Errata
Having an American cowboy mentality means I shoot first and ask questions later. For the record, here are the things I have been flat wrong on:
- In Walking with ski poles is a hobby I said
Germans came up with a new English term that doesn’t really exist to invent a goofy “sport”, Nordic Walking.
That’s not true, some Scandinavians came up with it. Thanks Andreas.
- In German signs tell you what the speed limit isn’t I said
For example, everyone knows the beloved Autobahn has no speed limit, but also a smaller category of streets, the Autostraße, also has no speed limit in most cases.
I should have said Bundesstraße instead of Autostraße. Thanks for the hair-splitting Luke.
- In Germans think Americans don’t know anything about the rest of the world I said
Also, Germans just don’t seem to understand that America is responsible for everything good in the world. Maybe they are just jealous that we invented freedom, democracy, fireworks, satellites, and the automobile.
Actually none of those things were invented by America, and its quite amazing that I could have gone 0 for 5 on those assertions. Given that 98% of cool things are invented in America, I actually only had a 0.00000032% chance of getting them all wrong. Thank you Captain Obvious for pointing that one out.
- In How to travel in Germany without being bothered by German culture I said
Plan to be in Munich for dinner. There is a Planet Hollywood there, so not only are you going to get some food you actually like, you can also get another cool t-shirt that says “Munich” on it, so that you can let your friends back home know that you have also done the whole Europe thing, too.
Thanks to dude for pointing out that Planet Hollywood is no longer in Munich. You can enjoy the Hard Rock Cafe there for a burger and a t-shirt with “Munich” on it, instead.
- In Getting in good with the colleagues I said Mett is made from beef. Thanks to Hwyno1 and Lorelei for pointing out that it is made from pork, so the thought of eating Mett is now even more unappealing, but it is still just as delicious.
- In How to cope with foreign water I said
The worst though is that you won’t get water at any restaurant for free.
Thanks to Martin, dan, Stefan, and MuGo for pointing out that you can get tap water for free in Germany if you ask the waiter for it. Technically, you can also get all you can drink lemonade for free in America by asking for tap water, lemons, and more sugar packets, but that will also embarrass anyone you are dining with.
- In Germans have 117 ways to eat potatoes but only one flavor of chips I accused Germany of lacking in soda flavors, many of which are available. Since I pretty much only shopped at the tiny corner store near my home in the boondocks, I was shockingly unaware of the vast array of soft drink options available. Thanks to alphager for correcting me within minutes of publication.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
You said:
“In German signs tell you what the speed limit isn’t I said
For example, everyone knows the beloved Autobahn has no speed limit, but also a smaller category of streets, the Autostraße, also has no speed limit in most cases.
I should have said Bundesstraße instead of Autostraße. Thanks for the hair-splitting Luke.”
Well, since we’re splitting hairs: Bundesstrasse ist wrong, too.
Bundesstrassen have a general speed limit. The correct term would be Kraftfahrtstrasse (the blue sign with the white car on it). That is the only other kind of road without a general speed limit.
Thought you wanted to know
Teutone
October 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
>That is the only other kind of road without a general speed limit.
It’s not the fact that a road is classified als “Kraftfahrtstrasse” that makes the difference.
Please see §3 StVO :
…
Diese Geschwindigkeitsbeschränkung gilt nicht auf Autobahnen (Zeichen 330) sowie auf anderen Straßen mit Fahrbahnen für eine Richtung, die durch Mittelstreifen oder sonstige bauliche Einrichtungen getrennt sind. Sie gilt ferner nicht auf Straßen, die mindestens zwei durch Fahrstreifenbegrenzung (Zeichen 295) oder durch Leitlinien (Zeichen 340) markierte Fahrstreifen für jede Richtung haben.
