Clearly, the text had fallen victim to the patchy translation abilities of Google, but the incident got me thinking: where does the stereotype of the serious, humourless German come from? German history, then, and sensitivity to joking about it, may be one of the reasons that outsiders consider Germans so serious. Rather than German comedy being an oxymoronic concept, it’s possible that we English speakers simply can’t grasp its linguistic nuances. Moving beyond the serious German clicheIt’s possible, too, that the enthusiasm British people have for the “serious German” cliché stems from the British habit of using comedy not just to make people laugh but to deflect, defend or avoid. Stereotypes are hard to shake and the “serious German” may be around a little longer, but as Upatov points out, any of us could well fall victim to a Treppenwitz.

Source: The Local September 17, 2018 13:30 UTC