Comments on: Germans do things wrong

By: Shell

Shell — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:58:59 +0000

But the week does start on a monday, ask anyone. XD And you write the date first, then the month, then the year, and I dont live in Germany. XD

By: Rusty

Rusty — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:43:01 +0000

Sehr lustig, danke. And helpful. When I was younger here in America I had trouble with the first and zero-ith floor concept. I always confused the ground, first, and second floors. Occassionally when I am tired I still do it. Now I think I understand why. My first years were in Germany and when I came back some of my playmates were also from Germany. I must have picked it up. It’s one of those things you never really think about and never gets corrected all your life.

By: Me German

Me German — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:00:22 +0000

It all depends on the perspective. And consider your issues as an origination problem: Try to get a diverse perspective and then just deal with instead of complaining. Go (back) to Germany and enjoy the show and get some ice cream to make you happy again.

By: Pan

Pan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:56:58 +0000

“Everyone knows the inch is better than the centimeter, because it is bigger”

So the euro is better than the dollar?

By: Mario

Mario — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:26:49 +0000

Some people are offended so easily for everything. Relax! Americans themselves know that they are not the most culturally educated people in the world, but they also know they have the biggest Pizzas, the fastest jets and the most macho Monster Trucks (don’t Europeans remember when they were still macho?)
About the problems with metric system. Why is everybody so tight about it? If Mexico can handle both without problem, why can’t the “industrialized” countries do it without whining?

Natürlich ist dies nur aufgewendet dem die Humor geniessen.

By: YAG (Yet Another German)

YAG (Yet Another German) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:03:55 +0000

“Everyone knows the inch is better than the centimeter, because it is bigger.”

Exact the same reason, why we Germans still use hp instead of kW,
when it comes to cars. Right?

By: Florian Blaschke

Florian Blaschke — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:28:40 +0000

Whoops, it’s actually “most significant DIGIT”. How embarrassing.

By: Florian Blaschke

Florian Blaschke — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:27:37 +0000

Most significant FIGURE first. Sorry.

By: Florian Blaschke

Florian Blaschke — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:27:04 +0000

There is a way out of the Sunday conundrum, by combining it with another German weirdo habits: Start counting by 0. That way, Sunday comes at the beginning, but Monday is still day 1 of the week.

(And Wednesday is actually in the middle, though because of the fact that it is called Wednesday in English and not Midweek, it doesn’t really matter.)

(Actually, programmers do use this system, assigning the number 0 to Sunday and 1 to Monday, through 6 for Saturday.)

Also, YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss, with all units in descending order, is the ONLY logical system. Everything else is mixed, unless you consider starting with seconds. But starting with the largest unit first, you also follow the sequence of the numerical system used inside the notation: Most significant notation first. And it sorts correctly, too. So you see: Years first is the way to go!

By: Stefan W.

Stefan W. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:14:51 +0000

Not really. If you’re used to the German number system you just hear “achtundsiebzig” and write it down as “78″. You don’t hear the 8 and then the 7, it’s like one set expression, mostly.

Once you know that the number is given to you in groups of two, you just write it down in groups of two, waiting for the speaker to complete each of the numbers.

Also, someone who grows up with the German number system seems to have very few problems in learning the English system- that is perhaps because it’s more logical, yes. Switching from difficult to not so difficult is always easy.