Fun seems to be the possession of the English race. Fun is John Bull's idea of humour, and there is no intellectual judgment in fun. Everybody understands it because it is practical. More than that, it unites all classes and sweetens even political life. To study the elemental form of English humour, you must look to the schoolbook. It begins with the practical joke, and unless there is something of his nature about it, it is never humour to an Englishman. In an English household, fun is going all the time. The entire house resounds with it. The father comes home and the whole family contribute to the amusement; puns, humorous uses of words, little things that are meaningless nonsense, if you like, fly round, and everyone enjoys them thoroughly for just what they are. The Scotch are devoid of this trait, and the Americans seem to be, too.
If I had the power to give humour to the nation I would not give them drollery, for that is impractical; I would not give them wit, for that is aristocratic, and many minds cannot grasp it; but I would be contented to deal out fun, which has no intellectual element, no subtlety, belongs to old and young, educated and uneducated alike, and is the natural form of the humour of the Englishman.
Let me tell you why the Englishman speaks only one language. He believes with the strongest conviction that his own tongue is the one that all people ought to speak and will come in time to speak, so what is the use of learning any other? He believes, too, that he is appointed by Providence to be a governor of all the rest of the human race. From our Scottish standpoint we can never see an Englishman without thinking that there is oozing from every pore of his body the conviction that he belongs to a governing race. It has not been his desire that large portions of the world should be under his care, but as they have been thrust upon him in the proceedings of a wise Providence, he must discharge his duty. This theory hasn't endeared him to others of his kind, but that isn't a matter that concerns him. He doesn't learn any other language because he knows that he could speak it only so imperfectly that other people would laugh at him, and it would never do that a person of his importance in the scheme of the universe should be made the object of ridicule.
Excerpt From Scottish Humour
By John Watson
［参考译文］
英国人的幽默
约翰·沃森
逗乐儿似乎是英国人的秉性，是典型的英国人所说的幽默，不需区分智力高下。它切合实际，人人都懂。不仅如此，它把各阶层人士联系在一起，甚至还使政治生活变得盎然有趣。要研究英国幽默的基础形式，你必须观察其教科书。教科书都是以切合实际的玩笑开头，如果这个玩笑无关于英国人本性，在英国人看来，就无幽默可言。在一个英国家庭里，逗乐儿无时不在进行，整幢屋子其乐融融。父亲回家了，全家人各显其能，津津乐道；双关语、俏皮话、大实话、空话废话满天飞，人人尽情享受。苏格兰人没有这种性格，美国人恐怕也没有。
如果我有权给予此民族幽默的特质，那么我就不给予他们诙谐的本领，因为那不切实际；我也不给予他们风趣的风格，因为那过于贵族派头，以致多数人无法理解；我要心满意足地给予他们逗乐儿的本事，即不分智力高下，没有隐晦曲折，无论老少或受教育与否都能享受的英国式的自然幽默。
让我告诉诸位为什么英国人只讲一种语言。因为英国人坚信，英语是各国人民都应该讲、而且迟早都会讲的语言，因此，学其他语言有什么用？他还认为，上帝已委派他成为全人类的主宰。从苏格兰人的立场来看，英国人每一个毛孔都散发着他是属于统治民族的信念。他虽然不想把各国人民置于自己的监护之下，但是，既然贤明的上帝让他这样做，他就必须尽到责任。这种理论没有使他对其他人、包括对和他一样的人变得亲切可爱，但那不关他的事。他之所以不学其他语言，因为他知道自己说得很糟，唯恐别人耻笑，而像他那样重要的人是万万不能成为别人的笑柄的。
［注释］
-pun [pʌn] n. 双关语 a play on words with similar sense or sound
-drollery [ˈdrəʊlərɪ] n. 稀奇古怪的幽默，诙谐 the act of joking
to deal out of fun ：学会开玩笑
［作者简介］
约翰·H·沃森（John B. Watson，1878年1月9日-1958年9月25日）是美国心理学家，被誉为是行为主义心理学的创始人之一。他在20世纪早期继承和发展了早期的学派，将心理学视为一门严格的自然科学，强调科学方法和可验证性。
沃森出生于南卡罗来纳州的一个贫穷家庭，他早年曾在一所教堂学校接受过教育，之后在南卡罗来纳大学学习哲学和心理学。他在以后的职业生涯中曾经担任过心理学教授、广告公司的市场营销顾问和儿童心理学家等多个职位。
沃森最著名的实验是“小艾伯特实验”。这个实验探讨了儿童恐惧的形成和消除。沃森和他的助手在一个11个月大的男婴面前放置了一只白色的老鼠，然后用锤子敲打几次制造了声音。几次后，孩子看到老鼠就会害怕哭泣。这表明恐惧可以通过条件作用产生。然而，沃森只在实验过程中试图消除恐惧，而在实验结束后他没有做出任何努力来消除孩子的恐惧。
此外，沃森还对儿童教育和育儿进行了大量研究和撰写。他认为，儿童的行为是可以被塑造的，父母可以通过强化和惩罚来塑造孩子的行为。