"Everything I Know About Germans"

Did you see Liv Hambrett's viral blog "Everything I Know About Germans"? I think every single item in her list could make up a whole blog post here!

Check it out:

http://www.livhambrett.com/everything-i-know-about-germany-germans/what-i-know-about-germans/

*Germany's Equators*

Thanks to Heidelbergerin for this map of Germany's divisions between north and south--defined by sayings, versions of Aldi, and kinds of sausages. I think it's interesting that even Germans themselves focus more on the southern German culture (it's not just cheesy American restaurants claiming to be German)--look at that blank northern part without any cities marked.

*Labor vs. Work vs. Function*

Here is one of my experiences in messing up using German verbs.


(Also: thanks for all the comments, Sommergarten! Kannst gerne meine Blogs teilen, wenn Du willst!)

*Apostrophes*

See the example above (ignore the misspelled word for now)? German doesn't use apostrophes, though all the English that is taught in German schools has influenced that. Unfortunately, Germans' use of apostrophes in both English and German is just about as confused as the use of apostrophes in America. The only difference is that a lot of Germans tend to type them (whether correct or not) the wrong way, even though German keyboards are actually capable of ´ and ` and '. Most word processors will change the single quotation marks around words (such as in the case of 'word') to be at the correct angle anyway, so the straight up and down apostrophe symbol should be used in place of the grave accents and acute accents. This goes for contractions, too. "I`ve had a wonderfull day!!" should be "I've had a wonderful day!!" More info here.

*Diagonal Pictures*

What do all these pictures have in common?




























They're all diagonal. And they were all taken by German guys. I'm not saying all Germans do that. I'm just saying.

*Learn East German*

Just in case you wanted to know what the East German dialect sounds like. :)

*Erdställe*

Another thing to explore in Germany: Erdställe, or ancient underground tunnels with an unknown purpose. (I wonder if they're like the tunnels I saw in Cappadocia, Turkey, that early Christians built to hide in.)

(Image source here.)