One baffling thing about Germans is that 90% of them honestly wonder why Americans immediately think of Bavaria as soon as Germany is mentioned. The remaining 10% are all Bavarian.
Germans, try this experiment with me: Picture a stereotypical Bavarian. OK, done? Let me guess, you thought of either a girl wearing a dirndl or some dude with a huge mustache wearing lederhosen. Now think of a stereotypical German from Hessen. You can’t and neither can we.
Americans are not the least bit ashamed to ignore the rest of Germany, because Bavaria is exactly what we are looking for. We come to Europe to see old stuff. In Munich we can see buildings that are nearly 60 years old. We read the same fairy tales as you growing up (ok, well our fairy tales edit out all the really creepy stuff you’ve got) and we want see a real castle that makes us think those fairy tales could have really happened. Neuschwanstein gives us that hope.
But most importantly, we don’t have the time to learn the culture and pick up on subtleties, because we only get two weeks of vacation per year. We want stuff that is big and obvious, and Bavaria is pretty much the only place that delivers for us. Americans love big stuff and that’s what Bavaria gives us, beer in one liter mugs, huge pretzels, haxn, and the Alps.
We love Bavaria, because its Germany’s version of Texas: They’re big. They’re mostly rural. Despite being rural, they’re hotbeds for industry and high tech companies. They’re way down south. People talk with a funny accent there. They remember when they were their own countries and wish they would become their own country again. The rest of the country doesn’t really like them, and the people there don’t really like the rest of the country.
And the best part is that in both Texas and Bavaria, the locals still play dress up in outdated clothing now and then.
deutsche Übersetzung für Astrid ein/ausblenden
Gruß Gott Astrid,
hier die Übersetzung:
I’m dreaming of a Bluewhite Germany…
Es ist rätselhaft, dass 90% der Deutschen sich ernsthaft darüber wundern, dass Amerikaner sofort an Bayern denken, sobald Deutschland irgendwo erwähnt wird. Die restlichen 10 % sind alles Bayern.
Deutsche, versuchen Sie bitte dieses Experiment: Stellen Sie sich einen typischen Bayern vor. Okay, fertig? Lassen Sie mich raten, Sie haben entweder an ein Mädchen im Dirndl gedacht oder an einen Typen in Lederhosen, der einen riesigen Schnauzbart hat. Nun stellen Sie sich einen typischen Hessen vor. Das können Sie nicht, genausowenig wie wir.
Amerikaner schämen sich überhaupt nicht, den Rest von Deutschland einfach zu ignorieren, weil Bayern genau das ist, was wir suchen. Wir kommen nach Europa, um alte Sachen zu sehen. In München können wir Gebäude sehen, die fast 60 Jahre alt sind. Während unserer Kindheit lesen wir die gleichen Märchen wie ihr (naja, unsere Märchen enthalten nicht all die furchterregenden Einzelheiten die Sie haben) und wir möchten ein echtes Schloss sehen, das uns glauben lässt, dass diese Märchen wirklich passiert sein könnten. Neuschwanstein gibt uns diese Hoffnung.
Aber das Allerwichtigste ist, dass wir keine Zeit haben, um die Kultur kennenzulernen und kleine Feinheiten zu erkennen, weil wir nur 2 Wochen Urlaub im Jahr haben. Wir wollen Zeug, das groß und unübersehbar ist, und Bayern ist so ziemlich der einzigste Ort Deutschlands, der uns dies bietet. Amerikaner lieben alles, was groß ist, und das ist, was Bayern uns gibt, Bier in Maßkrügen, Riesenbrezeln, Haxn und die Alpen.
Wir lieben Bayern, weil es Deutschlands Version von Texas ist: Es ist groß. Es ist in den meisten Teilen ländlich, aber trotzdem hat viele high-tech Firmen und eine blühende Wirtschaft. Es liegt ganz im Süden. Die Menschen dort sprechen mit einem lustigen Akzent. Sie erinnern sich noch an die Zeit, als sie ein eigenes Land waren und wären gerne wieder ein eigenes Land. Der Rest der Landsleute mag sie nicht wirklich gerne und sie mögen den Rest des Landes nicht wirklich gerne.
