They are taking the Techniker...to Isengard
March 14, 2015 1:48 PM Subscribe
An electric door at the University of Mainz in Germany breaks down, setting off an exuberant meme-off. Because "One does not simply inform...the Techniker" .
#technikeristinformiert
#technikeristinformiert
And they say Germans don't have a sense of humour.
posted by Pendragon at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 2:04 PM on March 14, 2015 [12 favorites]
I wish more of the German had been translated :/
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:14 PM on March 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:14 PM on March 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
I burst out laughing every time I see the Angela Merkel one.
It's awesome that they had a grand Door Opening ceremony with the Dean of the faculty when it was finally repaired!
posted by Omnomnom at 2:15 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's awesome that they had a grand Door Opening ceremony with the Dean of the faculty when it was finally repaired!
posted by Omnomnom at 2:15 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
"Techniker" is my favorite Kraftwerk album.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:21 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:21 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
I am Techniker
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:22 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:22 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
There may come a day when this door is fixed. But it is not this day!"
posted by double block and bleed at 2:24 PM on March 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by double block and bleed at 2:24 PM on March 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
I wish more of the German had been translated :/
Sorry, I'll translate but I'm crap at pop culture.
Floodgates picture, counterclockwise:
Wife Swap Contestant: "Am I supposed to laugh now?"
??? (strong regional accent): "Not doing anything for them! That's so gross."
Wife Swap Contestant: "Everything stays the way it is"
???: Good luck.
Day later picture:
Putin: "Putin has been informed. The door will be annexed."
Nazgul (?): Find the Techniker. Find the Techniker.
The Return of the Meme:
"The Fight Goes On... #technikeristinformiert"
Later pictures:
Merkel: "If the door fails, Europe fails."
Hammer: "In case of Emergency, break window"
Note from the Dean's office: "We have collected your notes and will do something with them (exhibition?)"
Singer Tim Bendzko/refrain of his song: "I'm just off quickly saving the world...then I'll fix your door"
posted by Omnomnom at 2:26 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Sorry, I'll translate but I'm crap at pop culture.
Floodgates picture, counterclockwise:
Wife Swap Contestant: "Am I supposed to laugh now?"
??? (strong regional accent): "Not doing anything for them! That's so gross."
Wife Swap Contestant: "Everything stays the way it is"
???: Good luck.
Day later picture:
Putin: "Putin has been informed. The door will be annexed."
Nazgul (?): Find the Techniker. Find the Techniker.
The Return of the Meme:
"The Fight Goes On... #technikeristinformiert"
Later pictures:
Merkel: "If the door fails, Europe fails."
Hammer: "In case of Emergency, break window"
Note from the Dean's office: "We have collected your notes and will do something with them (exhibition?)"
Singer Tim Bendzko/refrain of his song: "I'm just off quickly saving the world...then I'll fix your door"
posted by Omnomnom at 2:26 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
And they say Germans don't have a sense of humour.
Oh, they do. One thing a lot of Germans seem to find hilarious is convincing non-Germans that they don't have a sense of humour.
posted by pipeski at 2:36 PM on March 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
Oh, they do. One thing a lot of Germans seem to find hilarious is convincing non-Germans that they don't have a sense of humour.
posted by pipeski at 2:36 PM on March 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
"Bring me this technician...alive!" is my favorite.
posted by zardoz at 2:45 PM on March 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by zardoz at 2:45 PM on March 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh God, the German ambassador to the UK was on Radio 4 one morning talking about German humour, and he was SO CLEARLY riffing funnily on Germans not having a sense of humour, and the hosts didn't seem to notice...
posted by alasdair at 2:59 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by alasdair at 2:59 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
"One does not simply remove all the memes."
Challenge Made. Gauntlet thrown down.
IT WAS ON!
posted by eriko at 3:02 PM on March 14, 2015
Challenge Made. Gauntlet thrown down.
IT WAS ON!
posted by eriko at 3:02 PM on March 14, 2015
" ...But it is not this day!"
Why did I never think of using that before! I will start immediately.
A day may come when this room is clean, but it is not this day!
A day may come when I remember to put the toilet seat down, but it is not this day!
The possibilities boggle the mind.
posted by mono blanco at 3:12 PM on March 14, 2015 [20 favorites]
Why did I never think of using that before! I will start immediately.
A day may come when this room is clean, but it is not this day!
A day may come when I remember to put the toilet seat down, but it is not this day!
The possibilities boggle the mind.
posted by mono blanco at 3:12 PM on March 14, 2015 [20 favorites]
When someone explains that Things Run Better in Germany, just remember that one accessibility feature was not repaired for a few days and an entire campus community basically freaked out.
