Romanian humour: Encyclopedia II - Romanian humour - Personages

Romanian humour - Personages

The earliest Romanian character found in an anecdote is Păcală. His name is derived from a se păcăli ('to fool oneself') and, since this word cannot be found in any other related language, we can safely assume that he's part of pure Romanian humour.

The Ottoman influence brought the Balkan spirit and with it other characters and situations. Nastratin Hogea of Anton Pann is a classical example of an urban tradesman. As Jewish people from Russia settled in the Romanian lands, two other characters joined Romanian humour: Iţic and Ştrul, a pair of cunning Jews, mainly seen as ingenious but avaricious shopkeepers.

With modernization and urbanization, especially during the Communist regime, Romanians needed a new character, different from the traditional Păcală, and it was found as Bulă, the tragicomic absolute idiot. With the fall of Communism and facing the harsh realities of Capitalism, a new kind of joke became popular: those of Alinuţa, a sadistic and stupid 10-year old girl.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Personages", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki