the other day a friend said to me on the occasion of my birthday: “May You live to be as old as your jokes!” Nevertheless, we must come back to the ol ‘ East Frisian jokes, for a number of reasons. Who in Germany knew Ostfriesland in front of the East Frisian joke. Almost no-one. More importantly, The East Frisian joke was born in Westerstede, and at our high school.

In the autumn of 1968, a class of the gymnasium Westerstede made a journey to Berlin. The students mainly came from Westerstede (Ammerland), and from Remels (Ostfriesland). During the long bus ride, in the hostel and in the bars, there was mostly friendly, some teasing does occur between the Western and Eder, and the Remelser students. Much of age-specific student revealed a sense of humor. Among other things, stimulated by the proximity of the GDR was proclaimed the “Autonomous people’s Republic of East Frisia”.

Since time immemorial between the inhabitants of adjacent regions, rivalries, and making fun of each other. An Example? A Palatinate: “Where is the Palatinate?” – “In the Palatinate.” – “And where the Saar countries?” – “In the Saar.” The some teasing does occur during the school trip were in good Tradition – and the first proof-of-jokes source of the East Frisians.

New York

shortly thereafter, one of the participants, the students Borwin Bandelow from Westerstede began with a series of articles in the student magazine “The trumpet”. Title: “science and research”. Some ideas he took on the class trip, the other he thought to himself, and others he gathered from different sources. There was, for example, with pseudo-scientific Serious of strange people and animals reported from the “Homo Kilroyensis”, the only of a large head with two legs on hand, from the “Dahü”, the left and right, different long legs, so he is better on the dike. Also a mysterious “Missionary stew” was the speech. This series of articles, which began in late 1968 and early 1969 was completed, took something that wasn’t so curb quickly.

It is one of the East Frisian joke of the “stupid jokes” (“dumb jokes”). This Witztyp has a long Tradition. It was already in classical Greece, and as well as in every country in the world to be a part of the population makes another funny, and represents him as a stupid, uneducated, and backwoods. Some of the current East Frisian jokes are only jokes variants of age of Stupid. But there are also brand new and original copies. Question: “What is the requirement of the French Revolution lit up the East Frisians?” – “Dear Tea.”

The rapid spread of the East Frisian stupid joke at the beginning of the seventies a number of reasons. The Potential was in the air, prepared mainly by the Polish jokes in the United States and the Irenwitze in England. The short Form and the question-and-answer Form, favoured the rapid spread. And the series of articles in “the trumpeter” came fast in the right hands: students and soldiers on, then a regional radio editors and disc jockeys. Only one and a half years after the Emergence of the first East Frisian jokes, many Newspapers and magazines had reported about the new phenomenon. It was a lot of words like “disease”, “epidemic” and “Bacillus”. Even the “New York Times” reported.

as flat as the Land

now Who has been waiting all the time on new and old jokes, we don’t want to disappoint. An East Frisian farmer comes to the city to shop. As he stands in front of a Department store and go inside, he does not know where he should leave his horse. He looks around, but then out of nowhere he sees a storage room. As he turns to a passerby: “Hey! You can HOLLEN mien Peerd wool almost?“ – “You?” – “Can you HOLLEN mien Peerd wool almost?!” – “You?” – “I asked in low German, if you can hold on to my horse!” “And I asked you in low German: does he Bite?”

Well, the real East Frisian jokes are more likely to be as flat as the Land. Why with the East Frisians in a Bridal procession of a son of a car? Thus, the fly does not go to the wedding. Why is in East Frisia, the air so fresh? Because the East Frisians open the door, never the window.