Das allerbeste ist, dass die Menschen in Bayern und Texas sich von Zeit zu Zeit immer noch gerne mit veralteten Klamotten verkleiden.
leise Servus,
John
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May 15th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
“We love Bavaria, because its Germany’s version of Texas” - great comparison! hilarious
May 15th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
The difference is though that Germans don’t think of America as just being Texas. We have certian places we like to visit more - New York or LA - but at least we acknowledge the existence of the other parts of the country.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
ROFL!!!!! Thumbs up!
May 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
*lol*
Greetings from a German in Germany who just found your blog and loves it. Added it to my blogroll
May 15th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Greetings form a German who found your blog in Louffis blogroll.
I come form Northern Germany (Eastfrisia/Ostfriesland) and yes i do not like Bavarians very much.
We have the better beer, no disturbing mountains in our sight, and the northern sea.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Texas! That’s what I’ve been saying for years. But now, when you mention it: There is one thing, sorry for coming up with it…
AFAIK there has never been a bavarian elected president (or better: chancelor) of Germany. So the present American president makes at least one difference
May 15th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Thanks, I enjoyed this article :).
May 15th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
*kisses Lobo*
Sorry ’bout that, John…
May 15th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Hey, forget the beer, the castles and the ridiculous Dirndl or Lederhose.
I’m from Hamburg, we’ve got the REEPERBAHN ;-).
May 15th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Well, this is the mandatory disclaimer:
Bavaria consists of several parts, Franconia, Swabia and (old) Bavaria. Only in old Bavaria People dress like this (on some occasions). We speak different dialects, have different culture and a different history. Sorry for destroying your dreams ;-). Maybe the only thing all Bavarians have got in common is the card-game Schafkopf. But most Americans probably never heard of it…
May 15th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Bavaria? Forget about that. They are foreighners to us! Come to Berlin, its a MUST!!!
May 15th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Und vor allem: Texas und Bayern hatten (solange Bayern noch Grenzen zu echtem Ausland hatte) ein Unikat: Eine landeseigene Grenzschutztruppe: Die Bayerische Grenzpolizei und die Texas Border Patrol. Man traut einfach dem Staat ned zu, das er das besser kann als man selber.
And most of all: Texas and Bavaria (as long as there were real borders to protect) both had something unique: A stateside border protection agency: Die Bayerische Grenzpolizei and the Texas Border Patrol.
Or would you trust the Feds to protect YOUR borders?
May 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
And that’s propably why we never elected someone from a country that doesn’t trust us…
May 15th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Very interesting site / entertaining reading material. Especially for me, as I myself (German) have spend three years of my life in the States and now live in Bavaria for almost nine years.
By the way: 60 years, huh? Try adding another zero to that
May 15th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
“AFAIK there has never been a bavarian elected president (or better: chancelor) of Germany”
and there never wil be.
There’s another difference. Texans occasionally elect democratic governours, reps and senators, whereas bavaria is ruled by the iron fist of the christian conservatives ;).
May 15th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Love your blog! I laugh me away
Keep goin!
May 15th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I love the scene in “The Office” wherein Dwight tells the employees’ daugthers part of a Struwelpeter fairy tail and Michael comes in and says “stop telling them your stories from your Nazi war criminal grand mother”.
I actually was creeped out by Struwelpeter and Hensel and Gretel especially by the illustrations you can find in some books.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Dent: What about the years and years of SPD rule in Munich? Is Munich the Bavarian Austin, TX?
May 16th, 2008 at 8:53 am
@ Susanna: Wrong, for most Europeans (and other people too) a Texan IS the stereotypical American. Ask anybody in the world to draw a typical American, and he/she will draw a cowboy with a stetson. So yet another similarity.
And BTW, I (as a German) was *furious* at the Soccer World Cup’s organizational committee in 2006, when they decided to hold the opening ceremonies at Munich. And what did those awful bavarians do? Perform bavarian folk dances in lederhosen while slapping each other. Publicly, for 3 billion people to watch on tv. The worst stereotype coming true. Luckily, Americans don’t watch soccer..
