Reading a description of Welwitschia by a German botanist I don't sense any
laughter

German botanists don't count. Do any of them have a sense of humor? (I know one
personally, although he was born in Belgium.)

This reminded me of a couple of things. Firstly, when I was in the US
some years ago, I noticed that all our old Irish jokes were told about
Poles. Presumably because the Irish have rather more influence over
there than they do here.

Secondly, some years ago I mentioned the Scottish characteristic of
parsimony (as seen by most of the rest of the world). This was
challenged by a Dutchman who pointed out that while the Scots had the
reputation, it was the Dutch who had the application to excel in this
endeavour. In fact, he pointed out that the Belgians had an old joke
that copper wire was invented by two Dutchmen fighting over a penny.


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID