Or so sayeth the common stereotype…
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- The German language doesn’t work well with pun based humour. This is the kind of humour English speakers are used to.
- They do but you need to be able to speak German to understand the jokes they’re making. Understandably, it’s hard to be funny in a second language.
- IME German humour is often incredibly dry, deadpan or even anti-humour. In the past I’ve experienced Germans making jokes, and British people thinking they were being deadly serious. Eg. “An Irishman, a German and a Brit walk into a bar. They order beer.” Expressionless face - shit example, but you get the idea.
On point 1: I’ve had enough German puns explained to my non-German speaking ass to know they are exceptional at pun based humor. The problem is, puns only work in the language they were developed in. When you translate them to other languages, the words are different so the wordplay disappears.
I fully agree on the second and third point, but the first one is completely wrong.
In my experience, English humour is also dry, sarcastic and/or satirical, it seems to be American humour that doesn’t pick up on the dry jokes.
But yeah, also the language barrier hits hard.
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The Germans have excellent humour; in fact, they take it very seriously.
As they say, “German humour, it is no laughing matter!”
How many Germans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
One. They are efficient and not very funny.
For me, German humour is at its best when it’s using subtitles in the German language - not really through puns, but by using language to highlight contradictions and absurdities. Obviously, this humour does not translate well at all.
After learning German and re-reading some Kafka stories I was struck by how stories I had read as somewhat somber in English were actually full of a weird sense of humour in the original German. It’s still absurd and unsettling, but somehow Kafka is also funny.
Then again, he wasn’t German.
subtitles
Subtleties?
Because a lot of German humor is pun based and when the translated into English, the joke doesn’t land and so the English started this farce that the Germans ain’t funny
Germans are plenty funny, the English are the problem
I think I agree with your overall point, but not quite your reason for it. I don’t think German humour is more pun/word play heavy than other comedy elsewhere. It’s just that the German language is one of the more complicated ones and allowes for very complex puns, that are often impossible to translate while also trying to preserve the comedic delivery.
Like this one?
I thought it was funny then I realized English isn’t far off from that.
Alternate perspective - most puns are lazy and not very funny to begin with, so even jokes that translate perfectly still don’t land. Language isn’t the problem.
I don’t know how true that is. I just hate puns.
I’m sorry about the punishment.
Goddammit. I totally set myself up for that one.
You wanna hear a good German joke? Here it goes: Ein Mann kommt zum ersten Mal in den Knast, er als kleiner Wirtschafts Verbrecher zwischen den ganzen harten Langstraflern. Erster Tag in der Dusche, ein riesiger, nackter Kerl kommt auf ihn zu, behaart wie ein Gorilla und ein riesen Dödel. “Du bist jetzt meine neue Freundin. Mit Spucke oder ohne?” Der Neue, verzweifelt, wimmerte “Wenn’s den sein muß, mit…” Der Gorilla brüllt nach hinten “Ey, Spucke, du bist auch mit dabei.”
Q.E.D.
Dem wird danach der @sagrotan laufen XD
Exakt daher kommt der Spitzname, meine Tochter war 5 oder 6, hat Anlauf genommen und mit BEIDEN FÜSSEN in meine Weichteile, da lief mir der sagrotan! Eine Woche seltsam sitzen.
Well, I’m German.
And fricking love UK panel shows. 8oo10c, catscountdown, WILTY, Taskmaster, QI, Big Fat Quiz, HIGNFY, The last leg, … and the standup of most of the people on these shows. And of course Monty Python is legendary.
So if I don’t have a good sense of humour … neither have you guys!
On the flip side, I also really like Mr. Bean, which seems common among Germans.
And did you know we watch “Dinner for One” every new years eve? Like that is a serious tradition in Germany.
Nearly nobody knows “Dinner for One” in the UK. Frinton was just a one-man (or one man and one woman) show who did gigs in small theatres for tourists in some seaside towns (mostly).
Imagine my surprise when I learned that people in our twinned town North East Lincolnshire knew about him - Freddy Frinton was born there…
Germans do have humor. It is actually not that different from English humor in style.
The idea that Germans have no humor comes from a number of reasons. To understand a foreign joke, you need a thorough grasp of that language. And this applies to any foreign language - I could not understand e.g. a French joke, but I would not deny that they most likely love humor, too.
Then, most English or American peoples impression of Germans stem from times of war or shortly after - only a small minority bothered to update their views later. During the war, allied propaganda had obviously different goals than promote German humor or Germans as funny people. And people in the early years of post-war Germany had not much to laugh about in life, their prime job was to survive in less than funny circumstances.
Robin Williams had an interesting answer to the question.
May I introduce you to Flula Borg
Flula Borg is usually more on the silly side. Typically German humour is more deadpan. At least nowadays.
Obligatory german humor is the wurst.
Both US and Germany are mentioned as low context cultures there. Are you suggesting that Americans do not have sense of humor?
IDK but americans aren’t really known for their humor right?
It’s more all on and no finesse?
Generally speaking of course.
The absence of finesse is different from the absence of humor. Stereotypically speaking, of course.
