Who Says Germans Don’t Have A Sense Of Humour?
October 6, 2006 (4 Responses)
FAIR ENOUGH, GERMANY is not known for it’s sense of humour, but they do have one, deep down and buried beneath complex language and odd deliveries. Indeed studies have shown that it’s really a matter of trying to understand the language problem; the peculiarities of German sentence construction simply rule out the lazy set-ups that most comics rely on.
Having said that I’m not sure it’s a solid enough defence for the subject of this post. I refer to the wonderful announcement by a German laywer in Berlin who hopes to drum up more business by pursuing state compensation claims for people who believe they were abducted by aliens.
Eh what now? I hear you mumble.
Fair enough. It does sound like a completely stupid idea and not something usually associated with such a logical and practical country. But… ah yes, there is always a… but. You see there is a logic of sorts behind this madness apart from the obvious quest for some publicity.
Jens Lorek – the Berlin laywer in question – is pinning his hopes for success on a German law which grants kidnap victims the right to state compensation.
Can’t you just imagine the amount of court time that is going to be wasted dealing with a non-sensical use of an existing precedent? Oh wait – that’s what the legal profession is all about isn’t it? 
Coyote, I work in a law firm, and our weekly magazine once listed strange names of lawyers from around the world. Hong Kong has a Fanny Fang ( makes the eyes water, doesn’t it?
Oh, the awful German language! Mark Twain titled one of his essays thus, and it’s a scream, available by googling it, with his name.
Then there’s the hilarious episode of Herr Slossen Boschen and his comic singing in Jerome Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat”. Priceless stuff.
I read those so-called German jokes and didn’t find them remotely funny- excpet for the rabbi’s punchline.
Give me smutty British ( and Aussie) humour anytime!!
Here they are, Coyote ( strange name for an Irishman):
Strange names for lawyers:
USA – Cupcake Brown ( yes, truly!) Kit Narodick, and Dick Sweat.
Justice Twaddle of Canada, & Peter Kunzlik & Guy Benda.
Germany – Felix Wanke, Peter Bum, August Bugger and Sabine Shittko ( who all really should get together to form a firm).
Enjoy!
Wow – well I guess the spam filter is working properly again Francoise; it’s letting you through!
Damn – I’d better think up some new content this evening to keep you entertained!