It is beginning to grate

peasant wrote: »

Now ...for a German (:D) ...I do have a pretty well developed sense of humour,

well actually, now that i'm on a roll;),
this is another prejudice that gets on my nerves; 'Germans have no sense of humour'.

It's just different guys, and it's obviously a subjective thing, but some is good & some 'less' good, (to be diplomatic).

Exactly like Irish & Anglo humour.

peasant wrote: »

Ever since the IMF has waltzed in, it has become very fashionable to talk and joke about "The Germanz".

Now ...for a German (:D) ...I do have a pretty well developed sense of humour, but these constant nazi references in every second sentence ...die gehn' mir so langsam richtig auf den Sack :mad:

I'm glad that someone has highlighted this.

German people in general are unfailingly polite and pleasant.
Why commentators in this country attempt to copy the less informed views expressed by some British commentators is beyond me.

Germany has been a good friend to this country and our citizens over the years and we Irish need to remember this.

Don't let them win, that's my life's mantra.

It's sad alright that you feel alienated by some morons who never learned to think and just babble along with the tabloids and the brain-dead radio presenters. It's just easier than blame themselves in the current economical climate, that is the fúck-up of the country by their own doing.

If they throw a tantrum against those they actually are jealous of, let them. They know very well that "ze Germanz wiz de lederhosen" have more competence and guts, and that's why they rant & rave with the only arguments they know and inherited from their former colonial masters.

I'm really getting angry now, I know.

But hey, my dear Irishmen, if you call us Nazis, which is an insult, we'll call you anything which hurts you!

But there are others - perfectly intellectually capable Irish people who know the score and know how to differentiate, who look beyond their ever so lazy and convenient catholic woolly hat, which is: Jesus died for our sins, now let's slaughter ze Germanz so that we are free of sin again.
They do exist, really.

The above mentioned morons just are incapable of looking in their own backyard. I wonder though why the big American cousin isn't the butt of their hatred. The ones who closed factories down, the ones who just looked for profits without any obligations and generally don't give a ****e about Ireland - which has no oil or other resources. They wouldn't take abuse like that anyway.

Maybe we should just start to act as they describe us, namely as the murky Germans who just want to take over the emerald isle, har, har (though what would we do with it? )...

... instead of being longsuffering like Mr Bucket.

Liah, I think you've given a very fair assessment of this thread so far.
Some of the posters are being a little sensitive, IMO.

The stupid comments stereotyping Germans (& the inexcusable Nazi ones)
come from a minority of the population who's travel experience is limited to Spain & Florida (huge generalisation!!)

Otherwise there is quite a fondness for Germans & German 'stuff'.


@ Carry, I think you may be exaggerating our sensitivity to the Paddy thing. it's only offensive when spoken with a very posh English accent

to be honest, the Nazi references as such don't bother me - I'd quite happily join in, and tell them that everybody will be wearing Lederhosen and singing German Volksmusik in no time - we're slowly infiltrating the country this time instead of the sledgehammer approach...:D

what annoys me more is that is seems to be the ONLY thing people connect with Germany, which is sad. Going slightly off topic here, but there was a brilliant documentary on BBC the other day about German art in the middle ages, for example. Germany has a long history of culture, literature, music and art - more than ther Irish could ever claim - and I wish people would recognise that, too...instead of taking cheap shots...

Although I find that the British are actually worse (the constant documentaries on WW2 - get over it, we're not banging on about how you treated your colonies for centuries...).

In one word: Meh.

but it does annoy me when I see "ze Germans" written in boards. Where I live, in an alten Bundesland, younger people do joke about it sometimes, but not always. The DDR was protected from the BRD by the antifascist protection wall for a time.

galah wrote: »

to be honest, the Nazi references as such don't bother me - I'd quite happily join in, and tell them that everybody will be wearing Lederhosen and singing German Volksmusik in no time - we're slowly infiltrating the country this time instead of the sledgehammer approach...:D

I do the same.
In training (Krav Maga) we had to do some ind of role play - one is harrressingthe other and then the other one has to react. My sparring partner asked me to ask him in German for his identification papers

Same guy asked me once late at night online if I am sending special reports back to the Reich.
That both situation I found somehow funny but are the exception - normally the rereferneces/jokes are really bad.


