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Aurorae Posted 22 years ago
Culture

Language of love / butt of all jokes

Hello to all,

Something that interests me personally:

In the UK, the language of love would be considered by most to be French. By this I mean if you wanted to 'woo' somebody in a particularly special way, you might write them a poem in French or whisper 'sweet nothings' in their ear (in French).

Apparently, the French use Spanish for the same effect. (So I have heard).
I think that Germans also use French, although my grounds for saying that are unsound.

I just wondered if any other nationalities used any other languages for the same purpose (aside from their native language, which is what most people are limited to in such scenarios (at least in my experience)).

Part two:

In England (at least), if we were to tell a joke at the expense of another nationality it would normally be (unjustly) the Irish. 'Irishman, Englishman and Scotsman' jokes are fairly commonplace.

I have heard, and by all means correct me if I'm wrong, that:

French jokes are at the expense of Belgians,
German jokes are at the expense of Austrians and
American jokes are at the expense of the Poles

I would imagine that most countries have an equivalent - what is yours?

Thanks in anticipation.
  

Top answer

Unfortunately, Americans are so arrogant that "our" (I say "our" because I don't approve of jokes like that, but I do live here) jokes make fun of lots of different people, depending on the world scene. even people from the Southern US and/or Northern US, depending on where you are.

  • Unfortunately, Americans are so arrogant that "our" (I say "our" because I don't approve of jokes like that, but I do live here) jokes make fun of lots of different people, depending on the world scene.
  • even people from the Southern US and/or Northern US, depending on where you are.
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6 Answers
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Unfortunately, Americans are so arrogant that "our" (I say "our" because I don't approve of jokes like that, but I do live here) jokes make fun of lots of different people, depending on the world scene. I've heard jokes about Arabs, Mexicans, French, Poles...even people from the Southern US and/or Northern US, depending on where you are.
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Well that would seem mighty arrogant of you to say that. Thanks for the thoughtout reply.
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The pattern seems to be that jokes are always at the expense of a cultural minority within one area. For example, the Gozitans are the **** of jokes in Malta, like the Newfoundlanders in Canada, Tasmanians in Australia, and Georgians in Russia. However, minorities can be just as disdainful. When a lot of unemployed people were emigrating from New Zealand to Australia, a Kiwi politician who was as
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In Malta (and I suppose similar jokes exist in many other countries) there are many jokes featuring three men of different nationalities, one of which is Maltese and always comes out on top in the end. Often the other two are British and Italian, but I've heard jokes about Americans and Germans too. As for the language of love I'd say it is undoubtedly Italian although French is becoming increasi
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0 Hello02br
00 I read this article and found it interesting.02br
00 Americans also tend to joke at the expense of Canadians, and also call French "The language of Love."0-
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0 Hi!02br
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00In Finland we joke a lot about the Swedish (how stupid they are, and even how gay they are). The jokes are usually very stupid but some people (younger men especially) find them amusing. It's laughing at the stereotypes of the Swedish.We also have some jokes about the Russians but not as many as about the Swedes.02br
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00The question ab

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