Talk:The Funniest Joke in the World

Google Translate

If you copy the german joke and paste it into Google Translate, the result is "When is the now piece git and slotermeyer? Yes! At hand the Or the Flipperwaldt gersput! ".

Star Trek and Red Dwarf

I don't think the references to Star Trek and Red Dwarf have anything at all to do with a joke being fatally funny - I have removed them. Cgs oi put it back just because you think doesnt mean other people dont find it relevant now put it back many thanks - John Faraday —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.193.236.86 (talk) 20:25, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

A predecessor?

If this sketch is a significant example of this type of humor, then I think it's relevant (both here and at Motif of harmful sensation) that Al Capp published a very similar storyline in the comic strip Li'l Abner before this Monty Python episode. I have no idea if the Pythons knew the earlier work and were influenced by it. I've been trying to research the exact date of publication of the Li'l Abner story, but the collections of that comic strip all seem to be out of print. Anybody know?

The plot: a writer creates the funniest joke in the world, which causes any who hear or read it to die laughing. A world power that competes with the U.S. gets access to the joke. Their agents arrange for Li'l Abner Yokum to perform the joke live on American network television. This will cause the death of most of the U.S. (This theme of using the joke as a weapon is also repeated in the Python sketch.) However, Abner does not get the joke, so he substitutes one he thinks is funnier (Why did the calf go around its mother? To get to the udder side.), thus saving America.

Glenn6502 01:50, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

A Pre-predecessor?

During WWII, Astounding Science Fiction published a short story by Henry Kuttner, "Nothing but Gingerbread" concerning an "earworm" (a phrase that one can't get out of one's head) that was constructed by the US and broadcast to the German army (See: http://henrykuttner.bravehost.com/Kuttner,%20Henry%20-%20Nothing%20But%20Gingerbread%20Left.html) : Left, left, left a wife and seventeen children in starving condition with nothing but gingerbread Left, ... probably 1943 or 1944. I immediately recalled the Kuttner piece. Funny writer. Honda Ascot (talk) 22:54, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

I had thought the existence of such a joke was actually a considerably older joke or rumor.69.118.19.131 (talk) 04:47, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

The English version given in the story isn't a marching song, it's in the form of a Military cadence: it would be used by a drill master to help a company keep in step and part of what makes it so hard to stop is that it's designed so that the end of one repetition can serve as the beginning of the next. JDZeff (talk) 00:47, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

An attempt to translate "translation" from German

Could a German speaker give a rough idea of what the "translation" means? I realize it's ungrammatical nonsense, but it might be interesting. --Twinxor 04:59, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

It's mostly gibberish, not just ungrammatical. The words I recognize are "If is the (Nunstuck) (git) and (slotermeyer)? Yes! (Beiherhund) the or the (flipperwald) (gersput)!" Not much there :) Adam Bishop 09:15, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Nunstück is a nonsense word, but can be translated to something like "now-piece". Slotermeyer can be interpreted as a name (Meyer is a common German last name, and two-part last names are also common - but there is no Slotermeyer in the German telephone books). Two other word parts which are German words are hund (dog) and wald (forest) - however in Just the words it is spelled as Flipperwaldt. Maybe the gersput was supposed to be gespurt (colloquial for has obeyed), but in that spelling is totally nonsense. andy 18:27, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

"Wenn" can not be translated as "When", as it is conditional, so it would be more correct to translate it as "If" (but of course it is possible that the Pythons meant "Wann" instead of "Wenn", in this case "When" would be correct. Would make more sense, as the sentence ends with a questionmark.). The "Nunstück" could be translated as nowpiece (nonsensical in German as well as in English), but a Stück can also be a piece of music or a play for theatres. "Nowplay" would be a possible translation as well, and keeping the theatre and music in mind, I'd think of something like "contemporary play" (yeah, okay, you need a bit of creative freedom for that one). "Git" could easily be "geht" spelled wrong (would mean "goes"). Slotermeyer... No idea. "Sloter" doesn't sound German that much, more like Dutch. The word Beiherhund could as well be a mix of two German words (bei and Hund) and an English one (her), so, as a phrase, it would mean "by her dog" or "with her dog". "Oder" can of course mean "or", but when it in spelled with a capital O in the middle of a sentence, it is more likely that the river Oder is meant. On the other hand, within the context, "or" would make more sense. That's probably a tie. The word "Flipper"... we use that for a pinball machine (not just for the flipper parts, but for the whole thing). So... another possible translation, with just a tiny bit of creative freedom would be as follows:

