• abbiistabbii@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    67·
    6 days ago

    So there are actually some German wartime jokes that are actually quite funny. Here’s some that I heard:

    • " Where I live there’s now a lot of warehouses, there were houses and there were houses, and there were houses!"
    • “How can you tell an optimist from a pessimist? The optimist is learning English and the pessimist is learning Russian.”
    • One day at the barracks there was a soldier on his knees looking around the ground, picking up random papers he found and going “no, no that’s not it”. His officer asked what he was doing, “I’m looking for my special paper”. He sent him to the doctor and he was declared insane, when the doctor gave him his discharge papers he explained “ah, there’s my special paper!”
      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
        3·
        5 days ago

        LED bulbs still exist and are more efficient to use than LED fixtures where you have to change the entire lamp instead of a bulb!

        In fact, I’ve got a room with six such fixtures and only one still works.

        • ExtremeUnicorn@feddit.org
          3·
          5 days ago

          Right? I don’t understand how we got here (I mean, I kind of do, but still). I will refuse to buy non-socketed AIO lamps. Having them break and instead of opening the case and quickly changing out an LED bulb, having to replace the entire thing and screw new holes into the ceiling sounds like a complete nightmare.

        • SirLeToet@lemmy.world
          1·
          5 days ago

          The LED bulbs barely die. I am still using first gen bulbs i bought over a decade ago. I’ve only had 1 die on me so far. Versus the monthly replacement of some heat bulbs and always having a box of spares around.

          Changing lightbulbs is kind of a thing from the past. Old fashioned fillament heat bulbs are hardly in use in Germany nowadays.

  • Enkrod@feddit.org
    34·
    7 days ago

    Honestly I very much enjoy German humor, but I do understand why people don’t always get it, because it comes in two distinct styles with (imho) vastly different qualities:

    1. Just plain silly (see: Otto Waalkes), can be good but it is often with such a heavy handed punchline that it just doesn’t feel funny anymore. This is the only time people recognize that a German tried to be funny and it often lands flat for people with a more refined sense of humor.

    2. Irony and sarcasm, dark and extremely, extremely, sometimes unbearably dry. People who did not grow up with it will often not recognize that a joke has been made at all, because Germans are the kings of straight-face-delivery. This is where german humor hides its refinement and wit and since it’s often undetectable, people imagine we’re just not funny. But if you catch it, this shit is HILARIOUS.

    Both kinds are rife with puns… I don’t know why, but Germans love puns and considering the very complicated nature of the german language this also often passes by unnoticed with non-native speakers.

    • nightlily@leminal.spaceEnglish
      8·
      6 days ago

      I work with one guy who is a master of the second style to the extent that even other Germans don’t notice he’s joking.

      • Enkrod@feddit.org
        9·
        6 days ago

        That’s a common occurrence and since “you don’t explain jokes” sometimes in a group one person says something, one other person starts laughing uncontrollably and all the others just look on confused and will never get an explanation. It’s often a test of who pays attention, who you are on the same wavelength with and who has the wit to register the joke.

        People getting each others jokes, while others don’t, is quite often the basis for lifelong friendships.

    • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      I’m of German descent on both sides of my family and I can confirm the dry, and sometimes dark humor.

      My dad would drop drive-by jokes that you might not get for a couple of days.

    • abysmalpoptart@lemmy.world
      8·
      7 days ago

      The Germans we’ve met LOVE silly puns and plays on words.

      One time I was playing in a German beer pong event, and one of our opposing teams was “ten inches soft” (in English). We all introduce ourselves (all in English), and one of the guys says to us “do you get it? It’s about the penis!” And we just died laughing.

      It’s great honestly

      • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
        1·
        5 days ago

        See, thats why I think a lot of non-germans don’t get German humor, there isn’t a scenario where you say “10 inches soft” that isn’t a dick joke, so when the punchline comes around “haha it is about penis”, the recipient is confused thinking they missed the real punchline.

        • abysmalpoptart@lemmy.world
          1·
          5 days ago

          To be fair, we understood the joke ahead of time (and found it to be a bit “on the nose,”/direct compared to some of the jokes/names we’ve heard), but their insistence on explaining the joke (in English, to English speakers) somehow made it so much funnier

  • Waffelmeister@lemmy.world
    16·
    6 days ago

    Gottseidank heißt unser Führer nicht Kräuter. Sonst hieße es den ganzen Tag Heilkräuter! Heilkräuter!

    Karl Valentin

  • Don Antonio Magino@feddit.nl
    10·
    6 days ago

    Germans are funnier than the average American. American humour seems to amount to claiming you own random countries and then threatening military action.

  • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
    18·
    6 days ago

    Zwei Kamele sitzen im Keller und hacken Petroleum. Sagt das eine zum anderen: “Du, morgen ist Weihnachen!”. Sagt das andere: “Ich weiß, ich bin eh mit dem Fahrrad da.”

