Judging from Philip Greenspun’s weblog, it doesn’t sound as if Germans are very welcome in some parts of Oklahoma.
Transblawg
Weblog on German-English legal translation, no longer from Fürth
Judging from Philip Greenspun’s weblog, it doesn’t sound as if Germans are very welcome in some parts of Oklahoma.
It really astounds me that some people find it acceptable to “answer” an interesting question relevant to modern times by mentioning something that happened some 60 years ago, just to win an argument. Do German people get Nazism thrown at them every time they try and have a constructive argument about social issues?
I suppose it’s an American thing – the Germans are so far away (and so are the French!). It also makes me think of a thread at Davids Medienkritik that PapaScott linked to, on the topic of why Germans are so anti-American. http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2004/01/this_is_an_exce.html
Most of the comments seem very strange to me.
Unfortunately, this type of comment is very typical, just as it is typical that today’s IGJ decision in the matter of Mexcio v. United States of America was not on the national, English-speaking TV news programs. Certain things don’t sink in, and connections are not made. Fortunately, Americans are totally friendly if you do not question their core values including the fundamental belief that America’s system of justice is a model for the world. And some remain friendly even if you do.
I understand the overall picture (I think), but sometimes odd comments bring the difference home. For instance, ‘There are an awful lot of Woody Allens in Europe’ – I think this refers to his films rather than his personal life. I remember Woody Allen is understood mainly on the east and west coasts and in Europe. Or the statement that especially among the ‘1968 generation’ there are a lot of neurotics, i.e. a lot of unmarried people, but it’s better among the younger Germans. Now as an unmarried person who was at university in 1968 and therefore probably meant, I might admit to being neurotic, but certainly no more neurotic than a married Mid-Westerner!