"When is the contemporary piece and Slotermeyer going? Yes! ... With her dog, this or obeyed to the pinball machine forest."

Not sure if I should change the article. Anyone laughing yet? ;)80.142.238.213 01:15, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Although this comment is that old, I have to correct it. Not only can "Wenn" be translated to "When", it has to be (if you are very strict), cause "Wenn" is often used as a conditional word (like "if"), but strictly this is not true. The correct conditional word in German is "Falls". "Wenn" is temporal like "When". But because it is used as a conditional word as well, one would have to judge by the context it is used in whether it should be translated as "when" or "if".

"Wenn"="when" and "Falls"="if".

In this case, though, the word "Wenn" is incorrect, cause it can't be used to form a question. ("Wenn" means "when", but only in sentences like "when i go home, ..." and not to form questions like "When do I go home?". The correct German word for that would be "Wann", which also means "When" and is mainly used to form questions like in this joke. --78.54.123.84 (talk) 04:09, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

i am

I mgiht be able to make sense of that joke. I can translate n00bspeak. Maybe, "What is the contemporary piece that Slotermeyer going with? Yeah, uh... With her dog, this, or she obeyed to the pinball machine forest. [as in, a forest of pinball machines]" turned into this; "'What is that contemporary thing that Slotermeyer's going with?' 'Yeah, uhh, her dog, I think. It's that, or she decided to obey the forest of pinball machines'" Which is STILL not funny, but at least it kinda makes sense. Im a bell(Don't ask) 23:51, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Once again the point has been missed. It is not supposed to make sense. Adam Bishop (talk) 01:39, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Even at that, it's nearly as funny as the "assaulted peanut" joke. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 01:51, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't think that it's actually "assaulted peanut". With "a salted peanut", the counter-joke makes more sense - althought it's still not very funny ^^ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.174.226.175 (talk) 23:06, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Keep in mind that they had to use nonsense words -- if it was real german, then either they wind up killing fan(s) or the joke fails to be lethal. -- DragonAtma 162.83.248.199 (talk) 16:16, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

I think the initial translation more accurately conveys Monty Python's sense of linguistic satire. It has all the strict cadence and weird tenses of a caricatured German speaking broken english. The word piece is more appropriate to the Python flavor as it indicates a person of dubious prestige or hip-ness suggesting a piece of contemporary music. So to try one more translation,

"When is the contemporary piece of music by Slotermeyer going away? Yes, and her dog too!!! I agree! We should obey the forest of pinball machines!!" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.127.128.2 (talk) 16:59, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

If you take the joke to be made of english homophones, it may translate to,

"Where is that numbskull-git, Slotermeyer? Beigerhund (or His behind ) has odor! Die flippin' Walter Scott" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.127.128.2 (talk) 17:35, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

(Oft quoted Sir Walter Scott, who is known to have translated German texts? see Gottfried August Bürger who is also related to The wonderful adventures of Baron Münchhausen )

If you take the word Beigerhund (Her Dog) to mean Bitch, and keep the meaning When from Wann,

"When is a contemporary song great? When the bitch from Oder river dies in a forest of pinball machines!"

Or, if we keep some of the English homophones,

"When is a numbskull-git a great person? When that bitch kills flippin' Walter Scott!"

