That joke only works in German because “treffen” has two meanings: meet and hit.
Ah so kind of like “a man walks into a bar and says ouch”
Uwe Boll movies left a lasting scar on the image of Germans…
My suggestion is to watch the documentary laughing with Hitler to see that not only do Germans have a scathing sense of humor, but also were willing to die for their jokes.
German jokes are the wurst
Germans are funnier than the average American. American humour seems to amount to claiming you own random countries and then threatening military action.
Unfortunately, the people who say that kind of shit are not joking.
Careful throwing stones. That was German humor 80 years ago or so.
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German people tell each other what they mean. We do not make a difference between man and woman in that. Perhaps that is why your woman do not trust you.
I’m glad they laugh at you though.
They laugh with us. That means we laugh too. Should give it a try.
I’m “taking the piss” (I think that is the phrase?)
Because this person in the screenshot clearly has no respect for women.
Agreed.
Thanks for explaining joke.
Gottseidank heißt unser Führer nicht Kräuter. Sonst hieße es den ganzen Tag Heilkräuter! Heilkräuter!
Karl Valentin
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!”
How would a German joke work based on english homonyms?
Germans hate humor so much that hey renamed “The Simpsons” to “Die Simpsons!”. “Die Simpsons!”!!
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.
This. I asked myself this and that and was amazed the joke worked in both languages.
I mean to be fair, English and German are in the same language family.
English and German derive from a common root language, so I’d honestly be surprised if there weren’t some that do.
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”.
hm thanks
these are wunderbar
German humor is no laughing matter.
I think Germans are pretty Damm funny tbh. They’re silly
How many Germans does it take to change a lightbulb?
One, they are an efficient people and lack a strong sense of humor
Poor lighting is no laughing matter.
It really isn’t.
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:
-
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.
-
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.
People who don’t think Germans can be funny haven’t seen Loriot.
Yes! That’s a WAY better example than Otto.
The duck stays out!
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.
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.
I don’t think this is a uniquely German thing.
type 1 - fozzy
type 2 - Statler and Waldorf
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
-
Another German banger I heard awhile ago:
“Ask me if I’m a schoolbus.”
“Are you a schoolbus?”
“No.”
I’m sitting on the train by myself and cackling. I don’t know why I find it so funny.
Found the German.
So German humor is anti-meme?
it is post modern
german humor is no laughing matter
But is also the wurst.
Modern.
Hey now, the Germans take humour very seriously! It’s no laughing matter.
Knock knock
Who’s there?
WE ARE ZE ONES WHO ASK ZE QVESTIONS!
Protection from what? Ze Germans?
