Nicht geschimpft ist gelobt genug — not scolded is praise enough. A magazine for mayors places the saying in Hesse, where it is often said in strong dialect. It uses the saying to describe how many bosses treat their staff.
Nix gsagt isch globt gnuag — nothing said is praise enough. The Swabian version. The Schwäbische Zeitung calls it a common cliché in Swabia.
Friedrich Schiller published Das Lied von der Glocke, The Song of the Bell, in 1799. Generations of German pupils learned it by heart. Until about 1950 it was a fixed part of the Gymnasium curriculum. The first stanza describes the preparations for casting a bell: Von der Stirne heiß / Rinnen muß der Schweiß, / Soll das Werk den Meister loben, / Doch der Segen kommt von oben. The sweat must run hot from the brow if the work is to praise the master. But the blessing comes from above.
Johann Sebastian Bach signed many of his works Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone the glory. Georg Friedrich Händel used the same signature. Composers usually shortened it to the letters S.D.G. The composer puts his name to the work and gives the glory away in the same place.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Luther’s Bible warns against doing good works so that others will see them. Matthew 6:3 reads: Wenn du aber Almosen gibst, so lass deine linke Hand nicht wissen, was die rechte tut. When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. The good deed is done in secret. The sentence lives on in everyday German as die linke Hand weiß nicht, was die rechte tut.
In Hamburg, accepting a state decoration has long been considered improper for those in public office. The rule goes back to Hamburg city law of the 13th century. Today it is called Hanseatische Ablehnung, the Hanseatic refusal. It is still frowned upon among senators, members of the city parliament and public employees. Bremen’s Senate recorded the same custom in 1893. Helmut Schmidt, a former Hamburg senator, declined the Federal Order of Merit in 1968 in keeping with this tradition. He declined it several more times later.
The management thinker Hermann Simon introduced the term Hidden Champions in a study in 1990. It describes companies that rank first, second or third in the world market in their field, or first on their home continent. Their annual revenue is usually below three billion euros. The public has hardly heard of them. The exact number in Germany is unknown, but three surveys each found more than a thousand.
Karl Albrecht, co-founder of the discount chain Aldi, withdrew completely from public life in the mid-1950s. He was considered shy of the media. He hid his identity and refused every kind of interview. The German press knew only three old photographs of him. He died in Essen, the city where he was born, on 16 July 2014, at the age of 94.
Every German employee who leaves a job has a legal right to a written reference, the Arbeitszeugnis. The law says it must be clear and easy to understand. In practice, set phrases carry the grade. Stets zu unserer vollsten Zufriedenheit, always to our fullest satisfaction, means very good. In 2014 the Federal Labor Court ruled that zur vollen Zufriedenheit, to full satisfaction, counts only as befriedigend, a middle grade. An employee who wants a better grade must prove that he earned it.
The same ruling quotes legal commentators. When 86.6 percent of references rate performance as good or very good, they write, a reference no longer says anything about what the employee can actually do. The ruling does not name the study behind the figure.
In German schools, work that fully meets the requirements earns a 2, gut, good. The top grade, sehr gut, very good, needs work that meets the requirements to a special degree. Work that meets the requirements in general earns a 3. Its name is befriedigend, satisfactory.
Jemandem den Schwarzen Peter zuschieben — to slide the Black Peter to someone. The phrase comes from a children’s card game. The player left holding the Black Peter card loses. In everyday German it means pushing a problem, a fault or the responsibility onto another person.
Der Sündenbock — the scapegoat, from the goat in the Book of Leviticus that carries away the sins of the people.
Das Bauernopfer — the pawn sacrifice. A chess term for giving up a pawn to gain a better position. It is used when a senior official has a subordinate resign or be dismissed instead of resigning himself.