Radio Yerevan jokes

As a Radio Yerevan ( Yerevan also transmitter ) refers to a category of political, partly immoral jokes, especially in the socialist countries of the 20th century. In the GDR, these jokes were circulating with the typical Introduction " request to the sender Yerevan: ...? " In the Federal Republic " Question to Radio Yerevan: ... " The answers to the question usually begin with " yes in principle, but ..."

Yerevan (Yerevan ) is the name of the capital of Armenia, formerly a Soviet republic of the USSR. The radio station the jokes underlying never existed, but there was in Yerevan time a radio station, as " R. Yerevan " was called and sent abroad.

" [Radio Yerevan was ... ] a free invention of the oppressed by state propaganda mind that little revenge of Soviet citizens for the hardships of everyday life"

In Russian, the name was non-existent sender Армянское радио ( " Armjanskoje radio" - " Armenian Radio ").

Structure of Jokes

The Radio Yerevan jokes imply that there is a mission in the fictional radio station will be answered supposedly competent in inquiries from interested citizens. The answer is formulated very inconsistent in the original form of jokes, whereby it was hinted that the state media in the face of undeniable misery in these countries had insurmountable problems with the agitation of a credible communist world view in the socialist states.

The contradictory nature of the response was firmly anchored in its basic construction, and you always began with " In principle, yes " or "In principle, no" ( in Russian " в принципе " - " W prinzipje " ), followed by an absolutely contradictory statement. Example (the answer was usually performed with longer breaks ):

• Request to Radio Yerevan:

• Answer:

With this joke the absurdity of government agitation was denounced without direct political reference. The other jokes based on the same basic syntactic structure, the answer is mostly contained but a direct political statement that is presented clearly socialism in question.

Dissemination

After Germany, the Radio Yerevan jokes did not last through the magazine Sputnik. Sputnik was a glossy magazine, about the format DIN A5, which as of 1967 by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti in Russian, German, English, French, Spanish, Czech and Hungarian became the European marketed as a competitor to Reader's Digest.

The target group of Sputnik was next to the socialist and Western countries, for the German -language edition that is both the GDR and the former Federal Republic of Germany. This Novosti times tried to win sympathy by limited system-critical formulations in the West. Prime example of this was the presence in many editions section of Radio Yerevan jokes.

In the 1980s, both the general reporting in the Sputnik and in particular the radio Yerevan jokes open and critical of the system in the course of the beginning of glasnost and perestroika policies of the General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. As a result, the magazine was banned on 19 November 1988 in East Germany. The Radio Yerevan jokes still were able to redistribute.

Examples

More or less representative examples of the Radio Yerevan jokes:

• Can you eat the mushrooms from Chernobyl again? - Have In principle, yes, but you may not be your toilet connected to the public sewerage system.
• Had the Chernobyl disaster have been avoided? - In principle, yes, if only the Swedes had not divulged everything.
• Is it true that capitalism is on the brink? - In principle, yes, but we are already one step further.
• What is a mess? - Questions of the economy will not be answered!
• Is there in the Soviet Union a press censorship? - In principle no. However, it is not possible for us to dwell on this question.
• Could one do in Switzerland to introduce socialism? - In principle, yes, but it would be a shame to the beautiful country.
• Do you have to interrupt the traffic during a thunderstorm? - In principle no. It is sufficient to feed the antenna.
• Can you tell us where the inventor of the Radio Yerevan jokes sitting? - We do not know where he sits, but he sits determined.
• Can we criticize the party? - In principle, yes, but life is better in your own four walls.
• Can you just explain the difference between democracy and people's democracy? - In principle, yes; as between jacket and a straitjacket.
• Can one with a Russian car on Russian roads 120 km / h to drive? - In principle, yes. But only once.
• Can there be in Canada and socialism? - In principle, yes, but who then provides us with the wheat?
• I 've heard that with us not as many beds are produced as before. Is that true? - In principle, yes, including? Intelligence is a bed of roses, the activists rest on their laurels, the workers, peasants and soldiers keep the peace guard, the class enemy does not sleep, and the rest sitting.
• Is it true that in the marriage bed, the woman always sleeps right? - In principle, yes. But we have heard from party officials who have left their wives are left.