Do tell!
It seems that a survey conducted by online networking site Badoo.com put Germans at the top of the list of the world's least-funny people. The survey revealed that the Top 10 least humorous nations were:
1 - Germany;
2 - Russia;
3 - Turkey;
4 - Britain;
5 - America;
6 - France;
7 - Poland;
8 - Belgium;
9 - Holland; and,
2 - Russia;
3 - Turkey;
4 - Britain;
5 - America;
6 - France;
7 - Poland;
8 - Belgium;
9 - Holland; and,
10 - Canada
I find this surprising, because I lived in Germany for many years, am married to a German lady, and have many German friends, and I think they can be just as funny as anyone else. Of course, there's that whole World War I and II thing, but I think we've all gotten over that. Even Germans recognize that they get a bad, if undeserved, rap in the humor department - in May 2007 the German news magazine Der Spiegel commented that the British had an image of the typical German as a “mercilessly efficient but humourless engineer.”
Also surprising about the list is that all the non-humorous countries appear to be either in Europe or North America. What's up with that? America ... the home of Comedy Central, Steven Wright, Mark Twain, Robert Benchley, the Three Stooges, and the entire Republican and Democratic parties ... as the fifth least-funny country? Oh, come on! Poland, I can understand ... after all, Poland has been the punching bag between Germany and Russia for so long that you could excuse a relative lack of good humor. And Russia ... the country that gave us the KGB and gulags ... not too surprising.
But where are the real national champions of nothing-to-laugh-about? Where on this list are the side-splitting comedy powerhouses like Venezuela (led by Howlin' Hugo Chavez), Saudi Arabia (the land of the Friday Beheadings), Iran (home of those laugh-a-minute mullahs), and Sudan (home of ... well ... whatever it's the home of)?
Who ran this survey, anyhow?
It's true that, between the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, al Qaeda, health care, and terrible summer weather, there may not a lot to laugh about, but I think we need to give it a try. After all, it's said that laughter is the best medicine ... and it's getting so it's going to be about the only medicine you'll be able to afford.
"We're number five!" is not what we need to be chanting at this point in history.
Have a good day. Get funny. God knows we all need it.
More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
3 comments:
I know a dude who lives in Warsaw and works for the Polish Partition and Corridor Company, and he's very funny.
Humor is so much in the eye of the beholder. What is funny in German and in Germany isn't funny translated. Same goes for all languages, I'm sure. Of course, most Americans find virtually anything a Brit says is funny, but that's the accent as much as anything else!
Don't take it personally.
According to this article from Travel backup up by Badoo Americans are the funniest. This needs more research. We'll be expecting a follow up here.
http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011/06/which-country-has-the-funniest-people/174047/1
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