"There's something so camp about modern German"

[donnaimmaculata]

Brits, does modern German sound camp to you? As in Stephen Fry's "mein Handy" camp?

Because I'm currently watching Horrible Histories, and the Second World War German characters no longer sound like they used to in the olden days, i.e. like Hitler. They sound like this:

As far back as 2000, The League of Gentlemen introduced Herrn Lipp:

Who, as fate would have it, was a choirmaster ("Oh come in my facefull!"):

So when did the switch happen? I am very pleased that we no longer sound like nazis to foreign ears, but the new accent confuses me.

(At least to American ears, Germans sound like Jeremy Irons or Alan Rickman. So that's nice.)

Comments

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

You're right... how very culturally odd... I have absolutely no idea where the campness comes from...

Horrible Histories is brilliant (OK, I am in love with Matthew Baynton), and my children have learnt so much!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

There's a linguistic dissertation in there somewhere. Perhaps I should write to Stephen Fry and ask what he's got to say about it?

Matthew Baynton is delightful. And I'm not just saying that because he's the skinny dark-eyed and dark-haired type and hence absolutely irresistible. I have learned a lot, too; for instance, I have finally managed to momorise Henry VIII's wives. ("Divorced, beheaded and died/Divorced, beheaded survived!")

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I know of it, but I've never watched it.

Perhaps you're right. So first there was the nazi accent, then the camp!nazi accent, and now "camp" is all that's left!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I'm toying with the idea of writing to Stephen Fry about it. Campness & linguistics - that's right up his alley, I should think.