Jodeldiplom
The Jodeldiplom is a fictitious degree created for a sketch by German humorist Loriot. The sketch pokes fun at the numerous degrees awarded by universities and folk high schools, which grant their recipients social status without providing any meaningful qualifications for the labor market.
The term has since gained currency in German to refer to superfluous, useless, vanity-driven, or purchased academic qualifications, similar to the English terms underwater basket weaving or Mickey Mouse degree.
Loriot sketch
The sketch "Yodeling School" was produced by Radio Bremen as part of the episode Loriot VI and first broadcast on Das Erste on 7 December 1978. The sketch takes place in the Institute for Modern Yodeling, where the adult students are practicing yodeling texts. The yodeling instructor, Dr. Vogler, is meticulously dictating the correct pronunciation to his students, who repeat his dictation in unison. In response to an incorrect answer by Mrs. Hoppenstedt, Dr. Vogler corrects her and says that "Dö dudl dö is future perfect tense used at sunrise."Mrs. Hoppenstedt is interviewed after the course by a reporter Viktor Schmoller for the "Women's Journal of Radio Bremen". In the interview, Mrs. Hoppenstedt explains her participation in the course that as a housewife and mother, when the children are out of the house, she wants to have the feeling that she is standing on her own feet, and wants to have "something of her own", a "Jodeldiplom."