Oh how Borges would have loved the Kamelopedia. The English-language version of this online user-contributed dictionary defines German as follows:
A German is the counterpart of a Gerwoman. The Germans are a very clever people, having discovered the Kamel. They are very similar to the Americamelian people, which is to say very friendly and kind when they are not in a mood to take over the world. In Germany there are no palm trees.
What's going on? Joi Ito (who got it from Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales) explains:
Kamelopedia, originally a German parody of Wikipedia, has launched in English. Kamelopedia uses the same MediaWiki software that Wikipedia uses, but it is a joke encyclopedia based on puns and mistakes. Wikipedia has an english language description of Kamelopedia. I just signed up, but I'm not sure which is more fun… trying to be funny, or writing in the Wikipedia deadpan tone about something that is funny. (I'm working on this style on the Stealth Disco article.) There is also the Wikipedia Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense page.
