Hey all. I'm back in the 'net cafe. Hopefully by the time I get back home today I'll have my own connection there. Until then, I'm listening to this great girl with an acoustic guitar sing in my headphones (Reina Del Cid. Check her out on YouTube and follow along with me!) and typing away. Today's topic:
Things The Germans Do The Same (as We Do Back In Zee States):
Smoking: In the U.S. there are soooo many different brands of cigarettes to choose from - variations on Camels, Marlborros, Pall Malls, Parliaments, Lucky Strikes, Winstons, Capris, Virginia Slims, Kools, Monarchs, GPCs, Newports, and on and on... but Marlborro and Camel seem to be the big ones that everybody knows. So, when I got here I guess I expected the Germans to have an answer to this American Cigarette Market Domination in the form of weird German cigarette brands like Das Smoke or ĂberZiggies or something ... but no. It looks so far like they all smoke Camels and Marlborros just like the people in U.S. do. Except this one guy. I did meet this guy the other night who was rolling his own cigarettes with some tabacco that I'd never heard of. I was like, "You go, bar man who kind of looks like Mick Jagger! You go!"
Radio: All I ever hear on the radio here is American music. In every cafe, bookstore, clothing boutique, and funeral home I am bombarded with every Top 40 hit from this year - "I Kissed A Girl" and "Disturbia" - as well as some really random older stuff - like the other day when I heard Ginuwine's "My Pony" in a hair salon. Weird.
Yes and No: I'm coming to realize that I don't have to say "ja" and "nein" anymore. For example, as long as I get out an "n" sound and then pretty much any vowel, it comes out as an informal No. "Ney." "Noo." "Nei." "Nyeu." "Ngueiuo." It's all good. English kinda does the same thing. Think about it: "no", "nah", "nuh-uh", "nunghe", "nyeuu". As long as it doesn't start with a Y sound, you're golden. Try it today -- see how many people you can get to understand your new negations! Nyeugh, my friends, nyeugh!
Things The Germans Do The Same (as We Do Back In Zee States):
Smoking: In the U.S. there are soooo many different brands of cigarettes to choose from - variations on Camels, Marlborros, Pall Malls, Parliaments, Lucky Strikes, Winstons, Capris, Virginia Slims, Kools, Monarchs, GPCs, Newports, and on and on... but Marlborro and Camel seem to be the big ones that everybody knows. So, when I got here I guess I expected the Germans to have an answer to this American Cigarette Market Domination in the form of weird German cigarette brands like Das Smoke or ĂberZiggies or something ... but no. It looks so far like they all smoke Camels and Marlborros just like the people in U.S. do. Except this one guy. I did meet this guy the other night who was rolling his own cigarettes with some tabacco that I'd never heard of. I was like, "You go, bar man who kind of looks like Mick Jagger! You go!"
Radio: All I ever hear on the radio here is American music. In every cafe, bookstore, clothing boutique, and funeral home I am bombarded with every Top 40 hit from this year - "I Kissed A Girl" and "Disturbia" - as well as some really random older stuff - like the other day when I heard Ginuwine's "My Pony" in a hair salon. Weird.
Yes and No: I'm coming to realize that I don't have to say "ja" and "nein" anymore. For example, as long as I get out an "n" sound and then pretty much any vowel, it comes out as an informal No. "Ney." "Noo." "Nei." "Nyeu." "Ngueiuo." It's all good. English kinda does the same thing. Think about it: "no", "nah", "nuh-uh", "nunghe", "nyeuu". As long as it doesn't start with a Y sound, you're golden. Try it today -- see how many people you can get to understand your new negations! Nyeugh, my friends, nyeugh!
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2 comments:
I noticed this about German radio too. Ironically enough it is like this in Italy also. Every single time I got into an Italian cab, the radio would be playing something like Aerosmith or Rhianna. Very strange, indeed. I tried to add you on Facebook, but there was no magic "add" button. What gives? :) -Megan
I haven't heard "My Pony" in so long that it hurts. As in, literally, it fills me with a sort of ache that is really hard to describe. I think that the observations are really cool; it's good to know that, despite what country I am in, I can still find cigarettes. And good ones. Ones that make sense.
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