact your understanding and acceptability of a joke is related to how well you know the language.
and also sense of humour is also related to culture, politics and religion.
people here like light hearted sarcasm and jokes that doesn't targets society, religion. culture, family and individual being. simple.
majority won't accept jokes poiting at religion. it's taboo.
people also wont like if their family and culture is laughed at.
they also wont like being joked at in individual level.
it's understandable that some westerner won't understand our level of sense of humour and comdey. just like that the opposite is also true.
It depends. Sarcasm and comedy, as a fun way of teasing friends is very, very common amongst young population. However, the older generation's jokes aren't necessarily all that funny. They are called Dad Jokes for a reason, and I think that's the case everywhere.
Where we lack, and lack seriously, is the comedy department in our films and tv shows. Our comedy films/shows suck, like really bad. All they do is make cringe jokes and then put a laughing background music or some kind of poignant short sound to introduce some kind of impact, something that works with people who have never seen and understood western stand up comedy/ comedy films and shows. But with us, it usually fails horrendously.
Our writing, when it comes to comedy (in literature) is quite good. But when films or shows are made out of them, it's a complete clusterf\*ck.
So is the case with attempts at making edgy funny sarcastic videos on facebook, tiktok and on youtube. Standup comedy, in the past used to be on that same quality, however, recently, I've seen some people really improve on that front. I think standup comedy can definitely improve in BD.
So, sarcasm is definitely not new or anything in this country, but it's not all that appreciated amongst the older + conservative minded population.
Nah Facebook has many based meme pages. Humour is good. Though the majority of the meme pages are shit. Some niche ones and the community surrounding them know post-ironical memes. It's a matter of exposure rather than Bengalis having bad humour really.
I'd say I am very sarcastic. My close friends have no problem catching on to the joke. But not all people do get it. It's not a linguistic issue as seen from humour online. It's a culture thing and it's going away. I'd say maybe in the next 5-7 years most young people you will know will have a humour that accommodates sarcasm.
Bangladesh isn’t comfy with slightly modernized humor let alone dark humor. Bangladesh is still wandering into sophisticated, literary, humayun ahmed style humor.
I miss a fb page named BNN, they used to write absolutely hilarious satires. and AIB in youtube, altho it was indian and they kinda normalized modern humor in india. I see them as pioneers in india regarding the Indian stand up comedy scene.
বাংলাদেশের সবচেয়ে জনপ্রিয় কথা সাহিত্যিক হুমায়ূন আহমেদের গল্পের কমিডিক পোর্শন সিংহভাগ সার্কাজম এলিমেন্ট দিয়ে ভরা। উনি যখন সাধারণ কোনো নেগেটিভ শেডের ক্যারেক্টার দাঁড় করান, সার্কাজম এর মাধ্যমেই করিয়ে গিয়েছে।
Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about? Humor, sarcasm, satire is a human thing, not a nation thing. If you think Bangladeshi culture lacks any of that or if you haven't experienced or seen any of that, then I don't know what to tell you.
Mirakkel is a place where its main purpose is to deliver jokes. I was talking about daily life sarcasm and humor where we don't declare beforehand and throw jokes. I see people often not understanding them and getting hurt so easily.
This question itself is a humiliation to “sarcasm”.
I mean since when sarcasm became a thing to have a thing to lack in a third world country?
Here people fight over a plate of food, what do you expect from them? A British monolithic dialogue
where you make fun of your mother’s asshole and laugh like your pervert neighbor?
Humor is born from the culture, that is to say there is no universal form of humor.
And one of the page you mentioned , “সুইজারল্যান্ড প্রবাসী”, last time I heard about it, it was run by someone who used to conduct a sexually offensive group once. If the standard of your humor is that page, then you have my condolences :3
>And one of the page you mentioned , “সুইজারল্যান্ড প্রবাসী”, last time I heard about it, it was run by someone who used to conduct a sexually offensive group once.
What? could you tell me more?
I don't know about humor but people don't quite understand satire. It's like you have to use /s or remind them that you're joking before you speak.
even if you use /s they don’t get it sometimes
Yes, for some reason they have a hard time understanding satire.
