Where is everyone from??

[Bungo Baggins]

Chicago. Home of our queen Oprah.

[Durfuiniel]

to see all those große alte Schlösser,

Well, there really are some great castles in Germany, and very different ones. Old from the Middle-Ages and newer ones from the barock(is it called barock in english, too?). But if you like old buildings, you should visit France because there are many old churches which are so fascinating....

Anyway- getränkbier und essen Sie bratwursts!!

wow, so there are people here who speak german pretty good*smile*
Do people in America(or England or whereever) really think all germans are beerdrinkers? I'd love to her some other prejudices about us Germans, that's really interesting I think.... so please tell me your view of germany

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Great philosophers. Especially Kant.

[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Originally Posted by Durfuiniel

Do people in America(or England or whereever) really think all germans are beerdrinkers?

No, but the fact that a mug of beer costs less than a cup of tea doesn't help your case much.

Maryland is home to the famous Michael Phelps...and blue crabs. ::shrug::

-Aylwen

[the phantom]

Drink beer and eat your sausages

Is that what I said?

Oops... I meant to say "have a nice day".

perhaps there is a hidden metaphorical meaning behind this sentiment?

Indeed, there is. You should spend a couple of hours thinking about it. By then you'll be hungry and thirsty enough to "drink beer and eat your sausages" and the meaning will suddenly become clear.

from the barock(is it called barock in english, too?)

Baroque.

so there are people here who speak german pretty good

Only "pretty good"? What, did I get a word wrong? The only words I for sure get right are cognates, like and (und), shoe (schuh), pizza (pizza), or Germany (Deutschland).

Or did I not conjugate one of my verbs correctly? That's always a problem. I don't even conjugate English correctly. English be hard- I is frustrated by it sometimes.

But it's understandable since I was raised in Mexico by Latinos, who obviously being latinos spoke Spanish (aka Latin). That was a problem though since most people in Mexico speak Mexican (which the Spanish haughtily refer to as pig-latin).

Do people in America(or England or whereever) really think all germans are beerdrinkers?

No, we think 99.9% of Germans are beer drinkers. All the exchange students I ever met sure talked about it all the time.

I'd love to her some other prejudices about us Germans

Lemme see... Germans are always taking their clothes off, right? Or more specifically, their lederhosen?

Also, they don't keep their fridges full, but prefer to buy what they're going to eat (usually bratwurst and sauerkraut) on the same day.

And then they go play soccer.



(I know everybody's not like that, but those are the first things that pop into my head)

[Durfuiniel]

so there are people here who speak german pretty good -Only "pretty good"? What, did I get a word wrong? The only words I for sure get right are cognates, like and (und), shoe (schuh), pizza (pizza), or Germany (Deutschland).

Or did I not conjugate one of my verbs correctly? That's always a problem. I don't even conjugate English correctly. English be hard- I is frustrated by it sometimes.

oops, well I meant very good*smile*

Anyway- getränkbier und essen Sie bratwursts!!

you have to say "Trinken sie Bier und essen sie Bratwürste" if you want to be totally correct
well, and I agree many germany are Beerdrinkers
But it seems like all people think only about "Bayern" when they talk about germans 'cause the people with "lederhosen" are just the "Bayern"(you maybe know the "Oktoberfest" in München where loooots of beer are drunk.)
I never heard about the "they don't keep their fridges full but prefer buying what they want to eat.." thing that's really new to me, but that may be because in our house the fridge (or better our THREE fridges) are always full.
But it's totally right we're a soccer country but mostly people don't go play it but watch it on TV and drink some beer watching it.*rofl*

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Durfuiniel

Well, there really are some great castles in Germany, and very different ones. Old from the Middle-Ages and newer ones from the barock(is it called barock in english, too?). But if you like old buildings, you should visit France because there are many old churches which are so fascinating....

wow, so there are people here who speak german pretty good*smile*
Do people in America(or England or whereever) really think all germans are beerdrinkers? I'd love to her some other prejudices about us Germans, that's really interesting I think.... so please tell me your view of germany

Aber das Bier is sehr gut zu trinken! Entschuldige bitte, Deutsh ist nur mein zweite Fremdsprache und ich habe alles vergessen - auch kann ich nicht ein umlaut oder ein Schlafer's S an diesem Klavier finden.

Ich liebe das Musik von Bach und Handel. The musicality of the Germans is a good stereotype!!! The wine is usually a little sweet for me and I hate Stollen with a passion.....

[Encaitare]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Aber das Bier is sehr gut zu trinken! Entschuldige bitte, Deutsh ist nur mein zweite Fremdsprache und ich habe alles vergessen - auch kann ich nicht ein umlaut oder ein Schlafer's S an diesem Klavier finden.

Ich liebe das Musik von Bach und Handel.

Or as I read it: "blahblahgibberishdon'tknowGermanblahblah Bach und Handel!" At which point I became excited because I recognized something familiar to me.

New Yorkers ride around in cabs and throw garbage at sports teams from other states while shouting 100 curse words per minute.

Er... yeah. The cab part, anyway. Yay for absolutely insane cabbies

The only time they get quiet is when a group of mafia thugs walks by (about every two minutes).

Never seen any Mafia thugs walk by, so I wouldn't know. But it's true, we never shut up.

Except for Central New Yorkers- they're all unemployed, angsty high schoolers who don't have a drivers license, haven't read Morgoth's Ring, and can't draw worth anything. They survive only by leeching off their parents and flashing their attractive legs to get discounts.

