German Of The Day: Abkühlung

April 5, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Economy, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Recession 1 Comment

That means cooling or cooling off.

You know, like German growth predicted to stall during 2019 in significant Abkühlung?

Germany’s economy could experience a “significant cooling” in 2019 and could see sharply lower growth this year, the country’s leading economic institutes have warned in a report compiled for Germany’s economics ministry.

Forecasts for German growth were revised significantly downwards in a ‘Joint Economic Forecast’ collated by several prominent German economic research institutes and published Thursday, with economists predicting a meager 0.8% this year.

This is more than one percentage point lower than a prediction for 1.9% made in a joint economic forecast in fall 2018.

“The long-term upswing of the German economy has come to an end.”

Germany Is NATO’s Biggest Freeloader

April 4, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Anniversaries, Defense, Defense Spending, Freeloading, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Military, NATO Leave a comment

That was a Washington Post headline, not mine.

There’s a German word for freeloader, by the way. Sounds worse in German, too.

As Nato commemorates its 70th anniversary in Washington this week, Germany seems to be labouring mightily to reassure the 29-member alliance that it will never threaten anyone militarily again — because it is in fact its own worst enemy.

How else can you qualify an ally that has announced it won’t be meeting its own pledge to increase defence spending to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2024, even when it has formally committed to a target of 2 per cent, like everybody else?

Eines kann man Donald Trump nicht vorwerfen: Dass er mit seiner Meinung hinter dem Berg halten würde.

Kings of Kallstadt

April 3, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Humility, Humor Tags: Documentaries, Donald Trump, Films, Germany Leave a comment

President Trump Keeps Falsely Saying His Father Was Born In Germany.

It’s an honest mistake, I guess. If he never saw this German documentary called “Kings of Kallstadt,” I mean. His grandfather – as did H. J. Heinz of the famous ketchup company – both stemmed from this same small German town in the Rhineland. The film is in German, of course, but even if you don’t speak German it gets interesting around minute 48.

What’s also interesting about the film, I think, is that this takes place shortly before Donald Trump ran for President and the civil tone of the whole undertaking is breathtaking. Before all the poison that came out later, I mean. The film is a bit of an accident, in other words.

“He was born in a very wonderful place in Germany.”

German Of The Day: Litfaßsäule

April 2, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Advertising, Berlin, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Progress, Tradition Leave a comment

That means advertising column.

Take a good look. They won’t be around much longer. They’re going to a better place – the same place the LPs, dial phones, typewriters and carrier pigeons went.

They have been an integral part of the city’s furniture for so long, Berliners admit to taking them for granted.

But concrete advertising pillars, known as Litfaßsäule – or Litfaß columns – after the man who invented them, around 3,000 of which dot the German capital, are under threat. A low-key, grassroots protest has sprung up in an effort to save them from destruction and sparked a trend involving writing messages on the pillars, as well as poems and heart felt tributes.

It takes two or three people to group hug a Litfaßsäule, and that has also become another way of highlighting the reluctance to let them go.

“I’m certainly still more drawn to a catchy poster on the Litfaßsäule, than I am to something that flashes up on my mobile phone which I’m likely to swipe away in annoyance.”

No Contradiction Here

April 1, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Daylight Savings Time, EU, German, Germans, Germany, Polls, Surveys, Time Leave a comment

Not if you’ve lived in Germany long enough there isn’t. Or you won’t notice it, I should say.

Germans Invented Daylight Saving Time—Now They’re Going to Kill It – The European Parliament voted in favor of stopping the practice by 2021, following a poll last year from the EU in which 84% of the respondents voted in favor of reverting to one time year-round. The law must now be passed by national governments…

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is a force behind the movement, having vowed to back the end of Daylight Saving Time in September last year, after the results of the poll were released. The survey proved it was the will of the people, he declared; “Clock-changing must stop.”

But in reality, it was mostly just the will of the Germans.

Out of 4.6 million responders to the poll, 3 million were German. (The country accounts for about one-sixth of the EU’s total population.)

“If we didn’t have the time change, and today someone would come up with the idea of introducing it, everybody would think that person was crazy.”

German Of The Day: Migrationshintergrund

March 31, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Angela Merkel, Borders, German, Germans, Germany, Immigrants, Immigration, Integration, Language, Migrants, Unemployment Leave a comment

That means migrant or immigration background.

You know, like almost half of the unemployed in Germany have Migrationshintergrund? 46 percent, to be exact, sort of (answering this question at the employment office is not mandatory so the number will actually be higher). Back in 2013 it was 36 percent. Kind of a high percentage, don’t you think? But the talking heads in government and media don’t worry about something like this turning into a larger problem than it already is because they have been told, officially like, that “they can do it.”

Die entsprechende Quote liegt demnach bei 46 Prozent. Ende 2013, vor Beginn der verstärkten Migration nach Deutschland, hatte der Wert noch bei 36 Prozent gelegen.

B.

March 30, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hotness Tags: Blümchen Leave a comment

Beautiful German of the week.

Because somebody has to admire them.

Angst, Angst, Angst…

March 29, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hysteria Tags: Angst, German, Germans, Germany, Insurance, Welfare State 1 Comment

Insurance, insurance, insurance.

How German angst created the welfare state – The state sets the tone. Your health insurance contributions are deducted automatically from your salary at a rate of 14.6 percent. You and your employer pay half each. Unemployment, pension and long-term care insurance are also taken out of your pay.

Liability insurance isn’t legally required, but people will raise an eyebrow if you don’t have any. Additional dental insurance, for procedures not covered by the statutory system, comes widely recommended. And if you have a pet, expect to be judged for not guarding against all eventualities…

See German Oddity 11. Germans don’t like surprises. That is probably why they have insurance for practically anything you can imagine. It’s crazy. They not only have vacation insurance, for example, they also have what-if-I-decide-to-cancel-my-vacation insurance. They have insurance for their insurance, you see. And if you were to ever tell a German that you didn’t have any Rechtschutzversicherung (legal costs insurance) they would gasp for breath and look at you like you just beamed down from Mars.

German Of The Day: Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei

March 28, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, Economy, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Recession Leave a comment

That means the “fat” (good) years are over.

Merkel Doesn’t Want to Tell Germans the Good Times May Be Over – The leaders preparing to take over when Merkel steps aside are worried too. They say voters could be caught unawares by an economic shock in the middle of the political transition from Merkel’s rule. Two senior party officials this month voiced concerns that such a double whammy could shake up the political map ahead of the next election. They asked not to be identified questioning the chancellor’s approach.

One shouldn’t undermine the economic upswing by talking it down.

No Parallel Society Here

March 27, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Courts, German, Germans, Germany, Integration, Islam, Kindergarden, Muslims, Rulings, Salafists Leave a comment

Not yet anyway.

But if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

Germany: Muslim kindergarten loses appeal against closure – State officials had ordered “Al Nur” to close following revelations that inappropriate literature had been shared at the kindergarten. The day care center is the only Muslim kindergarten in Rhineland-Palatinate…

The state’s decision to revoke Al Nur kindergarten’s license was lawful because evidence showed links between the school’s administrators and the extremist Salafist ideology, an administrative court in the city of Mainz said. The court said the links made it difficult for children at Al Nur to integrate into German society and compromised their independence.

“Efforts by Arab Nil-Rhein, the association that runs the kindergarten, to distance itself from Salafist thought were not convincing.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Author Archives: Hermann Observer