# Do the Germans make any \*bad\* stuff? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323 "2009-02-25T04:22:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/21 "2009-02-25T06:58:14Z")
Germans haven’t made Nazis in over 60 years, so if you want to continue throw that in German faces today, fine - but they do pride themselves on creating decent products that last. Having taught many German engineers and scientists, I can tell you they take great pride in their “know how” when it comes to technology. Yes, they can be very anal about it - I believe Lufthansa still requires a German crew to work on their planes, even in foreign countries. Many countries around the world pay a hefty fee to have German technology and German technicians working on everything from power plants to building construction and infrastructure. I also know that in Germany, consumers expect a lot from their products and generally prefer to buy things made in Germany whenever possible - even it if costs more. I think even in the US, kitchen appliances, bathroom fixtures and many other household goods made in Germany cost more, but are highly rated and considered worth the money. There are also great cameras, glassware, furniture, electronics and toys that are built with style and great craftsmanship. Of course there are some German products that are crap (Afri-Cola comes to mind), but for the most part they are not exported and sold domestically for the low-end market. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/22 "2009-02-25T07:09:46Z")
David Hasselhoff Fan Clubs? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/23 "2009-02-25T07:16:36Z")
Germany has good whites and some decent reds, but they may not be in the style you prefer. The one “cognac” that I’ve had here is purely vile stuff, though. I also think that Jaegermeister fails as a liqueur, although I was able to use it the past few days as an impromptu cold remedy. Their fashion and design style (in terms of buildings) can be more than a little jarring. And some of the lower end cars have been not what I’d want, like Opel series which drives just like a GM (wonder why?) and even some of the older BMWs, Audis and VWs didn’t hold up all that great, but then they improved most of those. I’d say that overall there is not a lot of crap that gets produced here, although you can certainly find some things. And the cost of production is so high that there is not a lot of stuff that still gets produced in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/24 "2009-02-25T07:26:20Z")
German electronics are mostly over priced and inferior. Take car radios-Blaupunct is a good example-about 2X the cost of Asian brands and not as reliable. German cutlery is OK, but way too expensive. As for autombiles, Mercedes-Benz is expensive and plagued with bugs (complex designs). The owner’s manula is a 760 page book. German cameras used to be good, but now are no better than the japanese, and much more costly. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/25 "2009-02-25T10:19:58Z")
Rumple Minze is pretty terrible. But then again, I hate most things peppermint. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/26 "2009-02-25T11:03:46Z")
I don’t know if that really counts, but Germans are really bad at producing reality TV shows. They usually take a concept, remove all the bits that made the original fun, film it on a crappy set, and then bitch about “stupid American reality TV” when the show fails spectacularly. That and I second the comedians. Stand-up comedians at least, there are some decent TV formats. Although you can probably only truly gauge the giant black hole of talent-free-ness that is Mario Barth if you understand German. And god, yes, the techno music. [Here](http://www.theshrine.de/) is a site where you can produce your own German techno number (the bits were taken from a rather stupid act by a German DJ and have since become somewhat of a running gag). Gude Laune, Alder! I must protest the wine, though, there are some good whites at least. And the cars - most of them are at least solidly engineered, I wouldn’t call them _bad_, even if you might prefer cars from other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/27 "2009-02-25T11:24:08Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Germany has good whites and some decent reds, but they may not be in the style you prefer. The one “cognac” that I’ve had here is purely vile stuff, though. I also think that Jaegermeister fails as a liqueur, although I was able to use it the past few days as an impromptu cold remedy. > > Their fashion and design style (in terms of buildings) can be more than a little jarring. > > And some of the lower end cars have been not what I’d want, like Opel series which drives just like a GM (wonder why?) and even some of the older BMWs, Audis and VWs didn’t hold up all that great, but then they improved most of those. > > I’d say that overall there is not a lot of crap that gets produced here, although you can certainly find some things. And the cost of production is so high that there is not a lot of stuff that still gets produced in Germany. Asbach? That is some good stuff. I’ve been to the distillery a few times. I’ve been to many wine festivals along the Rhine. The ones I remember had very good wine. Never really tried any red. When I was stationed in Germany many of us had used BMWs. They were called “The Ultimate Maintenance Machine.” After a few years you better have a bunch of extra oil around. Funny you should mention Jaegermeister as a cold remedy. It always tasted like cough syrup to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/28 "2009-02-25T12:27:05Z")
