Unfair stereotypes of Germans

[hams 1,387]

:D We've got different factions e.g. those stuck in the past as per my previous post, the schickies i.e. pearl earring and chino wearing, collared shirt and v-neck cashmere sweater, the funky trendy lot who would be 'normal' in NYC, Paris or London but overall, individual style is not prevelent, more a 'group look' to fit in with the clique.

[parnell 68]

Germans (esp. Bavarians) : They're a lot better than the ungrateful foreigners they let in here which complain excessively about them.

[TaniMew 1]

hams, I have witnessed the strange cherry red hair as well, even on some teenagers. Why THAT shade exactly? And what's the point if it's so common?

 

And for the fact that they're all supposed to formal and cold towards you, well my office are all on first name terms with each other, and I've been invited to

colleagues' homes and going to visit a farm one of them grew up in this weekend, so I guess I was lucky to have met some lovely hospitable Germans

[Expaticus 752]

This post belongs on this thread. The pull quote from the article is Stereotype City.

 

Speaking a a person of 100% German decent, perhaps the explanation is that anyone with any "get up and go" got up and went ... to the US, leaving nothing but Jammerlappen behind.

[Oblomov 865]

I´m sure your knowledge regarding Jammerlappen is outstanding, expaticus.

[Muller 17]

There are several stereotypes which in reality do not exist, in my view.

 

1.Germans are dull.

Far from it. Most of the German people I have met while on holiday or on business in Germany, have been polite and humourous people.

 

2.Germans work harder than other nationalities.

I disagree with this. I work for a German company based here in Ireland. Our staff work as hard, if not harder than their German counterparts.

[dessa_dangerous 13,315]

 

aren't you getting just a wee little bit paranoid? Maybe they just look at your carefully enclosed reizvollen Busen. There is no charge for it?

no. obviously I meant that they literally stare in their sleep. and when they're dead. or blind. you know how it is.

 

i dont have any busen for them to stare at... at least not any that are particularly on display

 

 

Woah what is this Schöneweide? Sounds like an interesting backstory.

 

- That Germans are ultra hard working, efficient machines?

 

Maybe it's because I effectively work with civil servants, but they are all into work/life balance and usually leave at 5 on the dot, if not hours earlier. Lucky for me I suppose, was worried about being overworked or something.

Schöneweide is a semi-scary S-Bahn and regional train station in Treptow-Köpenick (or rather, in Schöneweide kiez), East Berlin. Evidently there are a fair number of Nazis still hanging around, the NDP has their headquarters there, lots of people with tattooed faces, jail tats, etc. This in itself is no big deal, but the number of fist-fights and car crashes I've seen there make it a pretty volatile place. Packed at rush hour, dead at night. The incident in particular that I'm talking about involved two guys, one at least 6'4" and the other no taller than 5'6". During the fist fight the little guy had broken a bottle and was coming at the big guy with it, during rush hour. A gaggle of school girls was seated nearby, sipping McDonalds coke and enjoying the spectacle, and grownups just averted their eyes and kept on their business. I was on the other other side of the street, with four lanes and a tram line between us, but i couldn't believe no one stepped in and yelled "cut it the fuck out!!! what are you, animals?" Another time, I saw a pack of apparent Nazis, the ringleader of whom had busted an old fella in the face so hard that he looked like something out of a horror movie, blood was everywhere. Luckily this guy got detained by security. His little Nazi homies were upset, a 15-year-old kid I took to be his brother was even crying. Cops vans are always at this place... it's something to see.

 

I read in a "welcome to germany" type of book that Germans consider leaving on time a sign of efficiency and maybe of a professional aloofness... not everyone is married to their jobs like we are back in the states. It's pretty refreshing, actually.

 

 

Oh thought of another one, that Germans have a terrible sense of style, the old sock-n-sandal look.

 

It's probably because I'm in Düss the 'fashion capital', but I find most people here, especially younger women really well dressed! I suppose it's not overly feminine, as noted by others, but there's a clean sort of aesthetic I really like about it.

they all look like shit in Berlin. One of the greatest things about being here... just like your mama told you, it's certainly no "fashion show" here

 

 

Talking about style - what is it with mullets, women with dyed red hair, nasty leather jackets, and the denim tuxedo look that all went out many many many years ago...

YES. I am so glad I'm not the only one who noticed that fire-engine red hair!!!

 

and you're in Munich... when I visited Munich I thought people were well dressed and all... at least compare to Berlin

berliners have about as much fashion sense as a pack of blind clowns. this much is true.

[TaniMew 1]

 

Schöneweide is a semi-scary S-Bahn and regional train station in Treptow-Köpenick (or rather, in Schöneweide kiez), East Berlin...

 

I read in a "welcome to germany" type of book that Germans consider leaving on time a sign of efficiency and maybe of a professional aloofness... not everyone is married to their jobs like we are back in the states. It's pretty refreshing, actually.

Awesome story. Fascinating!

 

I read about the leaving on time = efficient thing too actually. I agree with them. In London people waste so many hours after 5 just pretending to be busy. Well, and I grew up in Rome where everyone takes 3 hour lunches, is delayed by an hour because of 'rain' and where everyone avoids work like the plague so I guess I only have the hardcore workaholic culture to experience.

[JSD 609]

Wow, all of this hammering down on the Germans is hysterical. Thought the topic was "Unfair stereotypes of Germans".

