Both Americans and Brits fall toward the low-context end of the Communicating scale (i.e., they speak more explicitly than most cultures), but the British speak more between the lines than Americans do, a tendency particularly apparent with British high-context humor.

Many British people are fond of delivering ironic or sarcastic jokes with a completely deadpan face. Unfortunately, this kind of humor is lost on many Americans; they may suspect the British person is joking but they don't dare laugh, just in case he is not.

As a result, the British often say that Americans "don't understand irony."

A more precise explanation, however, is that Americans are simply more low-context than the British. So when Americans make a joke, especially in a professional setting, they are likely to indicate clearly through explicit verbal or physical cues, "This is a joke" — something totally unnecessary when one British person speaking to another (in their higher-context culture, if you have to tell us it was a joke, then it wasn't worth the breath you used to tell it).