Copyright 2004 by M. Uli Kusterer Fri, 29 Nov -1901 11:06:32 GMT Comments on article blog-differences-us-d at Zathras.de http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm witness_dot_of_dot_teachtext_at_gmx_dot_net (M. Uli Kusterer) witness_dot_of_dot_teachtext_at_gmx_dot_net (M. Uli Kusterer) en-us http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment7 http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment7

politeness - I do think that politeness means different things to different people and there are certain things that each culture takes importance to.

At the grocery store - One of the first things words I learned was Entschuldigung. But it seems that I really didn't need the word after all. If I am in the grocery store, if someone runs into you with their person or with their cart they do not say anything.


http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment6 http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment6 In reference to the working situation, SOO true.
Either you are in the Group or out! America rates you less on your consistant performance more though if you are loved or only liked . America will NOT except the differences of other cultures ( Kulturen ) nor that they try to understand, it is easier for Corperate America to say " adjust your communicational skills "
http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment5 http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment5 Uli Kusterer writes:
Dave, thanks. I couldn't find the Wikipedia article for some reason when I wrote this posting.
http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment4 http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment4 Dave Henderson writes:
Uli, you can remove the parentheses and ? around the d. The term is Closed Captioning, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captioning for more information, but in a nutshell the reason is that the captions are "closed", ie hidden, unless one decodes them.

Ruth, building out of stone wouldn't necessarily guarantee that a structure could withstand hurricane force winds just as building with wood doesn't automatically guarantee that a structure won't withstand such forces. Any structure no matter the material from which it is made must be engineered/constructed to withstand the forces most likely to act upon it. Although, I would agree that building steel frame rather than wood frame homes might be more economically and enviromentally sound not to metion safer.
http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment3 http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment3 Ruth Less writes:
Don't worry, Aaron, German is quite easy. For instance, "horse" is "Pferd" -- and everything else follows along the same lines. :-D
http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment2 http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment2 Aaron Ballman writes:
A vast difference between the two:

In one place they speak German, in the other, English. ;-)
http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment1 http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-differences-us-d.htm#comment1 Ruth Less writes:
-- German politeness and brutal honesty: Dude you should come to Czech Republic. That's brutal honesty. :-)

-- Doggy bag: Yes, you can ask for it, just don't call it DOGGY BAG! Maybe in the USA that's a euphemism for "of course I wanna eat it myself", but I'd consider that an insult towards cook to imply "the left-overs are only good for a dog". If you wanna take it home to eat, just say so.

-- Prices of US houses vs German houses: Well duh. German houses are made of stone. American houses are made of... wood or something... Now you know why Germans are quite shocked to see images of vast hurricane damage in the USA! I always have to remind myself that those piles where not all 100-years-old solid stone houses before the hurricane.

-- Donut vs Berliner: I think they taste different, too, don't they?

-- "Children actually had to resort to things like buying wine in a tetra-pak to get their booze." Poor souls! Forcing them to drink wine out of Tetrapaks -- in a wine area like the south-west? The horror. Do you want to tell us some more about this "child" or is it the same one the whole blog is dedicated to? ;-)