 

I could more easily hammer down on the Brits with a lot more fun. Much easier target as there is much more to rip apart.

 

And, as for my country, the linguistically-challeneged USA <SARCASM> WE'RE NUMBER ONE!!! </SARCASM

 

You see, we ALL have our foibles.

 

As for Germans being serious... In the work place (I work in a landesbank), I find my colleagues incredibly focused and serious during work time. They like lunch time as well as a couple of coffee breaks each day. I never hear about work during this time. If we all go out after, I find my colleagues hysterical and up for a good drinking night. (I still can't figure what all the hype is about this hideous Altbier here in Düsseldorf, btw, much prefer a Kölsch) I love the Germans work/ life balance. when work is done, it's done. Unlike my country where everyone is so career "ladder" obsessed. Or unlike London, where everyone is so "property ladder" obsessed... let's build a castle we can't afford to live an and pretend we're royal! Yeah! It is not so important to Germans as a whole. They want their free time to be free. I like this ideal.

 

There is plenty to bitch about here, but there is much to love and admire about the Germans as well. Nowhere and nobody is going to be 100% perfect, except, of course, if your from NYC. lol

[hategermany 1]

They sure are a hot natured people, I mean I am dying of heat everywhere I go, Winter and Summer. Why no AC in this country? I hate not having AC and I am from Chicago.

[nina_glyndwr 4,748]

I have family in Berlin and have lived in D'dorf for ages.

 

Berliners wear a lot of existentialist black, berets and scarves around their necks. They want to be seen as 'intellectual'.

 

Dusseldorfers dye their hair blond, wear a lot of beige and gold and want to be seen as smart.

[gaberlunzi 814]

 

They sure are a hot natured people, I mean I am dying of heat everywhere I go, Winter and Summer. Why no AC in this country? I hate not having AC and I am from Chicago.

Why no AC? waste not electricty! It costs money; a very simple explanation.

[Expaticus 752]

The stereotype about German attention to detail is another one refuted by actual experience ... just compare the typical pin-neat UK garden allotment to the glorified junkyards that barely deserve the name "Kleingarten" in Germany.

 

 

[leeza 1,895]

It's not (just) about the money with the AC. Germans are convinced that the cold air from AC will kill you, or at the very least, give you a nasty cold. I hear this ALL the time from my colleagues that go regularly to the States for conferences at fancy hotels. "Aw, I just got back from New York and I have this awful cold because of the AC." Riiiight, it wouldn't be because you were sat in an airplane with 300 people breathing the same recycled air for 8 hours, could it?

[HEM 11,163]

 

hams, I have witnessed the strange cherry red hair as well, even on some teenagers. Why THAT shade exactly? And what's the point if it's so common?

It must be the Kati Wilhelm effect...

[Katrina 4,522]

 

There's nothing like Have I Got News For You on TV

Even Australia, home of the cultural cringe, has the rather wonderful HIGNFY-alike Good News Week.

That kind of satirical programming is sadly missing in Germany, well, it is for me and I find it rather strange as Germany does have that Kabarettist tradition.

 

Unfair stereotypes? What about the ladies with hairy armpits? That's certainly declined since the Nineties. Perhaps the few left should get a preservation order slapped on them?

 

PS paprika hair matches the crisps.

[Allershausen 6,414]

 

The stereotype about German attention to detail is another one refuted by actual experience ... just compare the typical pin-neat UK garden allotment to the glorified junkyards that barely deserve the name "Kleingarten" in Germany.

Obviously we're getting used to your constant anti German crap, you really are one unhappy person, but in this part of the world the kleingarten areas tend to be kept at least as well as any English garden. I suspect you've never really seen an English allotment, as they are not really used as a replacement for a garden but as a place to grow vegetables.

[Expaticus 752]

Preservation order? Denkmalschutz or Naturschutzgebeit?

 

 

That kind of satirical programming is sadly missing in Germany, well, it is for me and I find it rather strange as Germany does have that Kabarettist tradition.

But I fear most of the Kabarettists were packed off to the same places the bagel makers were. Again, the most unironic commercial website entry of all time:

 

 

It was a beautiful summer day in 1995 when Gregor Gerlach and Christian Kiefer were enjoying a fresh bagel sandwich on the terrace of a bagel shop in Chicago. They were wondering why there weren’t any bagels in Germany. In that moment, the idea of today’s “Bagel Brothers-Sandwich Restaurant” was born, which came to realization in Germany in July 1996.

Give you three guesses ... and the first two don't count.

[Steven192 272]

 

Even Australia, home of the cultural cringe, has the rather wonderful HIGNFY-alike Good News Week.

That kind of satirical programming is sadly missing in Germany, well, it is for me and I find it rather strange as Germany does have that Kabarettist tradition.

 

Unfair stereotypes? What about the ladies with hairy armpits? That's certainly declined since the Nineties. Perhaps the few left should get a preservation order slapped on them?

 

PS paprika hair matches the crisps.

Used to have 7 Tage 7 Kopfe which was the same sort of idea.

 

I think the Germans like their humour a bit more heavy handed though - have you watched "Switch Reloaded"?

[GerryM 154]

 

The stereotype about German attention to detail is another one refuted by actual experience ... just compare the typical pin-neat UK garden allotment to the glorified junkyards that barely deserve the name "Kleingarten" in Germany.

 

If the allotments I see round here are anything to go by, that is complete bollocks. Your anti-German obsession really does result in you posting some unadulterated pish.