Russian Humour - Black Humour

Black Humour

Apart from jokes, Russian humour is expressed in word play and short poems including nonsense and black humour verses, similar to some of the macabre "nursery rhymes" of Edward Lear.

Often they have recurring characters such as "little boy", "Vova", "a girl", "Masha". Most rhymes involve death or a painful experience either for the protagonists or other people. This type of joke is especially popular with children.

A little boy found a machine gun —

Now the village population is none.

Маленький мальчик нашёл пулемёт —

Больше в деревне никто не живёт.

A boy played in the sandbox with no one to mind him,

When quietly a mixing truck pulled up behind him.

He peeped not a peep, cried out nary a cry —

Just his sandals stuck out when the concrete was dry.

Маленький мальчик в песочке играл,

Тихо подъехал к нему самосвал.

Не было слышно ни крика, ни стона —

Только сандали торчат из бетона.

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Famous quotes containing the words black and/or humour:

“A great black presence beats its wings in wrath.
Above the boneyard burn its golden eyes.
Some small grey fur is pulsing in its grip.”
—Anthony Hecht (b. 1923)

“The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtle, without being at all acute; hence there is so much humour and so little wit in their literature.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)