The title is a variation of an old Viennese saying; "The situation is desperate but not serious." A direct influence on the title comes from Billy Wilder's 1961 film One, Two, Three. In it, Jimmy Cagney coaches Horst Buchholz to tell Buccholz's American father-in-law that the situation is "serious but not hopeless." A flustered Buccholz tells his father-in-law, "The situation is hopeless but not serious."