–
Grüße aus Münster
October 14th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
@Spag: This has got to be the best comment ever…
October 31st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
>for pointing out that you can get tap water for free in Germany
Actually, you can’t: http://www.br-online.de/bayerisches-fernsehen/wir-in-bayern/verbraucherirrtuemer-DID1202399066141/verbraucher-recht-leitungswasser-cafe-ID1202399693376.xml
November 6th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I found several statements to the word “Einbahnstraße” on your Website. Do you really believe that there is/was a Mr. Einbahn who’s name is given to this street. “Einbahnstraße” means “One Way” it is not allowed to enter an “Einbahnstraße” from both sides, if you use a motor vehicle.
November 13th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
A friend of mine told me about this site! Thank you, Andy. I had so much fun here! - Coming back to american inventions, here are some, that for many germans are very very american: Jeans, Heinz Ketchup, Santa in red suite with black boots and freedom of the press. But, sorry, they too have german roots: Jeans = Mr. Levy Strauss, a german immigran; Heinz Ketchup = Mr. Heinz was a german immigrant and used his mom’s receipes; Santa = his drawer was a german immigrant, Mr. Thomas Nast; Freedom of the press = a german immigrant, John Peter Zenger. Mr. Steuben, who helped George Washington to get an army, was german. Brooklyn Bridge was built by a german engineer, August Röbling. Thirsty americans drink Stroh, Schaefer, Schlitz, Miller, Pabst, Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser and Coors, who all have german roots. The list is much too long for a side like this. But when we talk about Americans here and Germans there, we shouldn’t forget, that we have a lot in common. Maybe Americans go somewhere to ride a bike and we ride a bike to go somewhere …. a bike is a bike and you have to pedal.
In this mind…:-) greetings…. Honeybee
December 19th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Great site!! I just got the link today and have spent the entire workday reading it instead of actually working.
The guy who drew Santa may have been of German descent, but the coloring (notice American spelling) of his clothes came from a Coca Cola advertisement, and it just stuck for some reason.
Please keep up the great work!
Blues
February 15th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Hello, please listen to Teutone and spag… because you are really presenting it wrong. There are simply different terms for the quality of the road: Landstrasse/Bundesstrasse/Autobahn are the definitions for local politicians and map makers, they usually don’t tell you much about the general quality of the street, and the speed limits often vary. If you care about general speed limits, you should usually care about the road quality:
a) urban area (general speed limit: 50km/h)
b) non-urban area (general speed limit: 100km/h)
c) Kraftfahrstrasse aka Schnellstrasse (road areas starting with blue signs) where speed limit can become void as soon as you see some fencing between the lanes.
Since administrations usually declare only Kraftfahrstrasse as Autobahn, most Americans are confusing them with Schnellstrasse.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:57 am
Santa’s colours do not originate from Coca-Cola, the red and white outfit had become somewhat standardised already at the time of the advertisement campaign, which fact just came in handy for the company (though it is arguable that the campaign helped to cement Santa’s image).
Aren’t Americans basically just English-speaking Germans anyway? (Alright, you’ve got a few Scandinavians and the like, too, but I think they can count as Germans, too.) Funny enough, they’ve even still retained an awareness of it. I doubt that the majority of Germans have got a similarly acute awareness of their ancestry.
As for the Autobahn, it’s easy to overestimate the share of the way where you can actually speed without a limit - there are just so many occasions that warrant imposing one, even if only temporarily.
It’s funny how Americans seem to not really be aware that Germany was the scientifically and technologically leading (but obviously and unfortunately, not in every way most advanced) country in the world back when the Nazis ruled, and are still one of the leading industrial nations. It’s also rather flattering to us Bavarians that Americans think of us as representative for Germans in general.
(More subtle cultural differences such as the fact that disco and heavy metal never radically went out of fashion in Germany, or that classical music is not really thought of as exotic, may surprise the American visitor, too.)
January 4th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
@Florian Blaschke; The 2000 U.S. Census found that one out of five Americans can claim German heritage, which is pretty significant. I like the idea of being just an English-speaking German, but there are a lot of Americans that would take exception to it.
