Re: OT: Intergermansk - Traveller's Phrasebook

From:    "J. 'Mach' Wust" <j_mach_wust@...>
On 6 Feb 2005, at 7.03 am, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
> > Pascal wrote:
> > > The lazy American speech habits might even slur "tank du"
> > > into "tanku" or something =/ You never know...
> >
> > So, are all Germanophones as gratuitously rude and uncouth as you,
> > or are you unique? You're not the first I've had unpleasant
> > experiences with, I must say...
>
> I can very well understand that Thomas R. Wier is annoyed about the
> repeated gratuitous rudeness of Pascal Kramm. However, it's unfair
> to say that this is because he'd speak German. He's the only German
> speaker on this list who uses an insulting language.
Yes, that was unfair of me. I wrote in haste, for which I wish to
convey sincere apologies.  His behavior off-list has been, shockingly,
even worse, and not just when directed towards me, but towards others
as well.

As for Germans in general, I think there are cultural differences that
can lead to misunderstandings easily.  I and many of my friends
who've here at the university can attest that continentals that we've
met have a tendency to be more forthright about their opinions
in some social situations than Americans tend to be; this is
interpreted by them as honesty and a truer sign of friendship,
while for us it can be seen as boorishness.  I have mentioned my own
own experience with a German in Frankfurt who suggested that
I personally was somehow involved in the fire-bombing of Dresden
and other German cities during the War.  In America, even among
other Americans, discussion of matters such as the fire-bombings
or Hiroshima or the Holocaust  requires extreme linguistic
delicateness and circumlocuitousness even in not-so-polite society,
so as not to offend others' sensibilities.

I once learned this to my chagrin when I joked sardonically to the
chair of our department that Mirabeau Lamar, the second President
of the Republic of Texas, had precisely three accomplishments:  he
devalued the redback, the Republic's currency; he led a failed
invasion of New Mexico; and he ethnically cleansed the Caddoes from
East Texas.  I laughed, he didn't laugh, and it was obvious there
was no meeting of minds that the true source of humor is sorrow,
as Twain said.

Anyways, we've actually recently seen an example of this kind of
misunderstanding on the list, when one of the Francophones a while
back pointed out Anglophones' habit of saying "How are you?" at
every greeting, even when the latter don't actually want to carry
on a drawn-out conversation about the other person's current
welfare. The former interpreted this as insincerity, whereas
to the latter it is politeness.

> And as Tristan McLeay has said, Pascal Kramm's answer referred
> directly to what Gary had written, so in this case he hasn't
> been rude.
I had missed that post, actually.  It's what one gets for jumping
into the middle of a thread.   But I still feel Pascal should make
a special effort to avoid even the appearance of offense, given that
he has now richly earned such a reputation.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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