May 17th, 2008 at 10:12 am
@Germaican:
First of all Munich isn’t like the rest of bavaria, and there are always some exceptions from the rule. There is this small town were they just elected a 22 year old gay, socialdemocratic student as mayor but the real shocking part is that he’s a protestant. But this only counts for local elections, in state- or nationwide elections their like friggin’ Kansas
May 17th, 2008 at 10:46 am
There have in fact been three Bavarian chancellors so far. At least theoretically. The first one was Ludwig Erhard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Erhard), though he was from Franconia and not the old, southern part of Bavaria and lived outside of Bavaria almost all of his life. The second one was Helmut Kohl, because when he was born in 1930, the Palatine was still a part of Bavaria. Of course the culture there was quite different from the “original Bavaria”, so he doesn’t really count as well. The third one with an even weaker link was Gerhard Schröder, who got the Bavarian citizenship by marrying Doris Schröder-Köpf, who is Bavarian because she was born in Augsburg, the Bavarian part of Swabia. Yes, there is a distinctive Bavarian citizenship, but in theory only. It is mentioned in the Bavarian constitution, but there has never been a law to determine the details.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I hate the fact that Americans think I am from Bavaria, when I tell them I am from Germany. There’s so much more than Wurst, Lederhosen and Neuschwanenstein. Everything here is called “Bavarian….”. We have German grovery stores here in Oregon, restaurants and all are “Bavarian”. I am really sick of that. They are like the Texans - conversative, arrogant and sometimes weird. Of course not all of them, but my mentality is way different than theirs.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:13 am
There are other kinds of Germans you could imagine if I asked you: e.g. Berlin/Prussia. Now you see a soldier with Pickelhaube/piked helmet. Or what about ‘een Hamburger Jung’/Friese ?! “Hummel, hummel - mors, mors.”
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
man your comparison of bavaria and texas hits the spot!!!
I’m bavarian by birth and i think that’S just the reason why in texas i feel at home right away (additional to the fact that every 3rd texan you meet comes up to you saying “hey you’re german? that’s awesome! I’m german too!”
May 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
“We come to Europe to see old stuff. In Munich we can see buildings that are nearly 60 years old. ”
lol!! i just peed a little
June 17th, 2008 at 1:50 am
I am going to be completely honest with you right now. (Clears throat)
I have never even heard of Bavaria. I still don’t know much about this place.
People say “Germany” I think “Place in Europe.”
…or I image Epcot’s Germany. (Disney World)
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I too must be honest- before dating and then marrying my German husband- I could have named Germany on a map of Europe, but would have been hard pressed to have ANY clue about where any major cities were! The thing that Europeans always seem to forget is that the United States is itself an area geographically roughly the size of Europe. Most Americans would be happy to know all the differences between the states in the US, just as I’m sure most Europeans would be happy to know the differences between EU countries- much less the subtle (but incredibly important) differences between all the different regions within each of those different countries! California is area-wise about the size of Germany, and I guarantee that at least 90% of you who just pictured a “Californian” imagine a girl in a bikini or a guy on a surfboard! Is this stereotype truly representative of the entire state of CA? Well, you’ve the farmers in central California, the wineries in the Napa Valley, the mountains, the deserts, etc. You get the picture. My only question is why are Germans surprised that Bavaria has become the unofficial stereotype of Germany? Especially after the iconic travel documentary, I mean movie “European Vacation”??
August 12th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Finally an answer to that question! As a part of the aforementioned 90% of Germans, just the thought of being taken as a Bavarian by Americans always caused me almost physical pain, especially as I really never understood why. It almost brought me to believe that Americans must be either a) dumb or b) evil to deliberatley insult me with such behaviour.
Now I can sigh with relief, thanks to your wonderful blog. Can’t thank you enough!
August 12th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Ya know guys, the reason everyone in America uses the Bavarian stereotype is that we want something that says ‘German’ without having to bring up the other German stereotype.
September 20th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
@simi1983
LOL that was great!
February 1st, 2009 at 9:00 am
This is very funny! LOL
2 thumbs up!
June 12th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I am from San Francisco and live in Munich - I wouldn’t live anywhere else in Germany either (Hamburg was a quick consideration but has too much rain).