With the IMF/EU (or the Germans ;-) ) now taking over Ireland you have even better opportunitys. You can tell the guys that a German politician asked that Greece should sell some of its islands. This could be proposedagain - let Irelandsell the Aran islands - or lets buy the whole country

what annoys me more is that is seems to be the ONLY thing people connect with Germany, which is sad. Going slightly off topic here, but there was a brilliant documentary on BBC the other day about German art in the middle ages, for example. Germany has a long history of culture, literature, music and art - more than ther Irish could ever claim - and I wish people would recognise that, too...instead of taking cheap shots...

yes really a pitty but thats life

Although I find that the British are actually worse (the constant documentaries on WW2 - get over it, we're not banging on about how you treated your colonies for centuries...).

In one word: Meh.

I have a complete different impression after living as well in the UK.
Not a single Nazi joke/ reference was made ever
It is true that the bookshops are full with WWII literature andtvfull with documentaries but I don't have any problem with that as I like history. With the British it is a bit in their psyche. Perhaps they believe they sacrified their Empire to stop Hitler and therefor this kind of "obsession"

Here in Ireland in addition to the references mentioned above:
Once a group of 3-4 pricks were looking for trouble at a bus stop - as soon as they figured out am German they saluted in the Nazi way and behaved as I was their best friend. I felt so sick ....
Similiar happened with a guy as well - he wanted to bully /causing some trouble - as soon he figured am German again the greeting and told me how great Hitler was etc.

At work a Belgium colleague made a "joke" with reference to "Arbeit macht Frei" - feltreally mad about that as it was completly over the top and scolded her - thougt eveabout an HR complain.

One of my Krav Maga trainers made once as well a joke.some references I found distasteful....

Carry wrote: »

The above mentioned morons just are incapable of looking in their own backyard. I wonder though why the big American cousin isn't the butt of their hatred. The ones who closed factories down, the ones who just looked for profits without any obligations and generally don't give a ****e about Ireland - which has no oil or other resources. They wouldn't take abuse like that anyway.

.

I wonder why it is ok to rant about Americans and not about Germans...

Furthermore Americans are not the only ones who are closing down here in Ireland companies - everyone does it and nothing bad with winding down business as there is always a reason for doing this. And companies are looking for profits - thats the way a company operates - they are not the social welfare office.

Moreover Ireland has some oil/gas - pass on a weekend the GPO and you will find sometimes guys demonstrating against Shell who are exploring and extracting this ;-)
And considering the US involvement in the Good Friday agreement I would say the US is caring to some extent about Ireland ;-)

Empire o de Sun wrote: »

I know that, I was taking the piss That was the name give by the DDR government.

Given the topic being discussed here, it would probably be a good idea to state CLEARLY if one is making a joke.

funnily enough, just after giving out about the British and their unimaginative tele programming, we ended up watching a rather good one about Germany and her culture last night - Al Murray I think yer man's name was. And he didnt mention the war once! ;-)

I was actually impressed!

Actually, there's a difference also between Germans living abroad, and Germans at home - I think a lot of Germans at home (in Germany, that is) are somehow trapped in a society-imposed humour vacuum, where you are not allowed to joke or laugh about the history (within reason, oviously). Germans abroad are much more relaxed, I find, and some of them even have adapted an Irish sense of humour - making it much easier. (in general though I find that a lot of Germans in Germany are no longer compatible with my sense of humour after roughly 10 years abroad...I got used to all the slagging and sledging and sarcasm, they haven't...;-))

peasant wrote: »

Ever since the IMF has waltzed in, it has become very fashionable to talk and joke about "The Germanz".

Now ...for a German (:D) ...I do have a pretty well developed sense of humour, but these constant nazi references in every second sentence ...die gehn' mir so langsam richtig auf den Sack :mad:

they generally come from ill educated people heavily influenced by british tabloids. having said that all I ever heard from Germans was whiskey , guinness and IRA (außer meinem Freundeskreis) when I lived over there. jeden Tag. es ging auch a bissl auf den Sack.

stupid people are everywhere.

[
And for the references to "ze Germanz" as such - well, the Germans were nice people when delivering, be it the guns for the highly laudet rebels from times seen in a rosy light, be it money for said party...

