Because Americans find it difficult separate what they say from the person they are saying it to – especially in the case of criticism – they strive to use softer, more indirect language, including euphemisms: mild or indirect words or expressions substituted for ones considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
Examples of euphemisms: pre-owned car instead of a used car, sex worker instead of a prostitute, to be between jobs instead of to be unemployed, senior citizen instead of old person, underserved neighborhood or underserved population instead of the poor, or an impoverished, needy neighborhood.
Further examples: economically disadvantaged instead of poor; temporary negative cash flow instead of broke; enhanced interrogation methods instead of torture; collateral damage instead of civilian deaths.
Spend any time in Germany, and perhaps in other countries, and you will hear directly or indirectly how poorly informed (aka dumb) Americans are.
Keep in mind, however, that Germans consider themselves to be intelligent. And they are. Many of them consider themselves to be more intelligent than Americans. And they are. On average. Perhaps.
New York Times. May 11, 2022. One of America’s greatest stand-up comics. A satirist in the deepest sense. George Carlin. Always critical of his homeland. Its short-comings. Its deceits. For many a true patriotic American.
The (American) Black Forest Family. “Between Jonathan and me, we have 12 years of collective work experience in Germany. And during that time, German work culture has taught us a lot about work values and the atmosphere of employment in Germany, and how different it is from working in the United States.
Some of these are monumental (like parental leave in Germany, work/life balance, and sick leave) and some of them are small nuances (like work habits and break time). But collectively, our experience of working in Germany has made us better employees and strengthened our relationships with our colleagues. Let’s explore them together.”
Jump to 9:40 about: German “do it right the first time” vs. American “just go.”
This video is full of rather embarrassing clichés. And those clichés say more about the people repeating them than they do about the people they purport to describe.
Germany has the third-largest economy on the planet with only ca. eighty-five million people. Many of their companies dominate their markets. As if the German people did not know how to solve problems.
As one German commenter wrote: “I really don’t get how we are one of the most productive and powerful economies in the world while having to agree with this 100% at the same time.”
Oh wait, maybe because the maker of the video, Daniel-Ryan Spaulding, is an American comedian based in Berlin, and not, for example, an engineer working in any of the many world-class German companies.
“From the German Autobahn to the US Interstate System, der Führerschein or driver’s license – over the past few years we have done a LOT of driving in both Germany and the United States.
Although the US Highway System was modeled after the German Autobahn, you might find some surprising differences. Come ride along with us as we roam the roads of both countries!”
Very helpful, and funny, comments. From Germans. Explaining their logic:
“Germany: The problem that you cannot see the traffic light clearly when you are in the front row is resolved by the fact that the car behind you immediately honks when you are not driving when the traffic light changes to green :-)”
“The main reason why traffic lights in Germany are on your side of the crossing is clarity. Germany with its old town centers has many very irregularly shaped crossings, and a traffic light at the opposite side can not easily be attributed to a certain lane or even a road. When the first traffic lights were introduced in the 1920s, Germany experimented with the placement of the traffic lights on the opposite side or hanging down from cables spanned across the crossing. In the 1950s, all those installations were removed due to constant confusion of drivers.”
“Turning right on red lights is not often used in Germany due to pedestrian and bicycling traffic. When you are waiting on a crossing, chances are high that you not only have to watch out for car traffic, but also for pedestrians and other traffic you don’t regularly have in the U.S.. Thus in Germany, turning right on red lights is decided on a case-by-case base.”
“My instructor in Germany told me early on: “You are behind the wheel, you are handling a weapon.” This stuck with me.”
“About the driver’s license: there is a 40% fail rate on both the theoretical and practical exams here in Germany, which says a lot about the quality of the drivers the government is striving for. As I tell my kids: Driving is easy. Being a driver is not.”
Want to know the why for a culture’s behavior? Simply ask them.
“One should have just asked a Swabian housewife,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel when asked about the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008.
In Germany, the traditional image of a housewife in the region of Swabia has typically been a positive one: a woman who is wise with her family’s money. Yet is there anything behind that stereotype?
A funny comment in YouTube: “I’d like to see a Swabian and a Scotsman plan a holiday together. I can only imagine the depths of destitution they would stoop to.”