I ditto what Kitty-kat says about the “California” image. A lot of people in Germany and Europe assume a caucasian blonde girl in a bikini, Baywatch style. They expect California is always warm and sunny (ahaha, never experienced August in SF then). They probably would face a huge shock landing in California (or Seattle or DC or Atlanta for that matter) to see the rich ethnic diversity of what makes up the USA.
Anyway, Bavaria is definitely cute, quaint, relaxing yet with nice mixes of modernity (in Munich especially), and thus a welcoming positive image and place for many Americans. I think Germans should already be glad that most Americans have heard of Germany and know it’s in Europe, AND have a positive image of the country, culture and people (compare that with the British stereotypes and comments of Germans…). I think more Americans have a better idea of Germany than of Wyoming…
December 12th, 2009 at 3:28 am
there’s just one difference between texas and bavaria:
a stereotype texan is stupid and bavarians are the educational elite of germany
December 12th, 2009 at 3:34 am
to be honest, ive never bavaria untill now. i am from america, and i can name several other german cities.
January 13th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Funny. When I was in Germany for a few years (smack dab in the middle), I met a few people who honestly thought California was directly atop Florida. They may know of New York, some may even know of Boston, but for many, the United States is California and Florida and nothing else. New York is probably assigned to Canada.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
That is probably true, tim, but honestly, try to compare our general knowledge of the US-American states with yours of the German Bundesländer.
March 20th, 2010 at 11:31 am
[…] einer Antwort hier ein Hinweis auf die Experten vom “Nothing-for-Ungood“-Blog, die auf die Frage, warum die Amerikaner die Deutschen immer als Bayern darstellen, […]
March 20th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
LOL!!! I’m Bavarian myself, and proud of it (you can’t be German and proud of it, apparently, unless you love risking being dubbed a Nazi, so you need to substitute your regional identity), but your Texas-Bavaria comparison was indeed SPOT-ON!! Indeed, for a long time, the stereotypical US American was Texan, though that may have changed thanks to increased exposure to American culture.
Indeed, German Americans have a considerable presence especially in central Texas from what I can gather (though in more northerly states their presence is even much stronger, especially in rural areas), but just like not all Bavarians are true to the stereotypes - positive or negative -, even the Texas German immigrants (there is even a distinct form of German in the Hill Country, known as Texas German!) were very different from each other. I’ve found a fascinating quote:
“The Germans who settled Texas were diverse in many ways. They included peasant farmers and intellectuals; Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and atheists; Prussians, Saxons, Hessians, and Alsatians; abolitionists and slave owners; farmers and townsfolk; frugal, honest folk and ax murderers. They differed in dialect, customs, and physical features. A majority had been farmers in Germany, and most arrived seeking economic opportunities. A few dissident intellectuals fleeing the 1848 revolutions sought political freedom, but few, save perhaps the Wends, went for religious freedom. The German settlements in Texas reflected their diversity. Even in the confined area of the Hill Country, each valley offered a different kind of German. The Llano valley had stern, teetotaling German Methodists, who renounced dancing and fraternal organizations; the Pedernales valley had fun-loving, hardworking Lutherans and Catholics who enjoyed drinking and dancing; and the Guadalupe valley had atheist Germans descended from intellectual political refugees. The scattered German ethnic islands were also diverse. These small enclaves included Lindsay in Cooke County, largely Westphalian Catholic; Waka in Ochiltree County, Midwestern Mennonite; Hurnville in Clay County, Russian German Baptist; and Lockett in Wilbarger County, Wendish Lutheran.”
Stefan: The ridiculous thing is that the Austrians (whom we Bavarians love to make fun of) are much more similar in dialect and customs to the “Old Bavarians” than the Franconians and Swabians are!
March 23rd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Regarding Dirndls, every region in Germany has “Trachten” and the womens dresses all resemble Dirndles.
I am a proud American now, but I also wear a Dirndl on occasion, and I never have been to Bavaria. And talking about what Germans/Europeans think America is like? When I came here (from Germany) in 72 at the tender age of 15, I was surprised to learn, that not every family, had a housekeeper/nanny/butler, some kind of help, we thought everyone in America was rich, that is what the TV showed us. The Bavarian people I do know, I know as very giving and outgoing people.
