# communicating with the US from Europe **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543 "2013-08-29T23:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/21 "2013-09-02T20:43:23Z")
> [@chris.denning.1961](#): > > you can buy a prepaid “handy” just about anywhere in Europe, cheap enough to be considered more or less disposable. I don’t think you can buy “handies” anywhere other than Germany. At least in Norway the only people who know about that German slang term are people who like to make fun of it. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/22 "2013-09-02T21:36:05Z")
Mail post cards. Like people did in the pre-device era. I was abroad for almost three years, in Africa and the Middle east, without phoning home once. It’s amazing how few emergencies there were when cell phones had not been invented yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/23 "2013-09-03T03:49:23Z")
Something as small and simple as an iPod Touch will connect to WiFi and let you Skype. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/24 "2013-09-03T04:47:18Z")
Ipods may be small but they aren’t a cheap or a simple solution at my level of cheap and simple. Postcards are, yes!, cheap and simple, but they are unidirectional, and it is news from home that I want. On my side it will be just, we sang, we ate, we rode the bus. But, hey, thank you for thinking of solutions, everyone is being very creative. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/25 "2013-09-03T10:23:01Z")
If it’s just phone calls, buy an ultra-cheap cellphone when you arrive (in the UK the cheapest ones are about a fiver) and either just top it up and make calls or buy an international calling card. They’re available at most central london shops, same in Berlin, presumably the same elsewhere, and really do work out very cheap. You simply dial in a number on the card and then dial the number you actually want to call. They also work from payphones, and there are still quite a few of those around. This is how my international students stay in touch with home from the UK anyway. ---
**Author:** ![chris.denning.1961](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@chris.denning.1961](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chris.denning.1961)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/26 "2013-09-14T11:02:27Z")
> [@naita](#): > > I don’t think you can buy “handies” anywhere other than Germany. At least in Norway the only people who know about that German slang term are people who like to make fun of it. I was in Germany at the time so “handy” is the term that I was familiar with, but, the phone worked everywhere I travelled… Spain, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland. Is there anything German that people in Norway DON’T make fun of? And I’m curious… What kind of joke do Norwegians make about “handies?” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/27 "2013-09-14T11:07:24Z")
Just don’t use the phone in your hotel room:eek: ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/28 "2013-09-14T12:16:06Z")
> [@chris.denning.1961](#): > > I was in Germany at the time so “handy” is the term that I was familiar with, but, the phone worked everywhere I travelled… Spain, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland. > > Is there anything German that people in Norway DON’T make fun of? And I’m curious… What kind of joke do Norwegians make about “handies?” 😉 What we don’t make fun of? Mercedes Benz. Everything else is fair game. And there are no jokes as such about “handies”, but people everywhere (not just in Norway) aware that Germans use an English word as slang for cell phone and think the word is used elsewhere as well, find it funny. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/29 "2013-09-16T13:43:33Z")
> [@naita](#): > > What we don’t make fun of? Mercedes Benz. Everything else is fair game. And there are no jokes as such about “handies”, but people everywhere (not just in Norway) aware that Germans use an English word as slang for cell phone and think the word is used elsewhere as well, find it funny. “Denglish” is actually a thing these days: > **[Germans are speaking Denglish – by borrowing words from us](https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/jun/25/germans-speak-denglish-borrowing-english-words)** > > Fed up with unwieldy compound nouns, younger Germans are turning increasingly to catchy English words My favourite is “Dogging”. In German it means “walking your dog as a kind of sport”, in British English it means “engaging in sexual acts in a public or semi-public place or watching others doing so”. > **[Dogging](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogging)** > > Dogging bezeichnet > Siehe auch: > Der Text ist unter der Lizenz „Creative-Commons Namensnennung – Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen“ verfügbar; Informationen zu den Urhebern und zum Lizenzstatus eingebundener Mediendateien (etwa Bilder oder Videos) können im Regelfall durch Anklicken dieser abgerufen werden. Möglicherweise unterliegen die Inhalte jeweils zusätzlichen Bedingungen. Durch die Nutzung dieser Website erklären Sie sich mit den Nutzungsbedingungen und der Datenschutzrichtlinie einver... > **[Dogging (sexual slang)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogging_(sexual_slang))** > > Dogging is a British English slang term for engaging in sexual acts in a public or semi-public place or watching others doing so. There may be more than two participants; both group sex and gang banging can be included. As observation is encouraged, voyeurism and exhibitionism are closely associated with dogging. The people involved meet either randomly or, increasingly, arrange beforehand over the Internet to meet up. > In September 2003, BBC News reported on the "new" dogging craze. They cited... Which of course makes this hoodie unintentionally hilarious to Brits: [http://www.amazon.de/SLEEP-DOGGING-Kapuzen-Sweat-Shirt-S-XXL-Schwarz/dp/B001MAM6J0/ref=sr\_1\_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1372168836&sr=8-19&keywords=dogging+hund](http://www.amazon.de/SLEEP-DOGGING-Kapuzen-Sweat-Shirt-S-XXL-Schwarz/dp/B001MAM6J0/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1372168836&sr=8-19&keywords=dogging+hund) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543/30 "2013-09-16T16:27:51Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > “Denglish” is actually a thing these days: > > [Germans are speaking Denglish – by borrowing words from us | Germany | The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/jun/25/germans-speak-denglish-borrowing-english-words) > > My favourite is “Dogging”. In German it means “walking your dog as a kind of sport”, in British English it means “engaging in sexual acts in a public or semi-public place or watching others doing so”. > > [Dogging – Wikipedia](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogging) > [Dogging (sexual slang) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogging_(sexual_slang)) > > Which of course makes this hoodie unintentionally hilarious to Brits: > [http://www.amazon.de/SLEEP-DOGGING-Kapuzen-Sweat-Shirt-S-XXL-Schwarz/dp/B001MAM6J0/ref=sr\_1\_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1372168836&sr=8-19&keywords=dogging+hund](http://www.amazon.de/SLEEP-DOGGING-Kapuzen-Sweat-Shirt-S-XXL-Schwarz/dp/B001MAM6J0/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1372168836&sr=8-19&keywords=dogging+hund) That’s way better than “handies”, I’m going to share that with my linguisticly interested friends.😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/communicating-with-the-us-from-europe/667543.md?page=1)