Brits in a funk: Humor down, glumness up

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on May 25th, 2005

Agence France Presse writes that “Britain is suffering a sense of humour failure, with laughter levels three times lower now than 50 years ago.” Reporting on a survey of Brits, they cite the following:

Morning misery is rife, with almost half of Britons — some 45 percent — admitting they frequently wallowed in gloom until lunchtime.

Around 16 million adults, totalling 40 percent, said they failed to muster even one proper belly laugh in an average day.

We never felt better about residing on the sunny side of the pond. The folks who commissioned the survey spoke of “a worrying trend towards glumness. In the 1950s we laughed for an average of 18 minutes daily but this has dropped to just six minutes per day.” Sounds like the mid-90s here in the States. Hmmm… Read the rest here.