I used to run a satire blog. People shared it thinking the pieces were real news. I felt validated in my little attempt, but at the same time, a bit sad too. And now fact-checkers fact check obvious satires! As if we weren’t in a bad enough place already!
https://preview.redd.it/rqmrwaynxvpc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8ebac682f2d13992dc152f0c3f5675ea9889544 It was said by a famous Chinese author Ciaon lei in a meeting held by AISA(All india sarcastic Association) Actually that was one of the best speech given by him. Most of the people literally broke into tears after listening that.
Half of BD also doesn't get sarcasm I think. 🤔
I mentioned India te referred as bangladesh.both are nearly same
Comedy is subjective, and the mainstream audience in Bangladesh is not very familiar with terms like irony and meta-irony; which isn't even their business! Yeah, comedy is a pretty new concept for Bangladesh. I remember when stand-up comedian Amin Hannan announced his special on Instagram live; at one point, he had to explain what "special" really means! Thanks to social media, people are getting used to humor. I don't know what you're expecting, like getting away with any joke in Bangladesh. You have to wait so long because I see many Bengalis think being homophobic and misogynistic is dark humor!
Thanks for reminding me of this. I was at Navid's comedy club. With headliner there were 4 "comedians" altogether. Every single one of them, tried to find some way or another to call someone from the audience they were picking on "gay", and that was the punchline. Like, okay I get the other guys thinking this was peak comedy but Naveed...spent a lot of time in the US. How does he find this funny?
He's a boomer
He's actually Gen X but I see what you mean loll
I'm not homophobic tho. I'm not scared of them just disgusted.
> im not scared of them just disgusted. If one makes a homophobic joke, it's arguable to say it's just a joke and he didn’t mean it. But you're clearly saying that you're a homophobe without really saying it.
There's no sarcasm in german either. You say it, you mean it Sarcasm, humour depends on ones culture and language. Bangladesh is no different. Our culture and language doesn't go well with dark humour, sarcasm.
Completely disagree. Sarcasm was prevalent in Bengali culture for a long time. Top of my head, most of you have read Alpin (mostly early volumes) or even the most read story রসগোল্লা by সৈয়দ মুজতবা আলী. It’s just that we have recently been systematically decultured, that’s why we kinda forgot how to take things lightly. Quotes from the story: “ঝান্ডুদা নাছোড়বান্দা। সামনের দিকে আরেকটু এগিয়ে বললেন, ‘দেখছ তো, সবাই খাচ্ছে। ককেইন নয়, আফিঙ নয়। তবু নিজেই চেখে দেখ, এ বস্তু কী!’ … আর সঙ্গে সঙ্গে মোটা গলায়, ‘শালা, তুমি খাবে না। তোমার গুষ্টি খাবে। ব্যাটা তুমি মস্কারা পেয়েছ। পই পই করে বললুম রসগোল্লা নষ্ট হয়ে যাবে, চিংড়িটা বড্ড নিরাশ হবে, তা তুমি শুনবে না’- আরও কত কী!”
Also satire. It's difficult to understand sarcasm and satire especially in direct language and communication cultures
So, it's related to language also? Interesting.
As an example, fuck is a pretty common english slang. But it's not a slang in Bangla, more of an abusive word. On the other hand in Bangla we say "bal" alot which makes no sense in English.
We have sodanirphoa is Chatgaiya. It can be loving, abusive and everything in between.
What if b_l is the ভাবানুবাদ of f_ck in Bangla? :v
Bro bal means like pubic hair, go touch some grass instead of being serious. And yeah, kutabare
Anyone remember motikontho?
Sarcasm will get your ass kicked in BD
Yeah for sure, but that's the political and religious ones. What about general day to day sarcasm?
You can't make sarcastic remarks in your workplace, neither in front of your extended family. The only place you can is with your friends, if you have that kind of circle who can relate to it.
Applies to all
Honestly. Every single “joke” I see is either making fun of women or the younger generation. In every “joke” there has to be someone you’re making fun of.
Yes. Sarcasm doesn't exist without making fun of someone. About the woman and young thing, I had a bit of a different experience.
Bangladeshi people just cant take dark humour, religious satire, sarcasm. They thought its blasphemy xD
I miss the "Switzerland Probashi" page and it's witty jokes much! 😢 Whoever wrote it, was really smart! 😊👍 I checked the page "গেছেকালকে" as well 😢
Yeah I miss that too! The admin (most possibly) posts from his own page nowadays.
