you know you're German if ...
 

You know you're German if...

You separate your trash into more than five different bins.
Your front door has a sign with your family name made from salt dough.
You carry a "4You" backpack.
You eat a cold dinner at 6pm.
You call your cell phone "handy" and a projector "beamer".
You have no problems with nude beaches and saunas.
You have asked your Asian-American friend, "No, but where are you *really* from?"
You have gotten splinters from environmentally friendly toiled paper.
You call an afternoon stroll "Nordic Walking".
You are shocked when you have to pay for dental care.
You own a pair of jeans in a color other than blue.
People start talking about Hitler and Hofbräuhaus when you tell them where you're from.
Tenth grade was all about dancing lessons.
You work 40 hour weeks and have 6 weeks of vacation a year, but complain about hard times.
Your childhood diet consisted of Alete and Zwieback. Your college diet consisted of Miracoli and Döner.
You were educated about sex by Dr. Sommer.
You yell at people for jaywalking.
You grew up watching "Löwenzahn" and "Die Sendung mit der Maus". And Baywatch.
You think college tuition is an outrage.
You routinely go 100mph on the highway and tailgate heavily.
On your last day of high school you made your teachers sing Karaoke and jump through hoops.
You wear brown leather shoes.
Your first audio tape was Benjamin Blümchen and Bibi Blocksberg.
You have ended an English sentence with "..., or?".
You can tell at least one Manta joke.
You're a college student in your 11th year.
Your first sexual experience was on Sat1, Saturday night at 11pm.
You spent hours in school learning to pronounce "th".
You expect chocolate in your shoes on December 6th.
You complain that in other countries everything is dirty.

;)

It would be interesting to compare your list to that of someone who grew up pre-Sat1, or pre-Die Sendung mit der Maus... or on the other side of the wall!

But I guess some things transcend the generations... like those dancing lessons!

its not my list, I got it emailed. but I wanted to share since I actually recognize some things from when I lived in Germany. I agree - would be interesting to see some older lists.
otoh - die sendung mit der maus exists since 1975 ...

And some of us were born LONG before then!

I remember when there was only one TV channel (or two if you lived near the German-German border), and I remember when TV was in black and white. And I'm still many years away from drawing my pension!

I guess most of it is true except "You yell at people for jaywalking.". OK, Germans are more likely to wait for the light to turn green than the British, but many people do jaywalk, and I have never heard anybody shouting. The Flemish, on the other hand, really hardly ever jaywalk...

This list is actually pretty accurate.

You need an absolutely rigid description of your job responsibilities in order to be expected to do anything....:(

And I heard you're old when...... you remember that TV's were black and white.
I do remember that I was one of the first to watch the football final between Germany and England in 1966 - in colour - at a neighbour's place as a kid.

Talking about the US here :confused:

Most definitely.

... at least one Manta joke? I'm a former Manta bride!!!

Pardon my curiosity but what is a Manta bride? And what are Manta jokes? I'm not German but I took German throughout college not ever encountering this term?

It's a car. Opel Manta. Its driver (and their girlfriends) had a certain reputation. I think some of the Manta bride jokes I heard were in fact translations of Essex Girl jokes we have over here - or the other way round.

OMG! What did they teach you there? Btw, there are several Manta movies. All of them really bad, of course. :p

You separate your trash into more than five different bins. Did that where I was born and raised (south) but not in NRW
Your front door has a sign with your family name made from salt dough. That is "Spiesser" not "German"
You carry a "4You" backpack. No, but I see that a lot
You eat a cold dinner at 6pm. Sure, I'm a college student and electrictity is expensive (see tuition fees)
You call your cell phone "handy" and a projector "beamer". Yes
You have no problems with nude beaches and saunas. Yes
You have asked your Asian-American friend, "No, but where are you *really* from?" Yes
You have gotten splinters from environmentally friendly toiled paper. Yes
You call an afternoon stroll "Nordic Walking". No
You are shocked when you have to pay for dental care. Yes, but no prob. for a Privatpatient
You own a pair of jeans in a color other than blue. Used to...
People start talking about Hitler and Hofbräuhaus when you tell them where you're from. Yes
Tenth grade was all about dancing lessons. Männer tanzen nicht
You work 40 hour weeks and have 6 weeks of vacation a year, but complain about hard times. College student, but anway: complaining...
Your childhood diet consisted of Alete and Zwieback. Your college diet consisted of Miracoli and Döner. Yes
You were educated about sex by Dr. Sommer. Only bought the Bravo once, back in 1990
You yell at people for jaywalking. Sure!
You grew up watching "Löwenzahn" and "Die Sendung mit der Maus". And Baywatch. Yes
You think college tuition is an outrage. Hhhmmm, don't see the advantages yet
You routinely go 100mph on the highway and tailgate heavily. 100? 150!
On your last day of high school you made your teachers sing Karaoke and jump through hoops. Actually I don't remember that much of my last high school day...;)
You wear brown leather shoes. Sure, goodyearwelted, I think the Question should be: You wear Birkenstocks with passion. Answer: Yes
Your first audio tape was Benjamin Blümchen and Bibi Blocksberg. Not sure...
You have ended an English sentence with "..., or?". That would be the Swiss
You can tell at least one Manta joke. Yes
You're a college student in your 11th year. No
Your first sexual experience was on Sat1, Saturday night at 11pm. I think it was RTL
You spent hours in school learning to pronounce "th". Yes
You expect chocolate in your shoes on December 6th. Sure!!!
You complain that in other countries everything is dirty. most countries, not all...

:D:D:D:D

19 out of 31, Note 3,5 passed the "Germanexam" ;)