I'm not a central New Yorker (Long Island, woo hoo), so let's see...

Unemployed: for now, yes, sadly
Angsty High Schooler: from time to time
Haven't Read Morgoth's Ring: I'm getting there, okay??? *pout*
Can't Draw Worth Anything: can too!
Leeching off parents: not really, seeing as they're my legal guardians and all
Attractive Legs: but of course
Flashing Attractive Legs: but of course not

Bah. Everyone judges the whole of New York by NYC... but it's such a great city.

As for the historical background of my ancestors, they were: Italian, Norwegian, British, Irish, German, Austrian... and my grandmother descends from Transylvanian gypsies from way back when. Hah... I'm such a mutt.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

so please tell me your view of germany (Durfuiniel)

I'm sort of sorry for being narrow-minded, but right now Germany reminds me of only one thing . . .

I'm counting the days 'til Germany 2006 World Cup!

There.

Englishmen? Hmm . . . being of the abovementioned narrow-mind, all I can remember is they haven't won the Cup since the last Age.

Oh, and to soften the blow: such wit these people have. Their representatives here, at least.

New Yorkers?

Aber das Bier is sehr gut zu trinken! Entschuldige bitte, Deutsh ist nur mein zweite Fremdsprache und ich habe alles vergessen - auch kann ich nicht ein umlaut oder ein Schlafer's S an diesem Klavier finden.

Ich liebe das Musik von Bach und Handel. (Mithalwen)

Entschuldigung, aber wie heißen diese Sätzen auf Englisch? Ich habe das nicht verstanden.

You just had to flaunt the fact that you're studying German.

I can't help it! I'm a vain Prince of Noldor so unlike my father and grandfather.

[Lalwendë]

Of course, there is a whole other English stereotype. When I step out of the office I am in the midst of this different world where girls go about with lumps of gold in their ears so heavy that their earlobes hit their shoulders; where they feed cheese 'n' onion pasties to slightly unkempt toddlers; where they stare menacingly at anyone not wearing sports gear. It is a world where the young men visibly clear their lungs, darkly demand 83p for their 'bus fare' and display a thorough knowledge of Anglo-Saxon words. They move in hordes through the precinct, shouting loudly, and stop to huddle conspiratorially outside the £1 shops where they swap tales of 'wicked nights out' and plan their tactics for the annual battles at the Next or B&Q sale. This is the English stereotype nobody on foreign shores ever sees. Unless those foreign shores happen to be in Ibiza.

[Durfuiniel]

oh my god, you really wrote very much since my last visit... hope I won't forget anything

Aber das Bier is sehr gut zu trinken! Entschuldige bitte, Deutsh ist nur mein zweite Fremdsprache und ich habe alles vergessen - auch kann ich nicht ein umlaut oder ein Schlafer's S an diesem Klavier finden. -->Entschuldigung, aber wie heißt diese Sätzen auf Englisch? Ich habe dast nicht verstanden.

Ok, in English it's "But the beer is very good. Sorry, but german is only my second foreign languag (?) and I forgot everything. Also I can't type in a Ok, I have no idea what that is called in english ä, ö, ü and ß.

So, I guess we should assume that you are not Bavarian, Durfuiniel. What Bundesland do you come from? Mein Großvater war von Nordrhein-Westfalen.

I'm from Baden-Würtemberg, do you know where this is?

I'm counting the days 'til Germany 2006 World Cup!Englishmen? Hmm . . . being of the abovementioned narrow-mind, all I can remember is they haven't won the Cup since the last Age

Well, I'm waiting for the world cup with excitement.
And I'm sure we'll win Well, with our new trainer we never lost 'till now... so maybe we're lucky...

Does BTW mean "By the way"?

the English newspapers are just ruffled because the Germans get up at four in the morning to steal the sunbeds

*big smile* well, this articles you can find in german newspapers, too... only that in these papers the english men are the ones who got up early to lay their towels on the sunbeds and occupie them... and when I was on holiday in Spain it were both*lol*

[Amanaduial the archer]

Originally Posted by Durfuiniel

wow, so there are people here who speak german pretty good*smile*
Do people in America(or England or whereever) really think all germans are beerdrinkers? I'd love to her some other prejudices about us Germans, that's really interesting I think.... so please tell me your view of germany

French is compulsary in my school until you're 16, and as I was fairly rubbish at it when I made my GCSE choices, I decided that one language was about as much as I could deal with. I regret the choice as I intend to take French into university, but hey, c'est la vie - I apologise for not speaking to you in German. Although my sister works pretty much as a living, walking, breathing, talking...german translator.

But we had a French lesson some time ago when we were talking about the various stereotypes which are held about different nations. And it was the Irish, not the Germans, who came out as the drinkers - a sentiment I couldn't exactly deny, as seven of my maternal granddad's siblings are alcoholics.

As to Fea's remark on ancestry - I'm entirely Irish, all my relatives living there apart from my parents, who went to the same school for two years but only actually met each over when they both went to Manchester university (that's what you call irony...) Half of the youth of Belfast seemed to be in Manchester University that year - and all doing accounting, why?!). Otherwise none of my Catholic relatives live in the 'heathen country' and few of my dad's. So yeah, I was born here and have lived here most of my life, but I think we can say I'm pretty damn Irish. Unless you go back like four hundred years to the Spanish Armada, and that's just silly...

There you go, some useless information that you didn't need to know, will never need again, but which I nonetheless felt like sharing anyway.

So there.

Nyuh