The German dictionary DWDS computes the typical combinations of Gründlichkeit, thoroughness. Among the adjectives it lists are bewundernswert, admirable, methodisch, methodical, erschöpfend, exhaustive, and sprichwörtlich, proverbial. The same list includes pedantisch, pedantic, bürokratisch, bureaucratic, and buchhalterisch, like a bookkeeper. Several combinations attach the word to a place or a people: preußische, schwäbische, teutonische and urdeutsche Gründlichkeit, Prussian, Swabian, Teutonic and quintessentially German thoroughness.
Words for Too Much Thoroughness
der Amtsschimmel — the office horse. Duden: an excessively exact handling of official rules, bureaucratism. The word is used jokingly.
zerreden — to talk something to pieces, to discuss it so long that interest in it is lost. Ein Thema zerreden, to talk a topic to death.
die eierlegende Wollmilchsau — the egg-laying wool-milk-sow. It is something that is supposed to meet every demand at once, including demands that contradict each other.
der Hundertfünfzigprozentige — the hundred-and-fifty-percenter, someone who pursues something fanatically.
der Prinzipienreiter — the principle rider, someone who insists pettily on his principles.
Typically German, Say the Germans
In autumn 2012 the brewery Oettinger commissioned a survey on German virtues. According to the Tagesspiegel, 90 percent of respondents said that virtues such as reliability, diligence and order were typically German. Two thirds also admitted that Germans are not all as honest, punctual and conscientious as people always think. The newspaper also quoted Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, on troubled large building projects such as Berlin’s new airport: “Wir ruinieren doch mit solchen Desastern allmählich unseren Ruf als Ingenieurnation.” With disasters like these, we are slowly ruining our reputation as an engineering nation.
Stricter Than the EU Requires
In September 2026 the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, the DIHK, published 20 examples of Gold-Plating. The term means transposing EU directives into national law with requirements that go beyond what EU law demands. Among the DIHK’s examples is the German duty for companies to appoint a data protection officer. In December 2025 a study by the Centrum für Europäische Politik found that recent federal governments had hardly managed to avoid gold-plating, despite clear promises.
A Fourth Law Against Bureaucracy
On 18 October 2024 the Bundesrat approved the fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act, the Viertes Bürokratieentlastungsgesetz. Its changes reach everyday life. Accounting records must now be kept for eight years instead of ten. German citizens no longer have to fill in a registration form when they check into a hotel. Many transactions no longer need a handwritten signature. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said the law would relieve the economy by almost one billion euros a year.
The Tax Return on a Beer Mat
In 2003 Friedrich Merz promised a tax system so simple that a tax return would fit on a beer mat. His concept had only three tax rates, 12, 24 and 36 percent. It was never put into law. Merz later said he had meant that a beer mat should be enough to calculate the amount of tax owed. The beer mat itself is now in the House of History in Bonn. In February 2025, during a television program, the presenter Günther Jauch dropped it. The museum’s president reported that it was undamaged.
The Bridge at Rahmede
The main inspections of the Rahmede valley bridge on the A45 motorway gave it the condition grade 3.0 in 2011, and again in 2017. On 2 December 2021 the bridge was closed for good because of irreparable damage to its structure. It was blown up on 7 May 2023. The state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia set up a committee of inquiry into the backlog of bridge repairs. The new bridge opened on 22 December 2025, earlier than planned. At the opening, Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder said: “Rahmede-Tempo wird Alltagstempo in Deutschland sein.” Rahmede speed will be everyday speed in Germany.
Bureaucracy, in Germans’ Own Eyes
In a YouGov survey for the German Press Agency, published in January 2026, 89 percent of adults in Germany named bureaucracy as typically German. Punctuality followed with 78 percent and diligence with 64 percent. Fifty-six percent named fear of change. In July 2026 a forsa survey for the civil service union dbb found that 79 percent of citizens think the state is overwhelmed by its tasks and problems. Only 17 percent trusted the state to solve its problems, a new low. Eighty-six percent said a clear reduction and simplification of official rules was important.
The Sailing Ship That Cost Thirteen Times as Much
In December 2015 the navy’s sail training ship Gorch Fock went into a complete overhaul. The repairs were first estimated at 10 million euros. The overhaul lasted until September 2021 and in the end cost 135 million euros. In March 2019 the Federal Court of Audit demanded a cap on the costs. In December 2018 allegations of corruption and breach of trust had been raised against the shipyard, which filed for insolvency on 20 February 2019.
The Software That Recognized the Test
On 18 September 2015 it became public that Volkswagen diesel engines of the EA189 series contained software that recognized emissions tests. In normal driving, a large part of the exhaust cleaning system was largely switched off. About eleven million vehicles worldwide were affected. Chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned on 23 September 2015. In 2017 Volkswagen paid 2.8 billion US dollars in a criminal settlement in the United States. Winterkorn’s trial began in September 2024.