If I hear one more time the Nazi-reference, I might try out the Paddy-thing... or worse :mad:[/QUOTE]


I was always asked about the IRA. the Germans seemed obsessed by it.

galah wrote: »

Germans abroad are much more relaxed, I find, and some of them even have adapted an Irish sense of humour - making it much easier. (in general though I find that a lot of Germans in Germany are no longer compatible with my sense of humour after roughly 10 years abroad...I got used to all the slagging and sledging and sarcasm, they haven't...;-))

IMO, this is getting close to explaining the differences in our sense of humour. it's really hard to pin down though.
German teenagers seem to take the piss out of each other, & often a lot more creatively than Irish/British mono-syllabic teens.

Fuinseog wrote: »

I was always asked about the IRA. the Germans seemed obsessed by it.

This is interesting. My experience would be different, in over 21 years of visiting/living in Germany, this would rarely have been mentioned to me.
Possibly on occasion in the early 90's, but certainly not in the last 10 years.

The Germans were more interested in our fantastic economy etc..........
which brings us right back to original post

jb-ski wrote: »

IMO, this is getting close to explaining the differences in our sense of humour. it's really hard to pin down though.
German teenagers seem to take the piss out of each other, & often a lot more creatively than Irish/British mono-syllabic teens.



This is interesting. My experience would be different, in over 21 years of visiting/living in Germany, this would rarely have been mentioned to me.
Possibly on occasion in the early 90's, but certainly not in the last 10 years.

The Germans were more interested in our fantastic economy etc..........
which brings us right back to original post

sense of humour is different in every culture. if anything the Germans do not get on their high horse as quickly as the Irish do.
I lived over there before we had a Wirschaftswunder and only hung out with the natives.

The Germans are fools. For decades they strove towards a strong united europe and let countries join such as the UK who only joined to combat it and ireland to milk it.
it was nice to see where their money was been spent. i wonder would we bail the Germans out if the out if the boot was on the other leg. methinks not.


its odd, but we are heavily dependent on the Germans, especially in areas such as tourism, yet areas such as Kerry that exist only because of tourism are extremely anti EU.

Fair points.
I couldn't agree more.

alois wrote: »

and some have to deal with what their own relatives did.

and not just that, there were a huge number of German victims in the war - completely innocent victims.

axer wrote: »

and not just that, there were a huge number of German victims in the war - completely innocent victims.

'jerry started the war' is the counter argument that is oft quoted.

are the Germans themselves obsessesed with lecturing us on the war? check out Jurgen the German on youtube

Sorry, EGAR, it' not as simple as that.

The collective guilt does exist, it's implanted in German education and it's implanted in the way other peoples want to see you. And it's still implanted through media.
Germans are still struggling to prove themselves NOT to be Nazis in the eyes of other nations. Not individually, though.
Not that easy, because Hitler is by now part of some kind of pop culture - the moustache, the hairstile, the speach - Charlie Chaplin saw to it, as did the British and even Monty Python, among others.

Germans seem to be defined by the biggest impact their nation has made in history. Same as Russia with Stalin who ist part of pop culture, too. Same as Ireland, who tries desperately to be seen as a nation which never caused a war and was always fighting for independence. The poor Paddies, the loveable rogues. - You see what myths brought you to...
I disgress.

What I meant: Nobody can escape national prejudices. Even if you are from a younger generation who has nothing to do with the past.

I remember the first encounter with such pop culture prejudices, namely my very first boyfriend on the emerald isle. Once I asked him to tidy up the mess he caused in MY home, he promised, as Irish men do, never did, as Irish men do, I reminded him, he called me a concentration camp warden, because he was too busy with listening to some show on the 'wireless' which was about slagging off the Germans and couldn't be arsed to contribute to the household ...

Fine, ye Oirish heroes. If you call me a 'Nazi', I'll be one, if it comes to mess up my place and my space, and if it means to get things done.




But be aware that no German woman (or man) can ever be such a Nazi as an Irish mammy!

You're lucky to have us ...:D

alois wrote: »

i'd imagine fuinseog meant irish schools. teachers generally ignore that kind of stuff...

genau. they would however be less inclined to ignore anti black comments.