dehumour1-2, Exercise 1: Five joke genres

Model answer (check the details):

1. Kalauer (pun). English or Scottish counterpart: the pantomime pun and the cracker joke. Lost in translation: the double meaning usually depends on a German word, so the English version needs a different pun.
2. Flachwitz (flat joke). Counterpart: the dad joke. Lost: little, as the groan is shared, but the tone of the teller is different.
3. Treffen sich zwei ... (two ... meet). Counterpart: "A man walks into a bar". Lost: the deadpan flat ending often depends on the specific pair and the German phrasing.
4. Ostfriesenwitz (East Frisian joke). Counterpart: the Irish joke of the past, or the Aberdeen joke in Scotland. Lost: the audience knowledge of who the East Frisians are.
5. Beamtenwitz (civil servant joke). Counterpart: jokes about the civil service and bureaucrats. Lost: little, as the target of bureaucracy is familiar everywhere.

Point: most genres have a close counterpart, which suggests a shared joke structure, and the main loss in translation is in puns and local knowledge.