For a fuller exposition of verboten und/oder erlaubt, a recent Russian textbook of mine had this Soviet-era joke (with my translation):
"In England, what is allowed is allowed, but what is forbidden is forbidden. In Germany, everything is forbidden except that which is allowed. In America, everything is allowed except that which is forbidden. In France, everything is allowed, even that which is forbidden. In the Soviet Union, everything is forbidden, even that which is allowed." Bill Fairchild Rocket Software > Was ist nicht erlaubt is verboten (What is not allowed is forbidden). > Was ist nicht verboten ist erlaubt (What is not forbidden is allowed).
