Yeah, puns are only funny to anglophiles--I don't think it's a case of them not understanding the words. It took my (Italian) husband years to warm up to them. I think this is because all their languages are so homophone poor.
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Nah .... it's more in your face and obvious - the most successful British exports, here, being Benny Hill and Mr. Bean (minimal language problems).
Only to a non-native speaker of Swiss German. Mr. Breakfast was quite right there with his observation. If it isn't the blatant "I'm going to tell a joke there"-sort most jokes in Switzerland have a very dry delivery, and only a small grin confirms that you got the joke.
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But the probplem is at least known within specialists in Switzerland as this short NZZ article from 1984 shows:
A majority of the nation's humorists are convinced that a "mass extinction" of jokes and
puns is underway that poses a major threat to humans in the next century,
yet most Swiss are only dimly aware of the problem, a poll says.
The rapid disappearance of jokes was ranked as one of the countrys gravest
environmental worries, surpassing pollution, global warming and the thinning of the ozone layer,
according to the survey of 400 scientists commissioned by Swiss National Museum of Humor History.
The poll's release yesterday comes on the heels of a groundbreaking study of
humor diversity that concluded than at least one in eight known jokes is
threatened with extinction. Although scientists are divided over the specific numbers,
many believe that the rate of loss is greater now than at any time in history.
"The speed at which Jokes are being lost is much faster than any we've seen in the past --
including those [extinctions] related to Appenzell and Austria," said Daniel Simberloff,
a University of Tennessee ecologist and prominent expert in humor diversity
who participated in the museum's survey. [Note: the last mass extinction caused by Calvin and Zwingli
was that of Sarcasm, 500 years ago.]
The survey also shows that a former widly used form of humor, the low pun, is in danger.
__________________ Guns don't kill people, George R.R. Martin kills people.
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I agree with you, but how do you asses those aspects? Are you really able to judge the mindsets of the Swiss and their views of the world?
Besides that, what do you know about how the Swiss perceive you and gauge your sense of humor?
very simple: do they smile/laugh when I joke. Do i smile or laugh when they joke. I am from a bilingue canton and many of my swiss neighours have good sense of humour in both languages even though they do not expert-master the 2nd language.
Difficult to claim things about "the swiss people". We can just take random samples and build our own view of them.
When I first came here and talked to people, they didn't get my jokes and thought I was weird..3 years later, they still don't get my jokes, still think I'm weird...but they got used to and learned to ignore me.
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When I first came here and talked to people, they didn't get my jokes and thought I was weird..3 years later, they still don't get my jokes, still think I'm weird...but they got used to and learned to ignore me.
Given that most the people on this platform don't get your jokes and knowing that you are weird you really can't blame the swiss in this occasion.
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Don't worry, I've been here 12 years and there is only 1 of my Swiss friends that can make me laugh. Their humour is totally different to ours especially if your British but that's a thing you'll have to get over. It will always be lost.
I am a bit disturbed by the lack of humor in the answers of some self declared humouros people on here. Repeating other peoples jokes doesn't really qualify as well.
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My 11 year-old came up with a funny the other day.
In reference to the euphamism "I'm just dropping the kids off at the pool", she said would the cat equivalent be "I'm just dropping the kids off at the beach"?
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My 11 year-old came up with a funny the other day.
In reference to the euphamism "I'm just dropping the kids off at the pool", she said would the cat equivalent be "I'm just dropping the kids off at the beach"?
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