2022-11-07

Pandemic Humor during the Covid-19 Lockdown: A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Social Media Humor

Abstract: Amidst the COVID -19 pandemic, humor has been oozing out from all corners of social media. As an effective coping mechanism against social discomfort and personal anxiety triggered by the lockdown, humor takes different forms and expresses different mentalities in different cultures. This study, a combination of quantitative and qualitative studies, selects 300 popular humor posts on social media, half written in Chinese and half in English, that circulated on social media platforms during the COVID -19 lockdown. We categorize these humors by theme to explore how similar and different cultural values and social circumstances play a role in the creation of humor among Chinese and in the Western world. Ultimately, it aims to improve understanding of the functions of humor and shed light on cultural differences and the reasons behind.
Key words: COVID-19, humor, content characteristics, cultural similarities, cultural differences.