What the Swiss Laugh At

Is it me, or does it sometimes seem like the Swiss have no sense of humor? I've had a number of experiences that have just left me confused:

1. Once, when ordering tickets at the SBB ticket window, the agent asked me if I had a student ID card so I could get the student discount. I laughed, thanking him for the compliment, but telling him I wasn't a student. Instead of joking back, he got all serious on me, "Oh I'm sorry, ma'am," he said without a smile.

2. Sarcasm. The Swiss just don't get it. Unfortunately, as a copywriter, my preferred headlines were always sarcastic, but my Swiss boss would just stare at them and scratch his head while a South African guy I worked with would laugh and laugh.

There are many other experiences, but the point is, the Swiss do have a sense of humor, and we foreigners just don't see it. Because what do the Swiss laugh at? Us.

According to the Witzerland exhibit at the Landesmuseum, the Swiss laugh mainly at foreigners.


If you don't believe me, here are some examples:

Making Fun of the Russians:


Making Fun of the Polish:


Making fun of dark-skinned foreigners:


To see these "jokes" and more, the Witzerland exhibit at the Landesmuseum in Zurich goes until September 13th. But it's probably only worth spending the CHF 10 if you can read a bit of German. The exhibits aren't translated so you can either read them or you can't. But either way, you might end up confused anyway, like I was by this:


This one, however, made perfect sense, especially if you consider how fast change comes to Switzerland: