{"id":34758,"date":"2019-04-26T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=34758"},"modified":"2019-03-26T08:42:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T12:42:09","slug":"qotd-european-jokes-about-the-neighbours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2019\/04\/26\/qotd-european-jokes-about-the-neighbours\/","title":{"rendered":"QotD: European jokes about the neighbours"},"content":{"rendered":"

… it is also the Finns who snicker at overbearing Swedes (\u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between the Swedes and the Finns? The Swedes have got nice neighbours\u201d); and the Portuguese, who mock Spanish arrogance (\u201cIn a recent survey, 11 out of 10 Spaniards said they felt superior to the others\u201d).<\/p>\n

There are the Irish, who joke about buttoned-up Brits (\u201cWhat\u2019s the English definition of a thrill? Having an After Eight at 7.30\u201d); and the Poles, who have a go at the Germans for pretty much anything (\u201cGerman footballers are like German food: if they\u2019re not imported from Poland they\u2019re no good\u201d).<\/p>\n

Making fun of our best enemies, said Romain Seignovert, who has just published a book on the jokes Europeans tell about their neighbours, is a great European tradition. \u201cWe are a big, diverse community with a centuries-long common history of highs and lows, and our humour reflects that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

There is a deeper point. Ultimately, Seignovert said, laughing at our neighbours is \u201crecognising, even celebrating, our particularities. It shows we\u2019re not indifferent. Europe isn\u2019t just political and economic, it\u2019s also cultural \u2013 about all these nations, living together. The EU hasn\u2019t made enough of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That may be true. But Seignovert, remember, is French, so what he says should clearly not be taken too seriously. In the words of one particularly fine Belgian quip: \u201cHow does a Frenchman commit suicide? By shooting 15cm above his head, right in the middle of his superiority complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Henley, “‘Crude, but rarely nasty’: The jokes Europeans tell about their neighbours”, The Guardian<\/em><\/a>, 2016-05-08.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… it is also the Finns who snicker at overbearing Swedes (\u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between the Swedes and the Finns? The Swedes have got nice neighbours\u201d); and the Portuguese, who mock Spanish arrogance (\u201cIn a recent survey, 11 out of 10 Spaniards said they felt superior to the others\u201d). There are the Irish, who joke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1117,57,41],"tags":[316,603,557],"class_list":["post-34758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-france","category-humour","category-quotations","tag-borders","tag-finland","tag-portugal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-92C","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34759,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34758\/revisions\/34759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}