Now that’s a study we can get behind on: a survey on banter. As sarcasm, witty remarks and self-deprecating humour are an essential part of British culture, we pride ourselves in decent banter. Recently, Preply did a survey on which cities in the UK are the wittiest, and Birmingham is officially the city with some of the best banter, or the ‘Great British Banter-Off’, if you will.
The survey was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Preply, including 1,511 UK citizens aged 16 to 55+. And no, the people were not asked which cities they think are funny – they’ve been surveyed on their own sense of humour!
Birmingham came second with 94 points for the best banter in the UK. Losing out to Belfast, who came first scoring 100 points. Leeds scored 88 taking 3rd place, and Brighton came fourth with 82 points. Sheffield is fifth regarding the best banter in the UK with a score of 76, while Cardiff came sixth with 71 points.
People were also surveyed on who they like to joke with most, if banter is appropriate in the office and the dos and don’ts of understanding boundaries when it comes to joking. The pub was also voted the best place for banter, with 48% of the people surveyed agreeing with the spot.
31% of the surveyed said their partner is their number one banter person, while 30% said it was their colleagues who they like to banter with the most. 41% also stated bantering in the office should “be accepted as long as it is light-hearted and appropriate”. Thankfully, only 11% of participants said banter should be avoided at the workplace, phew!
While being able to read the room is important, 20% of participants said nothing is off-topic when it’s a joke. 45% disagree with this sentiment, stating the choice of banter partner will be able to determine the dos and don’ts in a social situation.
Bad hairstyle also came into consideration in what to avoid, as well as political views and fashion sense. So, it’s probably best to avoid commenting on how bad someone’s hairstyle is and leave their fashion sense alone. After all, the joke is only funny if everyone involved is laughing. So, we’re over the top Birmingham knows what’s up when it comes to banter, yet we were not surprised it was chosen as one of the best cities in the UK, once again.