That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think? It's just nonsense German. Adam Bishop (talk) 17:52, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I thinks it was just stream-of-conscience gibberish from someone with a little German vocabulary knowledge (possibly)? But it would have had to have been written on the script so some form of premeditation might've gone into it... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.127.128.2 (talk) 18:19, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

The joke is a complete pile of gibberish. The Pythons needed a phrase in German that they could all pronounce, this is what was created. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.231.203.214 (talk) 20:55, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

While the joke is gibberish and was intended to be so, the subtitles of the DVD release of the series actually have slightly different text than that of the cited book. I'm not sure if it's an intended correction, or if those responsible for the subtitles didn't have access to the source and tried to make it closer to actual German words. The DVD subtitle version of the joke is:

Wenn ist das Nunstück geht und Slotermeyer? Ja! Bayerhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gespuhrt

Bayerhund would translate to a dog from Bavaria, but gespuhrt is still gibberish. The similar gespürt would translate to "felt". 68.115.33.80 (talk) 05:27, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

The German phrase used in the Monty Python sketch is not the actual joke for obvious reasons - German-speakers watching the show would die, and anyone foolish enough to try to translate it into English (e.g. as here) would die. The War Office circulated a phrase made up of nonsense words for public consumption, just as dummy grenades, mortars, etc. are placed in museum displays. It was this "dummy" version of the joke Monty Python used. It is pointless to try to translate it, because it is not the actual joke used to such good effect by the allies on the Western Front. Slrubenstein | Talk 13:45, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Actual use of the joke in war?

Shouldn't the article also mention that in the sketch the joke was acutally used with very plausible results? (added by User:67.241.216.39 on November 7th, 2004)

No one believes you. --Ardonik.talk()^* July 7, 2005 10:29 (UTC)

Why? He did say "in the sketch"... Adam Bishop 7 July 2005 16:35 (UTC)

I totally missed that! Thanks for the clarification. --Ardonik.talk()^* July 7, 2005 18:01 (UTC)

"To the Unknown Joke"

I take it this inscription is a reference to the The Unknown Warrior and/or Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. How should the article point this out? --Piet Delport 07:00, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

• So it shall be written. So it shall be done. Wahkeenah 12:37, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Copyright

I think that by going this precise into the contents of the sketch, this actually becomes a copyright violation. I therefore think we should diminish the amount of description of the gag. - Andre Engels 11:11, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Try avoiding copyright paranoia. Until you provide strong reasons, this shouldn't be seen as any kind of copyright violation. —msikma <user_talk:msikma> 13:00, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Glitches

One glitch I noticed when seeing the sketch was: The fatal joke was first used 1944, but the german V-Joke was told in the radio 1942. Is this worth mentioning? -- Skeeve (not registered)

Nice catch, but it's original research unless you can cite a reliable source for the info. Maybe there's something in DVD commentary?--Drat (Talk) 07:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not so used to this wikipedia stuff so forgive mistakes I make. I just watched the 9 minute version of the sketch on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjbYNgIi5ss and there you hear the 3 (correction 6!) falling sounds I added to the article (Time 2:50).

Regarding the glitch: You hear the speaker from the off saying "So on July 8th, 1944 the joke was first told to the enemy" (Time: 4:18). When the "V-Joke" was shown a text appears "1942... somewhere in London" (Time: 8:52). -- Skeeve (not registered)

Yes, but all the same, it is still original research, which is not permitted here. In addition, the youtube video can't be used as a source as it is a violates copyright. If you can provide a reliable source that points these things out, you can cite those sources. An example would be if the date mistake is mentioned in DVD commentary.--Drat (Talk) 15:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Why didn't you link to original research earlier!? I didn't knew about that. I'm not english (I'm a descendant of ;-) "the enemy"), so excuse me when I don't understand everything at once. Can you explain what's the difference between a) the wrong date being mentioned in the DVD commentary and b) the mention of he wrong date itself in the sketch on the very same DVD? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.137.124.238 (talk) 19:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

Sorry about not linking it earlier. It's still your own personal observation. Essentially, we are allowed to summarise stories, but any interpretation (or pointing out of errors) requires citations.--Drat (Talk) 19:40, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

There is little difference. I cannot see the issue with citing the video itself as opposed to citing a DVD commentary. — mæstrosync ^{talk&contribs}, 12:22, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

It's pointless trivia regardless.--Drat (Talk) 12:16, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Agreed- the video itself is the source here, you don't need a separate source. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.61.38.107 (talk) 05:04, 26 January 2007 (UTC).

