• Waffelmeister@lemmy.world
    2·
    26 minutes ago

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

    Karl Valentin

  • abbiistabbii@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    32·
    9 hours 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!”
      • crater2150@feddit.org
        11·
        2 hours ago

        It’s just a coincidence that the same words are homonyms in English and German in this case: “Warehouses” = “Warenhäuser”, “There were houses” = “Dort waren Häuser”. You don’t even have to translate to colloquial German as the other comment suggests, a word-by-word translation works here.

      • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
        4·
        2 hours ago

        English and German derive from a common root language, so I’d honestly be surprised if there weren’t some that do.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
        12·
        8 hours ago

        So I went and googled it out of curiosity, after remembering that German for was/were (in some form anyway) is ‘war’.

        I found this in a thread about Downfall and a translated joke where someone was wondering what the original was:

        The German pun uses ‘Warenhaus’ department store and “Da war 'n Haus” - “there was/used to be a house”.

  • Enkrod@feddit.org
    18·
    15 hours 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
      7·
      8 hours 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
        5·
        2 hours 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.

    • abysmalpoptart@lemmy.world
      7·
      11 hours 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

  • arotrios@lemmy.worldEnglish
    142·
    24 hours ago

    Another German banger I heard awhile ago:

    “Ask me if I’m a schoolbus.”

    “Are you a schoolbus?”

    “No.”

  • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
    12·
    18 hours 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 Fahhrad da.”

    • Cheesehat1784@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

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

      Edit: Grammar

      • cjk@discuss.tchncs.de
        2·
        52 minutes 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
        • Cheesehat1784@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          31 minutes ago

          Ach so! ich verstehe jetzt. Yeah the cultural immersion is still a bit far in my German learning journey. Aber danke dir :)

  • The_v@lemmy.world
    16·
    19 hours 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.

  • NoPanko@feddit.uk
    30·
    23 hours ago

    I’ve met many funny germans, and then 1 german guy who so perfectly fits the stereotype that I almost think its a bit in its own right.