The only stereotype that makes my blood boil

There really is nothing particularly bad about stereotypes, in fact I cultivate a flock of them myself. But there is one that the English speaking world repeats over and over again until over the years (centuries?) it has been accepted as a fact and noone subjects it to critical analysis: Germans are rude and blunt. Dr. Huch disagrees wholeheartedly.

Ok, this is going to be a bit complicated, so lets assume that conversation between two people is always like a duel.

Duelling with someone in the tongue of my fathers (in my case, surprise, surprise, in German) means I have a vast choice of weapons for every occasion. Pistols, rifles, swords, sabers, rapiers, epees, daggers, guns of all calibers imaginable, poison, toothpicks, in short, everything you need for a civilized exchange of words, because you can be sure that your opponent knows the rules. His or her armory might or might not be better stacked than my own but we are more or less on even ground.

Now, all of a sudden there is someone else to deal with. My German language armory which has so well served me over the years will suddenly not help me in the least, because my counterpart normally will know little or nothing about my duelling culture. But, conversation necesse est, so I need to play by foreign rules. I roam my English armory, lots of cobwebs and a club. Nothing very useful for a formidable and eloquent dialog, but it will have to do.

The bitter consequence: My opponent hears me using his language like some stoneage Fred Flintstone, rough, raw and untrained, just barely enough to get the message across. He will see me as uncivilized, blunt, direct, rude…and why? Just because I was polite enough to duel him on his terms, just because he didn’t even bother to put as much as a nail file into his German word armory.

So folks, of course you still have every right to call me rude, but first let me see your skills with the verbal Schwert, Säbel, Degen, Florett oder Pistole…it’s your choice of weapons.

“Bring lots of cash, because German stores won’t accept your credit card”

Plastic money is common in Germany, but debit cards are used more regularly than credit cards.
However, all car rental companies, big brand gas stations, airlines, most hotels and many restaurants will accept all major credit cards.
Since credit card companies charge relatively high commissions (e.g. 3%) from shop owners, your Mastercard/VISA/Amex/Whatever will be more welcome in exclusive retail stores than in the smaller ones or discounts.
Because pricing is higly competitive especially in the food industry (leading to food prices often substantially lower than in the U.S.), most supermarkets will not accept credit cards but only debit cards (Maestro or the like).
Rule of thumb: use cash for amounts below 10 Euros, debit cards for up to 500 Euros (usually this is the maximum guaranteed by bank) and credit cards for over 25 Euros.
Many debit cards nowadays have an integrated money card-chip (”Geldkarte”) which can be loaded with up to 250 Euros and used to by stuff from vending machines (e.g. for railway tickets).

Prude Americans?

Was bei uns keinen Hund mehr hinter dem Ofen hervorlockt, das gilt für viele Amerikaner als absolut obszön. Sei es die Nackte auf dem Titelblatt der Illustrierten oder die Sexszene im Nachmittagsprogramm des (erschreckenderweise) frei empfangbaren Fernsehens, sowas ist man dort einfach nicht gewohnt. Oben ohne am Strand? Gemischte Sauna? Undenkbar. Wenn man allerdings bedenkt, daß die US-Pornoindustrie Milliardenumsätze erzielt, so kommt man zu dem Schluß, daß für den Durchschnittsamerikaner Sex einfach nicht in die Öffentlichkeit gehört. Hinter verchlossenen Türen ist dann jede gängige sexuelle Spielart im Angebot. Das ist natürlich irgendwie bigott und ziemlich verlogen.
Aber: Erinnern wir uns, vor 20, 30 Jahren galten (lächerliche) Sendungen wie “tutti frutti” auch bei uns noch als Skandal. Vor 40 Jahren sah man in den Aufklärungsfilmchen von Oswald Kolle den Untergang des Abendlands und vor 50 Jahren schockierte die sekundenlang nackt zu sehende Hildegard Knef in “Die Sünderin” die Öffentlichkeit.

Completely naked women on the cover of a magazine? Topless on the beach? Sex szenes in the free tv afternoon programming? Mixed sauna? Nothing to write home about for us Germans but highly obscene for many Americans. While the thriving multi billion dollar US porn industry caters to every need (although with a certain fixation on silicone tits) of its surprisingly many customers, nakedness and what it might kick off seems to be confined to the bedroom. For the last 50 years the Germans have been exposed to ever increasing doses of sexually explicit content in the media, something that has not happened in the U.S., at least not to the same extent.