We should get this much attention to infrastructure in our shoddy little Anglophone nations!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:20 PM on March 14, 2015 [20 favorites]
We should get this much attention to infrastructure in our shoddy little Anglophone nations!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:20 PM on March 14, 2015 [20 favorites]
Well, the true measure of any regime is their ability to ensure the trains run on time.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:25 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:25 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Why did I never think of using that before! I will start immediately.
Metafilter: A day may come when it is this day, but it is not this day!
posted by eriko at 3:31 PM on March 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
Metafilter: A day may come when it is this day, but it is not this day!
posted by eriko at 3:31 PM on March 14, 2015 [9 favorites]
I wish more of the German had been translated :/
See, I was reading it and going "huh, that's really interesting, how the memers are switching between German and English, apparently depending on which would make the joke funnier." I mean, I wish it had been translated too--I also wish I just had more context for some of the jokes because the ones I got were great--but I thought it was an interesting effect of Internet culture on language.
posted by sciatrix at 3:42 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
See, I was reading it and going "huh, that's really interesting, how the memers are switching between German and English, apparently depending on which would make the joke funnier." I mean, I wish it had been translated too--I also wish I just had more context for some of the jokes because the ones I got were great--but I thought it was an interesting effect of Internet culture on language.
posted by sciatrix at 3:42 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
" ...But it is not this day!"
Why did I never think of using that before! I will start immediately.
Holy shit, I am now terrified that my kids will find this inspiring.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:45 PM on March 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
Why did I never think of using that before! I will start immediately.
Holy shit, I am now terrified that my kids will find this inspiring.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:45 PM on March 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
We should get this much attention to infrastructure in our shoddy little Anglophone nations!
Dude, there's a whiteboard in my campus building which hasn't been erased since approximately 2009. There's an autoclave which appears to have broken sometime in the 1990s, and a few weeks ago I found a weird little button whose only apparent function was to make a "ding!" when pushed. We accumulate passive aggressive signs and then never pull them down (that one has been there since at least 2012).
Frankly, I'm just impressed the campus got up off its ass and got the memes taken down within four days. Four days! It sounds like magic!
posted by sciatrix at 3:46 PM on March 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Dude, there's a whiteboard in my campus building which hasn't been erased since approximately 2009. There's an autoclave which appears to have broken sometime in the 1990s, and a few weeks ago I found a weird little button whose only apparent function was to make a "ding!" when pushed. We accumulate passive aggressive signs and then never pull them down (that one has been there since at least 2012).
Frankly, I'm just impressed the campus got up off its ass and got the memes taken down within four days. Four days! It sounds like magic!
posted by sciatrix at 3:46 PM on March 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mr. Encyclopedia: that meme was actually because Mussolini's predecessors had ordered new trams from the US, to replace Milan's aging fleet. They were delivered after he came to power. Whenever he was criticised, he'd remind people that he made the trains run on time, or at least that was the dry joke people used against him.
If one were tempted to draw generalities from this one incident, one could say that the defining characteristic of fascist dictators is that they take credit for non-fascists making trains run on time.
You can still ride those trams, by the way: they're the wooden Italian models on the heritage streetcar line along San Francisco's waterfront.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:58 PM on March 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
If one were tempted to draw generalities from this one incident, one could say that the defining characteristic of fascist dictators is that they take credit for non-fascists making trains run on time.
You can still ride those trams, by the way: they're the wooden Italian models on the heritage streetcar line along San Francisco's waterfront.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:58 PM on March 14, 2015 [6 favorites]
See, I was reading it and going "huh, that's really interesting, how the memers are switching between German and English, apparently depending on which would make the joke funnier."
See, I was thinking how a group of students in Germany share a sense of humor and a cultural framework with the fine people of metafilter, but not (in all likelihood) with their own next door neighbours or the guys next to them in the subway.
Nothing new, I know, but breathtaking to me.
posted by Omnomnom at 4:00 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
See, I was thinking how a group of students in Germany share a sense of humor and a cultural framework with the fine people of metafilter, but not (in all likelihood) with their own next door neighbours or the guys next to them in the subway.
Nothing new, I know, but breathtaking to me.
posted by Omnomnom at 4:00 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
The use of the word "techniker" reminds me of my days in ancient (1970s) radio, when the standard message for any breakdown on radio AND TV was "We are having technical difficulties... please stand by". At one time I introduced my own show as "your regularly scheduled technical difficulty" because difficulty... that's what I DO. Still, the Simpsons Technical Difficulty Slides are exactly the kind of thing I would've put up by the door.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:05 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:05 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Superbeanplate ahead:
Also, how part of the fun is leaving "Techniker" and "Brandschutzbestimmung" untranslated in an English sentence. I think it shows an awareness of the unwieldiness of German words, and the stereotypes and history attached to it, and using it for humour.
posted by Omnomnom at 4:07 PM on March 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also, how part of the fun is leaving "Techniker" and "Brandschutzbestimmung" untranslated in an English sentence. I think it shows an awareness of the unwieldiness of German words, and the stereotypes and history attached to it, and using it for humour.
posted by Omnomnom at 4:07 PM on March 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
In my day, memes like this needed a related song and remix before they could be truly viral. Someone set us up the technicker.
posted by drezdn at 4:07 PM on March 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 4:07 PM on March 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
See, I was reading it and going "huh, that's really interesting, how the memers are switching between German and English, apparently depending on which would make the joke funnier." I mean, I wish it had been translated too--I also wish I just had more context for some of the jokes because the ones I got were great--but I thought it was an interesting effect of Internet culture on language.