January 6th, 2010 at 6:53 am
Of course I was being facetious. It depends on the area. In the Midwest, pretty much everyone claims German or at least Scandinavian heritage. And don’t we agree that the Midwest is where America is most American?
Linguistically and to some extent culturally, the Jews from Central and Eastern Europe could be subsumed under the Germans too. It always amazes me when I stumble upon a weird US slang word that I either understand immediately or later and then realise that it is of Yiddish origin! Or when somebody explained “plotzn” to me, I understood quickly that it is the same as “platzen” in German. One of the funniest that I’ve met lately is “schlong”. You just can’t find that offensive! It’s certainly amazing that this way, colourful words that are basically German invade the everyday American vocabulary, along with some other Germanism, although most Germanisms are rather high-brow or technical (again testifying to the German lead in those areas back when).
January 6th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Johnny Carson used to take “the Schlossen Cut-off” (where they cut off your schlossen!) on his way to work.
January 10th, 2010 at 12:03 am
I’ve searched for the name and it turns out that it is in fact spelled “Slauson”, but I still don’t get the joke.
Anyway, Yiddish is especially funny to me because it often sounds a lot like Bavarian.
January 11th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
@Florian
When two roads meet, a “cut-off” is a road built to connect the two roads so that you don’t have to travel to the actual connection point. The cut-off usually shortens the route and is sometimes called a “short cut”.
Los Angeles is known for its massive and oddly connected highway system. It is not uncommon to hear directions like, “Take the 101 to the 405 down to the 105 and go south on 710…”. This is where Carson would direct you to take the Slauson (excuse me, but it is still “German”) cut-off as a connection to some other highway…
As for having your “Slauson” cut-off, well…do I really need to explain that?
January 25th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Apparently, yes. I have NO idea what a “Slauson” could be. I don’t know any similar sounding word.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
I second Florian’s notion. If spelled “Slauson” it looks more like French…
January 26th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
In this case, a “Slauson” is a humorous euphemism for a specifically male part of the anatomy. (John - Did I do that okay?)
In reality, Slauson is the last name of a Los Angeles historical figure who was involved in developing part of the city. An avenue was named after him, and this particular stretch of highway connects parts of the city so that you can by-pass or cut-off traveling on that avenue.
So, the joke is that the name “Slauson Cut-off” sounds like the name of a place where your “slauson” would be cut off…
Jeez, that took all the fun out of it! However, next time you are in America, you can use this joke when asking for directions (Will it be shorter if I take the Slauson Cut-off?”) and most people will get a good laugh and you will seem very Ami-hip.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Thank, Also John!
Hmm… If spelled “Schlossen”, one could make the association: Schloss –> heavy iron lock –> dangling just like said male anatomy part. Or is this “von hinten durch die Brust ins Auge” (way too far-fetched)?
January 31st, 2010 at 10:35 pm
I had a suspicion it was referring to that part of the body, it’s just that I don’t know that expression. At all. Never, ever heard of it before. So, no wonder the joke was totally lost on me. And I know plenty of slang expressions for that part of the body. But I don’t know all about American slang, of course.
Also, I wonder how “Slauson” came to take on that meaning. Is it another Yiddicism? I can’t find anything about it on the web. What’s the most common spelling?
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:47 pm
American comedy is wierd, sometimes. Johnny Carso was certainly rooted in American “Yiddish humor” of the 50’s (think Jack Benny, Sid Ceasar, Henny Youngman, George Burns, Milton Berle, et al.) and so it probably comes from there somehow. But in everyday Ami-English use, the word “slauson” is never used, even in slang. It is just something that started on the Tonight Show and that most Americans understand when they hear it…like I said, wierd.
February 7th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
I see, so it was originally some kind of running gag that people recognise over there, but not a real word that people use.
February 9th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
…ergo, an American insider-gag, so to speak.