This is just too funny to keep to myself – back in the halcyon days of comedy, before broad ethnic stereotypes became Verboten, and even the Muppets’ Swedish Chef became “edgy” … people used to post things like this in public places:
ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!
Alles touristen und non-technischen looken peepers!
Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben.
Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken
mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das
pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.
I kinda miss all the little pretty lights dancing around on my tech gear.
…and, of course, the little machine that goes “Ping~!”
The kinda cool notation here was that all this started back in WWII, when we were all encouraged to hate The Hun –
“We are informed that cod-German parodies of this kind were very common in Allied machine shops during and following WWII. Germans, then as now, had a reputation for being both good with precision machinery and prone to officious notices.”
You still run across stuff like this in upstate Wisconsin, in old bars full of grizzled coots smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes.
Danny Kaye made a career out of doing faux-German incomprehensible sputtering like this.