Each region of Germany has it charms. I am from the Rheinland, my parents always vacationd in other regiongs of Germany, as we belonged to the “Naturfreunde” Naturfriends club, so I have seen most of Germany. And yes you have to see the Reeperbahn in Hamburg and the Fishmarket on Sunday, in the country of my birth.
See it all, just like here, in the country of my heart.
March 24th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
“Regarding Dirndls, every region in Germany has “Trachten” and the womens dresses all resemble Dirndles.”
I have always wondered what can be considered the Tracht of my home region, the Ruhr area. Perhaps the traditional outfits of the miners?
March 26th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
I’m a Bavarian and I was also wondering.
Population of Germany: 82millions
Population of Bavaria:12millions
And you wanna tell me that 12millions are 10% of 82millions!
June 15th, 2010 at 11:44 am
hi john,
I love your blog! soooo funny!
could you please change “In Munich we can see buildings that are nearly 60 years old.” to “In Munich we can see buildings that are nearly 650 years old.”
Peterskirche (build 1368)
Let me google that for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Church,_M%C3%BCnchen
keep on writing
June 16th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
@ engel: Hmmm… Genuine oversight, or yet another self-deprecating joke implying that the average American can’t even comprehend the concept of a man made edifice being more than one or two hundred years old?
June 18th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
@Michael:
That’s such a Bavarian thing to say!
Btw. many people who have the Bavarian citizenship (yes, Bavarians have a second citizenship besides the German citizenship!) don’t consider themself Bavarians (e.g. Franken)
If you deduct those from the 12.5 millions, 10% might be pretty close to the real number
June 19th, 2010 at 5:31 am
When I’m in Germany I’m always being quizzed by Germans about how much I know about Germany. They seem genuinely disappointed when they learn that I follow German politics and entertainment closely. I’ve been to every Bundesland (including Mallorca - humor just in case you missed it) and speak German nearly accent free. Americans just aren’t supposed to know about the world they tell me. They all have stories about ’stupid Americans’ who don’t know a thing about the world. After all, they all know about the USA.
The party is usually over when I ask them who the political leaders of China or India are. Can you name any regions of India, the world’s second most populated country? What language is spoken in Indonesia? I’ve yet to have a German accurately name a prefecture of Japan. All of these nations are at least as significant as Germany on the global stage. I guess the German concept of geography and general knowledge of the world ends with Europe and the USA.
I like to end most of these exchanges with reminding them that Germany and the USA produce nearly identical scores on international education exams like the PISA Study or TIMSS. Once Americans obtain a bachelor’s degree they actually score significantly higher than German university graduates on the few exams given internationally to university graduates. One is the UN’s intern acceptance exam. The results are online if you care to Google them.
I spent a year in Germany as an exchange student in 1985 and can tell you that I too have a great store of ‘ignorant German’ anecdotes that I bring out at parties. I guarantee you that Americans are certainly not any more ignorant than the average German student. In fact, I’d say that once all the intelligent kids are separated into Gymnasium the remaining mass of kids is considerably less educated than the average American high school student. In Germany it seems they don’t even make the pretense of teaching anything academic to anyone other than Gymnasium students.
I live in Colorado. We are the fittest state in the USA. I run 5K daily and have never been fat. I don’t work with any fat people nor am I related to anyone who I’d even remotely call overweight. I’ve eaten at a McDonald’s only once in my life; at the Frankfurt Airport while my kids played in the smoke filled play area. That I don’t fit their American stereotype seems to bother many Germans I meet. Perhaps the stereotype of Lederhosen and cowbells isn’t as bad as it seems compared with what I have to deal with.
June 27th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Well, many Americans I’ve met online (who are generally very educated) have the same “obese redneck” stereotype about the average American (especially in the southeast) as we Germans are said to have, so it’s not just us. And they tell us that the American education system does suck.
July 4th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Wow, great blog!
Being a native Texan and living in Germany, your blog really hit home. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked “where are your boots and your Cowboy hat?”
But after being in Germany for more than 20 years you tend to come up with your own stereotypes for both Germans and Americans e.g. white socks and tennis shoes (A) any type of sock and Birkenstocks (G).