this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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In all seriousness, the notion that Germans lack humor stems from the times when English and American people last got in contact with Germans in larger numbers: In and after WW2. Allied propaganda did paint the Germans as humorless (because they can't be totally evil if they still have humor), and after the war, living in Germany was not exactly fun.
In reality, Germans have a lot of humor, its style being similar to the British, but a lot of it is hard to translate or is based on experiences that non-Germans don't share, like old German TV shows.
Ha ha ja just the other day Hanz made a funny joke he was going to arrive at 13:00 for his 13:00 meeting. We all laughed so hard. Naturlich he was perfectly on time arriving at 12:45, but we still laugh about it. When the meeting started he mentioned it and everyone was laughing and laughing for a good 30 sekunden or even a minute.
That Hanz, such a jokester. And people say the German have no humor, ha that is a joke!
Hahahaha I can't stop laughing. These Germans!
I think the stereotype also comes from Germans often not catching onto sarcasm in English
Why should we? It's inefficient. ;-)
Which is a pitfall for anyone conversing in a language that isn't their first, I'd say.
It can be, but 90% of the people I interact with are non-native English speakers and it definitely feels a bit more common for Germans fluent in English to be bad at getting jokes.
Happens with americans too.. they seem to completely miss sarcasm sometimes. Humour is very cultural (and often plays into things a native of the country would know but someone outside sometimes wouldn't).
That isn't what I said though, which is that specifically I notice it with Germans.