this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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Why do Germans have no sense of humour? (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Or so sayeth the common stereotype...

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[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 47 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)
  1. The German language doesn't work well with pun based humour. This is the kind of humour English speakers are used to.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 18 points 10 months ago

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.

[–] Evia@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] meekah@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've found that many Germans (including me) greatly enjoy British humor. I think both are pretty similar

[–] AchtungDrempels@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

The British are super funny, best humor. Germans make too many puns or word plays, but i enjoy those too as a german, haha.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I fully agree on the second and third point, but the first one is completely wrong.