It is patronising, ethnocentric nonsense to suggest another nation has no sense of humour – especially if you lack the language skills to assess for yourself whether their jokes are amusing, or indeed translate your own witticisms for their benefit. Of course Germans have a sense of humour; it might just be different from yours.

Because of the wordplay involved, humour often gets lost in translation. Take this joke, printed in the Bild tabloid on Tuesday: Two mates are sitting at a table in the pub. One says to the other: "Tell me, do you sometimes get smog in your bedroom?"

"How come?" asks the other.

"A bad atmosphere and no traffic ..." To get the joke, you have to know that the word for traffic (verkehr) can also mean sexual intercourse.

Some people have suggested that the rigid structure of the German language makes joke-telling difficult. For example, important verbs are withheld until the very end of a long sentence as soon as you insert a conjunction such as "because" or "if". Actually, though, this can help a comedian because it builds suspense. A good comic can lead an audience down one track, only to surprise them with an unexpected verb as the punchline.

If we must generalise, though, it is fair to say that Germans tend to take the mickey out of each other far less than Brits - and are fonder of putting the world to rights over a beer rather than engaging in mindless banter.