Translation removed

I'm removing the section "Translation, stem-by-stem". The joke is nonsense which does not mean anything particular in German, and most of the proposed etymologies for the nonsense words invented are original research. Gandoman 22:49, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

You also removed the movie version of the German-developed joke... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 124.168.233.190 (talk) 08:22, 1 February 2007 (UTC).

Actually, that was me. It was unneeded detail and there didn't need to be a great big table dedicated to it.--Drat (Talk) 10:14, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

They are not original research. Use a dictionary, translator, and Google. And who are you to say what's unneeded? -lysdexia 14:50, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

But the translation translated part of words differently, and then put the words together again. Do you have any sources for a dictionary containing the words "nowfitt", "sheltergreatter", "byeardog" and "pinballwealdt"? Has this translation ever been used outside Wikipedia? I would most certainly call these invented words original research. Most of the words in the German version of the joke (except closed-class words like "when", "is", etc.) are gibberish words that do not exist in German, so an attempt to translate them would yield gibberish in English too. It would be better not to translate them, and simply point out that the words in the joke are not real German words. The article already does this. Gandoman 11:00, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean by differently? They are verbatim. Do you care if a dictionary doesn't list "wavefunction" but does "wave" and "function"? (And there was no "when" in the joke.) -lysdexia 03:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Hitler's joke

Should Hitler's counter joke (My dog has no nose. How does it smell? Terrible!) be mentioned? Wikiwarlock 01:02, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

From what I've seen, that wasn't a counter-joke, that was just explaining how it was better than other jokes. I will not specify what I did to Mr. Jameson, I will just verify that I was present when the murder happened. 19:09, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Well it should certainly be fixed in the article--Alph Tech STUART 09:48, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

What would be nifty is if someone who speaks German could tell us what Hitler and the crowd were actually saying, over that fake subtitle. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} 04:20, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

The article says that hitler's joke is only in the film version. But it is in the Tv episode too. Dec 9th, 2007. 1031 am. Miniges —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.176.55.90 (talk) 15:30, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

He says: "Insbesondere heilen wir damit Deutschland leben wird." "Wir sind des Reiches Junggemeinschaft." "Eure Schule!"

That means: "Particulary we heal in order that Germany will live." "We are the young community of the Reich." "Your school!"

I can't accurately understand what he says, but it sound like "we heal". Sorry for my bad english. --80.139.213.90 (talk) 17:01, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

The joke (My dog has no nose. How does it smell? Terrible!) is ascribed to Heidegger by Julius Furzarsch in his book "Herrumbummeln mit Heidegger".

Heidegger has Hitler ostensibly saying "My dog has no nose" to a group of Romanian fascists. Furzarsch implies that when Hitler actually heard the joke, he was not amused, and this caused Heidegger to fall out of favor.Johntkwon (talk) 01:22, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Difference Between Movie Version And TV Episode

I have removed the comment "In the version of the sketch featured in And Now For Something Completely Different, " as this scene appears in both versions of the sketch, not solely in the movie.

Double posted and didn't sign off... Theloneoutsider (talk) 03:45, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Anachronism

One minor point regarding the current article text - it states that the joke was written "During World War II". However, the sketch quite clearly starts in a contemporary (early 1970's) setting, and is only transferred to the war era half-way through. Should this be corrected? Tevildo (talk) 21:14, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

South Park

I think that south park creators were inspired by that joke in Fishsticks (South Park) עומר תשבי (talk) 12:19, 1 February 2022 (UTC)