Comment on German joke
Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 1 day agoDiese Art von Witzen die mit skurrilen Szenarien und Dialogen gearbeitet haben waren im Deutschsprachigen Raum in den 70ern angesagt - Ein bisschen vor meiner Zeit, aber man hat ja Eltern und Verwandte, und der hat sich in meiner Kindheit in mein Hirn gebrannt.
BlackVenom@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah but what does it mean!? 😂
Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 8 hours ago
It’s somewhat of an antijoke. Translation would be:
Two camels are sitting in a cellar chopping petroleum. One of them says: “Tomorrow is Christmas, you know?”. The other one replies: “Yeah, I came here by bike anyways”
The whole joke is based on subverting expectations. You don’t expect camels sitting in a cellar, a liquid can’t be chopped, camels can’t speak (and wouldn’t care about christmas either), camels don’t ride bikes, and noone chooses a bike as a mode of travel especially in expectation of Christmas.
I personally never found it that funny, but my mother was laughing as if it were the funniest thing ever said.
RaphaelSchmitz@feddit.org 11 hours ago
I did my best with that translation, but there are subtle hints that these things relate to each other, that would take way more words in English.
E.g. the “eh” implies something along the lines of “It doesn’t matter because I already made the decision to come on my bike anyway”.
So I guess the joke is a bit that it’s the framework of a cohesive conversation, but it goes by so fast (3 quick sentences) that you kinda only realize that it was nonsense when it’s already over. It has dad joke vibes, too, only German jokes are more about unexpected content than puns.
Compare also (again doing my best on translation) “A ball rolls around the corner and tips over”
Or the “poem” (cause it rhymes in german): It was dark, the moon shone bright, When a car drove lightning fast Slooowly around the corner. Inside people sat while standing, Silently engrossed in conversation While a rabbit who was shot dead Was ice skating on the sandbank.
Hupf@feddit.org 20 hours ago
It wouldn’t make any sense when you translate it to English, I’m sorry.
Enkrod@feddit.org 17 hours ago
Not that it makes sense in German XD
Hupf@feddit.org 8 hours ago
Of course.