During football tournaments, Germans say the country has as many Bundestrainer, national coaches, as it has inhabitants. In July 2026 a Berliner Zeitung columnist recalled the saying that 84 Millionen Bundestrainer sat in front of screens and in pubs and joined the discussion. During the Covid pandemic the saying moved into medicine. In May 2020 the comedian Carolin Kebekus mocked the 80 Millionen Hobby-Virologen, the 80 million amateur virologists, in a video released ahead of her ARD show.
The Minister on Insolvency
In September 2022, during the energy crisis, Economics Minister Robert Habeck was asked on the ARD talk show Maischberger whether bakeries and other small firms faced insolvency. He answered: Und dann sind die nicht insolvent automatisch, aber sie hören vielleicht auf zu verkaufen. Then they are not automatically insolvent, but they may stop selling. The trade paper Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung wrote of the Unkenntnis, the lack of knowledge, that the minister partly showed. Two days later the president of the Leipzig chamber of crafts said the minister was not familiar nicht einmal mit dem kleinen Einmaleins der Betriebswirtschaftslehre, not even with the basic times table of business administration. The chamber offered to put together a training course in insolvency law for him.
The Vocabulary of the Lecture
jemandem die Leviten lesen — to read someone the Levites. The Duden defines it as reprimanding someone thoroughly for blameworthy behavior. It originally meant reading aloud from the biblical book of Leviticus.
mit erhobenem Zeigefinger — with a raised index finger. It is said of advice given as a moral lesson.
der Moralapostel — the apostle of morals. Someone who preaches morality to others.
jemandem ins Gewissen reden — to talk into someone’s conscience.
die Standpauke — a long, stern scolding.
Ratschläge sind auch Schläge. — Pieces of advice are also blows. The saying plays on Rat, advice, and Schlag, a blow.
Fifteen Meters From the Field
In the Württemberg Football Association, children’s soccer is played in a Fair Play Liga. The rules keep the spectators at a distance: Die Fans halten sich in angemessenem Abstand zum Spielfeld auf (15m). The fans stay at a suitable distance from the field, 15 meters. The coaches of both teams stand together in one coaching zone, and otherwise hold back with instructions. The rules list loud instructions as a way of interfering with the game. The idea began in the spring of 2007 as a pilot in the Aachen football district, with twelve teams.
Yellow Card, Red Card
In some German districts the waste collectors check the organic waste bin before they empty it. The district of Giessen has metal detectors on its collection trucks. Where the wrong waste is found, the household gets a card. A yellow card tells the residents that they did not sort their waste correctly. With a red card the bin is not emptied. In several places in Hesse, sensors on the trucks scan the inside of each bin as it is lifted. A bin with too much plastic gets a sticker, Falsch befüllt, wrongly filled, and is left full. Having it emptied as residual waste can cost 40 euros.
Europe Is Speaking German
In November 2011, at the CDU party conference in Leipzig, Volker Kauder, leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, spoke about the euro crisis. His manuscript reads: Auf einmal wird in Europa deutsch gesprochen, nicht hinsichtlich der Sprache, aber hinsichtlich der Akzeptanz der Instrumente. All of a sudden Europe is speaking German, not in terms of the language, but in terms of accepting the instruments. Two weeks later Alexander Gauland wrote in the Tagesspiegel about a Europe in which, wie Volker Kauder hofft, as Volker Kauder hopes, German would again be spoken. He called the tone geschichtsvergessen, forgetful of history.
The World Will Heal
In 1861 the poet Emanuel Geibel wrote the poem Deutschlands Beruf, Germany’s Calling. It ends: Und es mag am deutschen Wesen / Einmal noch die Welt genesen. And the world may one day heal by the German nature. On 31 August 1907, in Münster, Emperor Wilhelm II quoted the line with a stronger verb: An deutschem Wesen wird einmal noch die Welt genesen. The world will one day heal by the German nature. The version that has come down to the present is stronger still: Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen. The world shall heal by the German nature. It is in this form that the Duden book Deutsche Geschichte in 100 Zitaten includes it.
The Germans Always Know Better
In the summer of 1978 the Federal Press Office ran an advertising series for Germans going on vacation abroad. It used common prejudices about Germans as headings. One read: Die Deutschen wissen immer alles besser. The Germans always know everything better. The examples were football, cars, and how real coffee has to taste. The ads recommended ein bißchen Zurückhaltung, a little restraint, which could do no harm even among good friends. The FAZ reported on 3 August 1978 that the series cost about two million marks. It was printed in six million copies, for fifteen million Germans who vacationed abroad.
Switch Off!
For about 25 years, until 2005, Peter Lustig presented the ZDF children’s program Löwenzahn, Dandelion. At the end of the program he told his young viewers: Abschalten! Switch off! When he died in February 2016, the obituaries quoted the line. His successor, Guido Hammesfahr, dropped it. He tells the children instead that he now has something better to do.
What One Can Tell a Friend
In a YouGov survey of November 2016, three in four Germans said they could tell a close friend that he or she drinks too much. Just as many could tell a friend that they hold a different opinion on an important topic. Other things are harder to say. 52 percent could not tell a female friend that she does not look good. 40 percent could not tell a close friend that he is a bad father. In a YouGov values study of 2011, 60 percent named honesty as a quality especially close to their hearts, more than any other.