Government Officials Joke

Title: Government Officials Joke (Christina Wulff)

General Information about the Item: 

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Siegfried Wulff
  • Date Collected: 10-20-18

Informant Data:

  • Siegfried Wulff is a 53-year-old male commercial pilot. He was born and raised in the United States by German parents and spoke German before he spoke English.  However, having lived, studied, and worked in the United States for his entire life, English is his primary language.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Germans have a great interest in world politics.  They enjoy discussing world news and events at work and at home. Their discussion often take on a bantering or debating manner or tone.
  • Social Context: This specific joke was told to the informant at home when he was a child by his father.  It is one of the few jokes that he remembers his father telling.  His father was expressing his opinion, through humor, that he did not believe that government officials or politicians have a good work ethic.

Associated File: 

Transcript/Translation: 

  • The English translation of this joke is as follows:  What is the busiest day for a politician or government official?  Monday, because they have to tear off two pages from their daily calendar.

Informants Comments:

  • “My father did not have a very good sense of humor.  He was an engineer who liked to speak about intellectual topics. However, he did not think that politicians worked very hard.  In his opinion, they only really worked for themselves.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • It was interesting to see that criticism of politicians is a common theme and source of jokes in many cultures.

Collector’s Name: Christina Wulff

Tags/Keywords

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • German joke on politicians/government workers

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