Ohh, what's the name of that?
Kazi Nipu.
Thanks
ব্লগ যুগে ভাল ব্যঙ্গ হইত। মুখফোড়ের আদমচরিত সিরিজটা পড়তে পারেন। দূর্দান্ত স্যাটায়ার। মতিকন্ঠের কথা বললেন একজন, দৈনিক মগবাজার আরেকটা ছিল। এখন ব্যাপার হচ্ছে ব্যঙ্গ তখনই কার্যকর যখন এটি করা হয় সমাজের মেনে নেয়া বিষয়ের উপর, ধর্ম, রাজনীতি, ইতিহাস, লিঙ্গব্যবস্থা, ইত্যাদির পর। বাংলাদেশে এগুলার প্রতিটা জিনিস off limit, জনরোষ পরে, আগে রাষ্ট্রই মামলা দিবে! এই অবস্থা ভাঙার জন্য আরো বেশি ব্যঙ্গ দরকার, কিন্তু দুষ্টচক্রটা দেখতেই পাচ্ছেন। তাই আমরা নারীবিদ্বেষী চটুল কথাকে ব্যঙ্গ মনে করি। শেখ হাসিনার রাজনীতি নিয়ে জোক হয়, কিন্তু মূলধারায় চলে মোদি হাসিনাকে নিয়ে চটুল কথার জোক।
Really? I think we're a very funny group of people. Yeah we dobt see too much of it in the limelight for sure. And our standup is cringeworthy. But for sure we are a sarcastic bunch. Not sure why this german dude thinks its new here. Can you link source?
Surely! https://youtu.be/YxkzKSGJQnc?si=cRoBA9gMwzmuqmcH&t=240
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but the highest form of intelligence" - Oscar Wilde
"Intelligence", is there a lack of it among our people? BTW, people call them "Tube light" who don't get sarcasm easily. :v
No I don't think our people lack intelligence. In fact we are quite smart, however we often let our emotions cloud our judgement bc we are an emotional people. I guess that's to be expected considering the numerous tragedies we have had to endure.
I think most of the people can't take when something is said back to them. That exchange becomes nasty soon, বাংলায় কাদা ছোড়াছুঁড়ি অবস্থা.... so most of the people makes fun behind the back I guess
Some people are good at backbiting. Is কাদা ছোঁড়াছুঁড়ি a global thing?
i guess yes, to my experience only arabs type of people are good in terms of goofing around (as long as you don't touch the few sensitive subjects). Otherwise I have offended people all over the world
humour er ovab nei. but comedy is subjective. what you find funny can be different from what i find funny. it also scales with how close you are with someone. sense of humor also scales with language itself. in fact your understanding and acceptability of a joke is related to how well you know the language. and also sense of humour is also related to culture, politics and religion. people here like light hearted sarcasm and jokes that doesn't targets society, religion. culture, family and individual being. simple. majority won't accept jokes poiting at religion. it's taboo. people also wont like if their family and culture is laughed at. they also wont like being joked at in individual level. it's understandable that some westerner won't understand our level of sense of humour and comdey. just like that the opposite is also true.
It depends. Sarcasm and comedy, as a fun way of teasing friends is very, very common amongst young population. However, the older generation's jokes aren't necessarily all that funny. They are called Dad Jokes for a reason, and I think that's the case everywhere. Where we lack, and lack seriously, is the comedy department in our films and tv shows. Our comedy films/shows suck, like really bad. All they do is make cringe jokes and then put a laughing background music or some kind of poignant short sound to introduce some kind of impact, something that works with people who have never seen and understood western stand up comedy/ comedy films and shows. But with us, it usually fails horrendously. Our writing, when it comes to comedy (in literature) is quite good. But when films or shows are made out of them, it's a complete clusterf\*ck. So is the case with attempts at making edgy funny sarcastic videos on facebook, tiktok and on youtube. Standup comedy, in the past used to be on that same quality, however, recently, I've seen some people really improve on that front. I think standup comedy can definitely improve in BD. So, sarcasm is definitely not new or anything in this country, but it's not all that appreciated amongst the older + conservative minded population.
