Mock German

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mock German is a constructed language which is formed by modifying English in ways which stereotypes various features and characteristics, both real and imagined, of the German language. It is commonly found in jokes and in certain idioms and catch phrases, as well as being used as a dramatic convention in English-language cinema and television to signify that a character is speaking German, without having to use subtitles, or to mock a native German speaker's accent. In many instances, characters who use mock German are villains (and a significant subset of those are Nazis). Use of mock German in this fashion today is widely considered offensive, but was highly prevalent in the decades after World War II.

Unlike Denglisch and American German, two legitimate (and natural) fusions of German and English speech which have been described by linguists, mock German is seldom, if ever, spoken as a "real" language.

[edit] Use in literature and pop culture

Mock German is primarily a spoken phenomenon, and thus is most often found in audio-visual media such as television and cinema. Well-known examples include:

Colonel Klink and the other German officers on Hogan's Heroes.
In Tom Lehrer's satirical song Wernher von Braun, Lehrer uses mock German when uttering lines attributed to the noted rocket scientist; most famously:

"Vonce ze rockets are up, who cares vere zey come down?

Zat's not my department!" says Wernher von Braun.

and

"In German, oder Englisch, I know how to count down,

und I'm learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun

The Saturday Night Live characters Hanz and Franz speak mock German in a style which mimics Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Blinkenlights parody is a classic and well-known example.
The song John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
"Gunter glieben glauchen globen", the opening line of Def Leppard's song "Rock of Ages" (and sampled by The Offspring in "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy")
Monty Python's German translation of the funniest joke in the world:

"Wenn ist das Nunstück Git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beyerhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gerspudt!"

Tomanian in Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator
Lili Von Shtupp in Mel Brooks' western Blazing Saddles: "Would you like another schnitzengruben?"
Sacha Baron Cohen's character Bruno from Da Ali G Show, who is supposed to be from Austria, uses some mock German words and phrases.
The German couple (Otto and his wife) Francis Wilkerson is working for as a farmhand at a New Mexican ranch/hotel in Malcolm in the Middle.
Plenty of characters in Top Secret!.