May I Borrow Your Chainsaw?

 Neighborliness - getting along with your neigh­bors and helping one another in many small ways - has also been traced to the long period of settlement. Newly settled parts of the country and recently founded towns tried to attract farmers, tradesmen, and professionals of all types. "Come to Greensburg and grow along with us!" was a typical slogan of the lime. New comers were made welcome, and neighbors would help wherever the could with the difficult job of building a home, raising a barn, breaking the soil, or stalling a business.

Today, most American neighborhoods still function through a casual yet complex network in which tools, help, and advice are offered, asked for, and exchanged. Your neighbor's lawnmower just broke down, so he borrows yours. You use his extension ladder (and his experience) to put up the new television antenna. The woman across the street has a copying machine in her office at work. Might it be possible for her to "xerox off a few pages for your daughter's school play? Your daughter or son will be happy to babysit for her kids again this Saturday night. That tree in the backyard is getting far too big. Didn't Jack, down the street, buy a new chainsaw last winter to cut his firewood with'? wonder if he's using it this weekend . . .? A new family moves in, and after a few days ("let them gel settled in a bit"), neigh­bors stop by to say "hi!" Whether or not they will eventually be friends, it's the friendly thing to do. Such casual coming and going, borrowing and lending, offering and receiving of help among neighbors is typical of most Americans.

As would be expected, this is more the case in small and medium-sized cities and the suburbs.

than it is among the inner city, apartment-living population. In fact many Americans left smaller cities to get away from the atmosphere of a close community where everyone seems to know what ; everybody else is doing. In the big cities, there was more anonymity and privacy, or seen differently, more isolation and alienation. Today many people seem to be looking once more for a way of life symbolized by the small town.

 There are, then, two sides to this tradition of neighborliness. In a land where people move frequently and freely, socially as well as geo­graphically, they have become adept at making new acquaintances and forming new friendships. However, most American homes are separated from one another by fences, hedges, or. in some parts of the country such as New England or the Southwest, by walls. Even where there are no physical barriers, where the lawns go on un-

 broken from one house to the next, the mental barriers are well-understood and respected.

Most Americans would be shocked if they thought that a neighbor could die, and his death go undetected for months by the other neighbors.

 Such things happen, they would probably say, only in the big cold cities "like New York." But certainly "not here," that is, in the suburbs and smaller cities where most Americans live. There is a delicate balance between two views. One is to be friendly to your neighbor. The other is to keep your nose out of his or her business. The line drawn is fine, but like the line that separates one family's grass from the next, its there, even when you can't see it.

Hello, I’m Mary

 American informality recalls not only the frontier experience, but also the heritage of immigration. Thrown together in a new world, most immi­grants watched the familiar societal distinctions of the old world become blurred. The Revolution had abolished titles of nobility, and state laws did away with the traditional passing on of wealth and land from father to eldest son. As a result, there was never a hereditary aristocracy in the U.S. A centuries-old class system in which people, high and low, "knew their place" was essentially dead. America was not, and still isn't, a totally classless society by any means. In relative terms, however, and especially throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the differences between the new world and the old were considerable.

One of the most common feelings expressed in the numerous letters from immigrants to their relatives back home was that in America "we tip our hats to no one." Immigration, the Revolution, and the frontier experience broke down many traditional class barriers which elsewhere re­mained socially effective much longer. As a re­sult, Americans have always felt less constrained and more informal in their social and profes­sional lives. In other words, they have had over two centuries to forget that "you should only speak when spoken to."

The habit of informality, the ease with which Americans speak to people they've only casually-met, still surprises foreign visitors. One of the reasons is that the signals in the U.S. for "who is who" are less obvious and, unfortunately, some­times assumed not to exist. Frequently, things that have different meanings in America are believed to carry the same meanings that they have at home. Among Americans of roughly the same age group and social status, for example, first names are easily and quickly exchanged. The German or French visitor, however, who interprets this as meaning an instant du or tu relationship is making a basic mistake. This is assuming the Americans follow German or French sociolinguistic rules. Likewise, when an American says "if you're ever near Chicago, stop by and see us." he doesn't expect the foreign visitor to take it literally and will not be pleased to see him, unannounced, appear on his doorstep. Similarly, the customary "bread and butter" or "thank you" letter sent to the host is an important and polite gesture. Need­less to say. such a note should not be read as an objective or profound commentary.

There are generally established and under­stood rules which parallel this informality. There are topics-income, religion, politics, for example - that many Americans feel are best avoided in

casual conversation. Those who insist upon for­mal address or titles - in general, those who take themselves too seriously - are sometimes thought to be "phoney" or pretentious. Not surprisingly, such people are often targets for humor.

Can't You Take a Joke?

Like the British, Americans have a love for the intricate practical joke, the pun, and the under­stated quip. American college students give ample proof of the first. Titles in newspapers and

 newsweeklies, especially Time, bear witness to the second, and the very subtle humor of The New Yorker is perhaps the best-known example of the third. American humor has also been deeply in­fluenced by Jewish storytelling traditions, for example the self-mocking "look what happened to me" story and joke. There is also a tradition of "slapstick," the pie-in-the-face, the banana peel on the floor. These varieties of American humor can usually be spotted, if not always understood, by the foreigner. A different type of humor which is very American often is neither noted nor under­stood.

In popular terms, this form of humor is called "kidding around," or "putting someone on." It is part of the daily life of many Americans, and often serves as background to normal conversa­tions. Yet joking around verbally, exchanging banter and verbal witticisms, is not just amusing. Ii is often quite serious, a way of socially testing people, or of making a point. Many Americans find it revealing how people react to kidding at their expense. At other times, if something is conveyed indirectly, through joking or other "light" humor, face can be saved or arguments prevented.

Some students of American humor have traced the "put on" to the frontier as well.' The so-called tall tale, told with a sincere, straight face to the naive traveler-from the East (or Europe) was and still is a favorite form of amusement. The point of such tales is that the tenderfoot is never quite sure if he is being put on or not, but everyone else knows that he is. The intentionally exaggerated lie is a more apparent and cruder version of such humor. When a used-car salesman today, for -example, says that a car "was driven only on Sunday afternoons by a shy ballet dancer," Americans know, of course, that he's joking and probably making another point (perhaps, "I'm in the business of selling used cars, what do you ; want me to tell you, that they're all in perfect condition?").

A lot of American joking must, therefore, be constantly interpreted and reinterpreted. "That sure is a nice tie you're wearing." said to а соworker, does not mean that the speaker thinks it is or is not. Rather, one would only joke like this with friends. The intentional understatement takes a similar approach. "I play a little tennis now and then," or "I pick up a book whenever I get a chance," have different meanings when the first speaker is a very good player and the second a professor of literature. In general, Americans like to appear to be less than they are, to disguise their abilities and achievements, or to joke about s them, and then see how others react. The rules of this game are difficult to learn, especially for people who aren't even aware that it's being played.

Needless to say, this can sometimes cause misunderstandings. For example, the American songwriter Randy Newman once found himself explaining to European viewers that his song "Short People" was not making fun of people who were short. Nor was the song "Rednecks"

racist , and the words in "Political Science" were not really u call for Americans to drop atomic bombs on European cities. Many listeners, espe­cially those outside the U.S., had obviously not realized the black humor and satiric intent of these songs.

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