Why People Think Germans Aren't Funny

choi

艾米•麦克弗森, 德国人没幽默感 刻板印象从何而来？  BBC Chinese, Sept 13, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/ukchina/simp/vert-tra-41257084

, which is translated from

Amy McPherson, Why People Think Germans Aren't Funny. BBC, Aug 4, 2017.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/ ... germans-arent-funny

Quote:

"Nicola McLelland, German linguistics professor at the UK’s University of Nottingham, believes that the way different languages are constructed can affect the way various cultures deliver and perceive jokes.

"German's language construct can be very different [from English]. Nouns can have three different genders and four different cases. Verbs also have a lot of different forms. The exact meaning of a sentence relies on the correct use of gender and case pertained to the eventual meaning, affecting how humour can be delivered. Basically, it's harder to pun in German when the grammar makes things so much less ambiguous.

Note:
(a) "I was being hilariously entertained by a German comedian at Quatsch Comedy Club in Berlin"
(i) BBC translates the club name as 无厘头喜剧俱乐部.
(ii) German-English dictionary:
* Quatsch (noun masculine): "(colloquial) verbal nonsense"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Quatsch

(b) "Nicole Riplinger, an English and French teacher from Saarbrücken, told me" in Berlin

Saarbrücken
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saarbr%C3%BCcken
(capital and largest city of the state of Saarland [named after Saar River], Germany)
(c) Nicola (name)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_(name)

Compare: In Greek mythology, Nike is a goddess who personified victory.
(d) grammatical case
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_case