Sometime in February of 2013, my German wife and I spent a weekend with her parents in their charming little house. My wife’s father — who shall henceforth be known as ‘Papa Thunderchops,’ due to his epic silver sideburns — was sitting at the kitchen table peeling carrots. Except for when he is outside tending to his garden, Papa Thunderchops is always in the kitchen peeling something: apples, carrots, potatoes… the man just loves to peel shit. So I sat down next to him and started helping, and that’s when my wife came into the room to find the two of us hunched over a rapidly filling bowl of carrot skins.
THE WIFE: “Want to hear a joke my family likes to tell each other?”
ME: “Absolutely.”
THE WIFE: “Carrots are good for your eyes. Do you know why?”
ME: “Why?”
THE WIFE: “Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?”
*The joke was so bad I actually started laughing. Hard. I was left to wonder, however, if it might be a common joke here in Germany. My wife insists only her family tells it, but that can’t be true. Have you ever heard it before?
Oh God, My Wife Is German. 
Oh, I’ve heard this one. A version of this joke was used in some American TV show I’ve once watched. I smell copy right infringement here. Only which side was first to come up with the joke, huh? ;)
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This was a common joke amongst my German-American family members and is also pretty common down here in Südhessen.
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Yes, lol, I have heard it. And the first time was when I was a child living in Germany! In German, from our very German landlady in Stuttgart.
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Dieser Witz is Asbach Uralt.
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I have heard this joke not only once but at least a 100 times, it’s a kid’s joke
:-) and my kids, nephews and nieces love to tell it.
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Oh yes, that is a pretty common joke.
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Definitely not only her family nor only German. That is such an old joke even when it went around my elementary school as a kid it was old (grew up in NY, elementary school in the 70s to give you an idea). I’m actually surprised you haven’t heard it before!
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Heard it before…
AV
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I knew it!
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That’s a great terrible joke. :) I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard it before, although it sounds familiar.
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I know, right?
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In my family it is more a motivation to eat your carrots. Because you will never need glasses if you eat them all. You will get as good eyesight as a rabbit. Although carrots don’t even enhance your eyesight, I think. So not so much a joke but a parental method.
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Exactly. But had you heard it before?
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Told as a joke before ? Maybe once or twice but it’s not that good a joke so my family doesn’t tell it. It got more if a joke when I actually got glasses even though I did eat a lot of carrot.
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I’ve heard it before, it seems relatively common around here (my family is also from the Hannover area).
Carrots ARE actually good for your eyes because of Vitamin A, but I like your wife’s explanation better.
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Awesome! Thank you Kathi!
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I’ve heard this one before and I’m Indian. :p
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Haw haw! Right on!
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I’ve heard really lame variations from my immigrant side of the family. Really really strange versions lol
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Yup, its a well known joke in germany ! I like it, maybe because iam germa
n.
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Known here, too – and if it is lame depends on your humour preferences, doesn’t it? No, I do not think it is a knee-slapper (dict says, this is the translation for Schenkelklopfer) – after all, no sex, no poo, no misogynistic attitude, not even Schadenfreude. It is so harmless as a joke that I’d call it lame, too. Just saying, that might not be everyones attitude to it. Children appreciate jokes like that as they do not involve puns (hard to get for the little ones), or allusions to sex (hopefully not fully understood for primary school students). They love jokes with poo, though.
Example:
A rabbit and a bear are taking a shit in the wood. Said the bear upon finishing: “Hey, nice white fur, is it as fluffy as it looks?”
Rabbit, not knowing where this will lead too: “Yes, very soft and fluffy!”
Bear: ” Do you give off fluff?”
Rabbit, sceptical: “No, why are you asking?”
Bear: “That’s why!” grabbing the rabbit and wiping his arse with it.
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I grew up in Hannover and my parents used to say that carrots are good for your eyes because rabbits don’t wear glasses. But it wasn’t a joke, just a way to get kids to eat carrots.
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All the time this is how they tried to get me to eat my Veggies lol
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I’ve heard it a long time ago here in the US. I think of it as a little kid’s joke.
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My father has always told that joke in our family, and we’re from Sweden :-)
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Yes- and also all the scary stuff my dad would drag out in the form of journal articles about rickets and scurvy if you didn’t eat this and that, etc. I did not grow up in a funny German family. Gene pool too polluted by that time….
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I grew up in South Africa, and my Mom (South African with British heritage), and my Dad (German) used to tell the same joke.
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Another bunny/carrot joke for you – our son loved it when he was little. [He was about 3 or 4 when he heard it and it was the first time he got the concept of a verbal (as opposed to physical) kind of joke.] What’s invisible and smells like carrots? Bunny farts!
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Haw! Gross. :)
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That’s going on the ‘list of terrible jokes to embarrass my son in front of his new girlfriend’. I mean, he’s only four months old but I like to be prepared.
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Haw haw
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I’ve heard it before too. And I grew up in Iowa. (there is a lot of german heritage in MN and IA though).
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You know this joke is hilarious – either when you’re extremely tired – or a little drunk. *grin* I’m both at the moment… I giggled. ;-)
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Yup, my wife from Brandenburg often tells this, especially now to our 3 year old. Sorry to burst your wife’s bubble.
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