One thing I've noticed is that, in places where most of the population understand English to a reasonable extent*, English fixed phrases will be used for emphasis in the local language; a bit like a more casual and/or pop-cultural way of the way that English speakers sometimes use foreign turns of phrase like raison d'être or quid pro quo. The meaning of the foreign phrase is part of the message; its presence as a unit is another part.
* I got this from watching Danish television programmes, but a German university would work just as well.
posted by acb at 4:23 PM on March 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
One thing I've noticed is that, in places where most of the population understand English to a reasonable extent*, English fixed phrases will be used for emphasis in the local language; a bit like a more casual and/or pop-cultural way of the way that English speakers sometimes use foreign turns of phrase like raison d'être or quid pro quo. The meaning of the foreign phrase is part of the message; its presence as a unit is another part.
* I got this from watching Danish television programmes, but a German university would work just as well.
posted by acb at 4:23 PM on March 14, 2015 [8 favorites]
don't mention the techniker!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:50 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:50 PM on March 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
acb - that pops up a lot in anime as well. A "Yes!" in English is usually especially triumphant.
posted by maryr at 4:55 PM on March 14, 2015
posted by maryr at 4:55 PM on March 14, 2015
Vorsprung durch Techniker.
posted by progosk at 5:04 PM on March 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by progosk at 5:04 PM on March 14, 2015 [3 favorites]
ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:04 PM on March 14, 2015 [25 favorites]
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:04 PM on March 14, 2015 [25 favorites]
Really awesome, but I think it needs a picture of Clay Davis saying "Sheeeeeeeeeeeeit". Or maybe "Die Tüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüür".
posted by A dead Quaker at 5:14 PM on March 14, 2015
posted by A dead Quaker at 5:14 PM on March 14, 2015
Pendragon: And they say Germans don't have a sense of humour.
I think, in the video, one of the technicians was using a level when putting one of the meme signs back up. Now that's German humor.
posted by traveler_ at 6:07 PM on March 14, 2015 [17 favorites]
I think, in the video, one of the technicians was using a level when putting one of the meme signs back up. Now that's German humor.
posted by traveler_ at 6:07 PM on March 14, 2015 [17 favorites]
We apologize for the inconvenience.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:45 PM on March 14, 2015
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:45 PM on March 14, 2015
One day der Techniker will come and all malfunctions will be fixed.
But only if we're worthy.
Until that day he stays informiert.
posted by jouke at 8:01 PM on March 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
But only if we're worthy.
Until that day he stays informiert.
posted by jouke at 8:01 PM on March 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Don't turn around
Uh oh
Der Teckniker's in town
Uh uh oh
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:09 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Uh oh
Der Teckniker's in town
Uh uh oh
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:09 PM on March 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
Good one foop.
Tra die net um
Schau, schau, der Techniker geht um
Und wann er nicht kommt und du weisst warum
Den Memensucht bringt dir um...
posted by jouke at 5:29 AM on March 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
Tra die net um
Schau, schau, der Techniker geht um
Und wann er nicht kommt und du weisst warum
Den Memensucht bringt dir um...
posted by jouke at 5:29 AM on March 15, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is my favourite German thing since I was gonna say Volkswagen but I guess...Schopenhauer?
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:45 PM on March 15, 2015
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:45 PM on March 15, 2015
"Well, the true measure of any regime is their ability to ensure the trains run on time techniker ist informiert."
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:51 PM on March 15, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:51 PM on March 15, 2015 [3 favorites]
⚠ ACHTUNG BENUTZER ⚠
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:30 AM on March 16, 2015
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:30 AM on March 16, 2015
The meaning of the foreign phrase is part of the message; its presence as a unit is another part.
My theory: using the proper English quote (rather than the dubbed version) is one of the hallmarks of a German speaking nerd or geek. You aren't a real Tolkien fan / internet savvy / pop culture geek if you don't watch and quote everything in English.
Exceptions are often used to comic effect.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:34 AM on March 16, 2015
My theory: using the proper English quote (rather than the dubbed version) is one of the hallmarks of a German speaking nerd or geek. You aren't a real Tolkien fan / internet savvy / pop culture geek if you don't watch and quote everything in English.
Exceptions are often used to comic effect.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:34 AM on March 16, 2015
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posted by nevercalm at 2:01 PM on March 14, 2015