At Deutschland über Elvis, the Honourable Husband does us all a great service by examining German and Swiss humour.
This reminded me of some comments on related topics from our friend Andrew at German Joys.
Let the hilarity ensue!
(I'm headed off to a conference (pdf) in Austria later today and I'm wondering: what is Austrian humour like? Is it distinctive from either the German or Swiss varieties? Any pointers?)
4 comments:
The Viennese do have a distinct type of humor. Wiener Schmäh. I doubt I can describe it correctly but it seems to be a combination of fatalism and sentimentality: a eastern European touch that we Americans think of as "Jewish humor".
Thanks! Fatalism and sentimentality are right up my alley (as, for that matter, is Jewish). I'll have to listen in on some conversations in the cafés over the next few days and see if I can pick this up.
Jolly nice of you to shout out, JCW, and glad you enjoyed it.
Andrew's post on the subject is a real gem, as always.
And I was intrigued when he linked to Scot Stevenson's explanation of non-German humour to a German audience, in German. An intriguing piece, but I don't think it will convince the lady at the bakery to smile without some sort of excuse.
Thank you HH for giving me something to shout out about! My bakery lady seems to smile pretty easily. Though, now that I think about it, I believe she's Turkish.
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