    • kshade@lemmy.worldDeutsch
      3·
      6 days ago

      Sitzen zwei Kamele im Keller und stricken Benzin. Kommt ein Schraubenzieher, läuft ein mal den Türrahmen hoch und wieder herunter und verschwindet wieder. Fragt das eine Kamel: “Du, hast du dat geseh’n?” Sagt das andere Kamel: “Jau, der is öfter hier.”

    • Cheesehat1784@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      6 days ago

      Ich lerne noch Deutsch und kann den Witz zwar übersetzen aber ich verstehe er trotzdem nicht.

      Edit: Grammar

      • cjk@discuss.tchncs.de
        3·
        6 days ago

        There is a trope of nonsensically combining statements, e.g. “at night it’s colder than outside” (it’s called Alogismus - is alogism a proper english word?). It’s children humor, most of them find it funny somewhere between 6 and 14 yo.

        This sentence is an example of that:

        • camels don’t sit in basements
        • you can’t chop kerosene
        • Christmas has nothing to do with the fact that the camel traveled via bicycle
      • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
        2·
        6 days ago

        Diese Art von Witzen die mit skurrilen Szenarien und Dialogen gearbeitet haben waren im Deutschsprachigen Raum in den 70ern angesagt - Ein bisschen vor meiner Zeit, aber man hat ja Eltern und Verwandte, und der hat sich in meiner Kindheit in mein Hirn gebrannt.

          • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
            4·
            6 days ago

            It’s somewhat of an antijoke. Translation would be:

            Two camels are sitting in a cellar chopping petroleum. One of them says: “Tomorrow is Christmas, you know?”. The other one replies: “Yeah, I came here by bike anyways”

            The whole joke is based on subverting expectations. You don’t expect camels sitting in a cellar, a liquid can’t be chopped, camels can’t speak (and wouldn’t care about christmas either), camels don’t ride bikes, and noone chooses a bike as a mode of travel especially in expectation of Christmas.

            I personally never found it that funny, but my mother was laughing as if it were the funniest thing ever said.

            • BlackVenom@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              4 days ago

              Thanks! I’ll take it. I like surreal and it doesn’t land for me but I’m glad my attempts to translate weren’t butchered…

              What are the odds ich_iel starts posting these to screw with people.

          • RaphaelSchmitz@feddit.org
            2·
            6 days ago

            Two camels are sitting in the basement and are splitting [like e.g. with an axe] petroleum. One says to the other “Hey, it’s Christmas tomorrow!”. The other one answers" I know, I came here on my bike."

            I did my best with that translation, but there are subtle hints that these things relate to each other, that would take way more words in English.

            E.g. the “eh” widens the meaning to something along the lines of “It doesn’t matter because I already made the decision to come on my bike anyway”.

            So I guess the joke is a bit that it’s the framework of a cohesive conversation, but it goes by so fast (3 quick sentences) that you kinda only realize that it was nonsense when it’s already over. It has dad joke vibes, too, only German jokes are more about unexpected content than puns.

            Compare also (again doing my best on translation)

            A ball rolls around the corner and tips over

            Or the “poem” (cause it rhymes in german):

            It was dark, the moon shone bright,
            When a car drove lightning fast
            Slooowly around the corner.
            Inside people sat while standing,
            Silently engrossed in conversation.
            While a rabbit who was shot dead
            Was ice skating on the sandbank.

          • Hupf@feddit.org
            1·
            6 days ago

            It wouldn’t make any sense when you translate it to English, I’m sorry.

  • The_v@lemmy.world
    17·
    7 days ago

    German humor is usually not funny and a bit mean.

    The Dutch have compensated for their neighbors with an over-developed sense of humor.

    • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      6 days ago

      i have a dutch friend whose favorite joke is:
      Person 1: knock knock
      Person 2: who’s there
      Person 1: interrupting cow
      Person 2: interrupting cow who?
      Person 1: …dammit

      mine is:
      two pretzels were walking down the street. one was assaulted. pretzel.
      (it’s funnier if you tell it in a silly voice)

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          6 days ago
          okay so thinking about jokes and getting them can make them funnier, having someone explain them always makes them worse. see below

          the first one (edited for those unfamiliar with the format), we were trying to teach him knock knock jokes. because they are stupid. he loves the interrupting cow one, but what he loves even better is fucking up the interrupting cow one. and mine is a pun on salted pretzels but it’s REALLY BAD

    • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
      2·
      6 days ago

      German humor is fine, but much of german humor does not translate well, because it is often using puns, homophones, double entendrse or subversion of expectations, and you have to actively listen - just hearing without paying attention might result in not even realizing a joke was made. And I wouldn’t say it’s mean, but it is often dark and hitting where it really hurts regarding whatever goes wrong in society. I heard once that people start laughing if they can’t bear the pain anymore, and a lot of german humor fits this saying well.

    • Slashme@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 days ago

      I completely disagree. The people I meet in my daily life have a very healthy sense of humour, not mean at all. And in popular media? Look at Loriot, Sebastian Pufpaff, Hazel Brugger (sure, she’s Swiss, but hugely popular in Germany), Anke Engelke and Bastian Pastewka, Ladykracher in general…

      How long have you lived in Germany?