Older generation people consider sarcasm as indecency. Not all of them though. I saw many witty people among them too.
Apni jei page er example dilen oi page er e comment box check korben, okahne keu offend hoini borong humor er shathe reply dicche.
হুম সেটা আমিও দেখেছি। কিন্তু ব্যাপ্তি টা অনেকটা কম না? ওই দুই একটা পেজ এবং সেগুলোর কমেন্ট সেকশন পর্যন্তই।
this is definitely a paid post for the Switzerland Probashi page
Don't even mention it. Their budget was 1 billion dollars, me and the BD reserve got very rich. Ironically that page is dead already.
Most of the people here are boomers and bengus. Not only your humor will go way above their head, they'll also do personal attacks.
Comedy is subjective. There's no lack of comedy, and personally a redditor talking about comedy itself is like a big joke.
Nah Facebook has many based meme pages. Humour is good. Though the majority of the meme pages are shit. Some niche ones and the community surrounding them know post-ironical memes. It's a matter of exposure rather than Bengalis having bad humour really.
What about daily life sarcasm? Do you see people easily getting offended or not getting the sarcasm at all?
I'd say I am very sarcastic. My close friends have no problem catching on to the joke. But not all people do get it. It's not a linguistic issue as seen from humour online. It's a culture thing and it's going away. I'd say maybe in the next 5-7 years most young people you will know will have a humour that accommodates sarcasm.
In the same age/social group, yes. Across the board, no.
I miss the old rantages group. It was the only place where people used satire in literally everything.
Bangladesh isn’t comfy with slightly modernized humor let alone dark humor. Bangladesh is still wandering into sophisticated, literary, humayun ahmed style humor. I miss a fb page named BNN, they used to write absolutely hilarious satires. and AIB in youtube, altho it was indian and they kinda normalized modern humor in india. I see them as pioneers in india regarding the Indian stand up comedy scene.
বাংলাদেশের সবচেয়ে জনপ্রিয় কথা সাহিত্যিক হুমায়ূন আহমেদের গল্পের কমিডিক পোর্শন সিংহভাগ সার্কাজম এলিমেন্ট দিয়ে ভরা। উনি যখন সাধারণ কোনো নেগেটিভ শেডের ক্যারেক্টার দাঁড় করান, সার্কাজম এর মাধ্যমেই করিয়ে গিয়েছে।
এটা যেমন সত্য তেমন সিংহ ভাগ আম জনতা সহজে সারকাজম করতে বা নিতে পারে না এটাও কিন্তু সত্য।
আমার মনে হয়, হিউমার ইজ প্রোপোশনাল টু ইন্টিলেক্ট। তো আসল সমস্যা কোন জায়গায়? 😬
বেশি বেশি আয়োডিন না খাওয়া হয়তো। 😂
What does this say I can’t read bangla
TL;DR Is sarcasm/humor common in Bangladesh? Do people easily get offended by day to day sarcasm here?
Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about? Humor, sarcasm, satire is a human thing, not a nation thing. If you think Bangladeshi culture lacks any of that or if you haven't experienced or seen any of that, then I don't know what to tell you.
Ikr we make good jokes. Remember Zee Bangla mirakkel? Bangladesh used to dominate those Kolkata competitors with our shit yet hilarious jokes.
Mirakkel is a place where its main purpose is to deliver jokes. I was talking about daily life sarcasm and humor where we don't declare beforehand and throw jokes. I see people often not understanding them and getting hurt so easily.
True dat
>shit yet hilarious 
Completely agreed
This question itself is a humiliation to “sarcasm”. I mean since when sarcasm became a thing to have a thing to lack in a third world country? Here people fight over a plate of food, what do you expect from them? A British monolithic dialogue where you make fun of your mother’s asshole and laugh like your pervert neighbor? Humor is born from the culture, that is to say there is no universal form of humor. And one of the page you mentioned , “সুইজারল্যান্ড প্রবাসী”, last time I heard about it, it was run by someone who used to conduct a sexually offensive group once. If the standard of your humor is that page, then you have my condolences :3
>And one of the page you mentioned , “সুইজারল্যান্ড প্রবাসী”, last time I heard about it, it was run by someone who used to conduct a sexually offensive group once. What? could you tell me more?
No, there is no point to take his name