Choosing One’s Words: Conversational Indirectness and Humor Style in Two Distinct Cultural Groups

We investigated cultural differences in the relationship between conversational indirectness and styles of humor use. Our study compared responses of English first language (L1) users (<i>n</i> = 56) and Korean first language users studying in the US (<i>n</i> = 32) on the conversational indirectness scale) and the humor styles questionnaire. We found no overall group differences in conversational indirectness. Instead, higher indirectness for interpretation than for production was noted, but only in the English L1 group. This group also showed a positive correlation between interpretation and production scores; no such association was found in the Korean sample. On the humor style measure, scores for affiliative and self-enhancing humor were significantly higher in the English L1 group compared to the Korean group; the English L1 group also showed a positive correlation between these two dimensions, and between self-enhancing and self-defeating humor. Both groups showed low identification with self-defeating and aggressive humor styles. There was a significant positive correlation in the Korean group between these two styles. Finally, an association between conversational indirectness and humor style was noted in each group: in both groups, a significant positive correlation was found between indirectness in production and aggressive humor. Additionally, for the English L1 group a significant positive correlation was found between self-defeating humor and indirectness in production and interpretation. These findings demonstrate cultural differences in humor uses and an intriguing relationship between the tendency to produce linguistic meanings indirectly and uses of humor considered to be less positive.