humour

Brit wit

Watching so many different nationalities at work confirmed once again what the British say about themselves. They love wit. They particularly like one-liners: these are short, funny statements.

bestätigten

schlagfertige, geistreiche Bemerkungen

Old language, new usage

Learn a Latin lesson from Monty Python and some Latin phrases from our exercise! You can use many of them in business situations.

Can I use the phone? May I use your phone? Do you mind if I open the window?... As you go down the lists of requests they become more and more wimpish. But why do we use such wimpish requests — and why is it important that learner of English know how to use them correctly?

zögerlich, unsicher

Impressions of Sweden

I’ve always enjoyed trips to Sweden and admire the flat hierarchies and healthy work-life balance. This time, the laid-back approach to life confused me a little.

Verhältnis zwischen Arbeit und Privatleben

gelassen, cool

Herangehensweise, Einstellung

Skills: Using humour at work

When something goes wrong at work, we can use humour to lighten the situation. One form of humour is self-deprecation. This is when you jokingly say something negative about yourself. Here's Ken Taylor with some examples and an exercise.

It tanked

Jeremy Clarkson, a British presenter, tried his hand at a clever pun and black humour. Was it tasteless? Or funny?

Moderator(in)

sich versuchen an

Wortspiel

geschmacklos

Funds and games

ICELAND: What’s the best way to deal with an economic crisis? If you’re an Icelander, the answer might be to have some fun. A board game called The Crisis Game is going on sale in Iceland this month.

Brettspiel

(No) money, money, money

For the average person, the term “credit crunch” meant little until the recent financial crisis. At Business Spotlight, we weren’t even sure how to translate it at first. Now we know, as it appears every day in the German media.

Kreditklemme

Sick or funny? Photo by: bbc.co.uk/littlebritain

Is it funny?

British laugh heartily at a scene from a TV program that shows a man in a wheelchair going to a swimming pool, you might be shocked. You might also think that the British have a pretty sick, non-pc sense of humour. Why don’t you watch the scene and decide for yourself.

Rollstuhl

The fun is over...

Three years of Kindergarten had flown by and here I was, buying flowers for my son's teachers on his last day. I told the florist I was looking forward to the four years at the new elementary school. “Geniessen ist jetzt vorbei!” she said. The fun was over?

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