In my freshmen year, I got an introductory course to humanities (ilmu budaya). for our midterm, we were told to make a presentation about a cultural phenomenon. we settled on globalization & receh humor —puns & wordplay, jokes that are deemed "cheap" (receh means change/pennies).

Interestingly, there are a number of ways to categorize a "cheap joke" in Indonesian that doesn't translate into English

- receh (lit. pennies) means cheap or low-effort
- garing (lit. crisp) means dry, unfunny
- jayus means unfunny, but an attempt at comedy was made

These distinctions may be an inspiration for further linguistic research into the topic.

Important note: "cheap joke" here doesn't necessarily mean degrading or insulting (usually it's lighthearted). "Cheap" is a direct translation that roughly approximates to "low-effort joke"

Because of globalization, we have many hybrid memes & puns that carry over from different cultures & languages. Our classification was the following:

a) Cross-Culture Jokes (traditional Indonesian culture blends with western/international pop culture) https://twitter.com/ajibondji/status/1001903685255888896

b) Cross-Language Jokes (jokes that require knowledge of at least 2 languages, most of the time English and Indonesian)

c) Cross-Culture & Cross-Language (knowledge of both culture and language from at least 2 different communities is needed to understand the joke)

a) and b) were the original classifications we added in our presentation, but I think c) is an apt addition on my part.

After nearly 2 years since this presentation was made, it was fun revisiting this topic! The presentation went well and I enjoyed that course. I think the audience also laughed (albeit a bit pained, as with the nature of these kinds of puns) when we gave examples.

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