> [@3trew](#): > > I must respectfully beg to differ. I believe it is generally acknowledged that the Germans produced the finest Nazis. I certainly haven’t been impressed with any of the cheap post-war knockoffs. \I hate Illinois Nazis.\ ---
**Author:** ![in\_hiding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c5a1d2/32.png) [@in\_hiding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/in_hiding)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/29 "2009-02-25T12:30:00Z")
> [@Einmon](#): > > I don’t know if that really counts, but Germans are really bad at producing reality TV shows. They usually take a concept, remove all the bits that made the original fun, film it on a crappy set, and then bitch about “stupid American reality TV” when the show fails spectacularly. That’s what I wanted to say. Our private Television sucks. Big time. It’s like they are trying to lower the IQ of the german population by 10% every year or something. > [@](#): > > That and I second the comedians. Stand-up comedians at least, there are some decent TV formats. Although you can probably only truly gauge the giant black hole of talent-free-ness that is Mario Barth if you understand German. On the other side, we had Loriot. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/30 "2009-02-25T13:43:56Z")
I’d have to disagree about air cooled VW’s, at least the earlier classic ones before the days of tacked on emission controls and “souped up” engines. The werent great cars in an absolute sense, but they were still brilliant and well executed in their own way. They were just as cheap as they could be without being TOO cheap. Or in other words they werent overbuilt like brick shithouses nor where they so underbuilt they fell apart. That kind of fine edge engineering/construction is very hard to do. They were amazing easy to work on, with an absolutely amazingly minimum number of tool required, even for a complete rebuild. And if you babied them and tinkered constantly (which was also easy to do and apparently something anal Germans loved to do) they would last. Give em to Americans that didnt baby em and were used to 200 hp not 40, well not so good. They were just about the only icon of cheap, reliable, fixable, good gas mileage cars for decades. They were full of good old german engineering and know how. ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/31 "2009-02-25T13:58:48Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > I was going to say gas chambers since “Nazis” aren’t really a product. You’re a horrible person, but you make me feel better for thinking “ovens” and then wondering how to work in a baking joke. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/32 "2009-02-25T14:27:45Z")
Dancing to german techno at the Love Parade in Berlin was one of the best times of my life 🙂 It’s not all Scooter… Westbam alone is a techno legend. And there are some really, really nice German wines… Rieslings especially. They can taste a bit strange to anyone used to syrupy Californian whites, but some of them cut like a razor they’re that crisp. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/33 "2009-02-25T14:42:46Z")
Speaking of Nazi jokes, I asked about [examples of German humor](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=302672&highlight=german+humor) a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/34 "2009-02-25T14:45:38Z")
According to my brother, who spent a few days there some years ago, they can’t make a decent shower. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/35 "2009-02-25T15:09:40Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > According to my brother, who spent a few days there some years ago, they can’t make a decent shower. IME, that’s endemic to most of Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Wallflower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Wallflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallflower)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/36 "2009-02-25T15:18:11Z")
[toilets](http://www.asecular.com/~scott/misc/toilet.htm) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/37 "2009-02-25T15:42:52Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > 71 volkswagon Beetle ? 99 Passat. I know other people who have Passats or Jettas from that time frame and most of them agree with me that , that the late 90’s/early 2000 VWs were not up to par with what came before or after. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/38 "2009-02-25T16:08:53Z")
As a man of Jewish and German descent, I laugh at you. German sausage? The best in the world German beer? The best in the world Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms? This thread needs some pictures of hot German frauleins with big brusten. My only problem with Germans? They feel the need to apologize to me for the Holocaust. Look, you weren’t born yet. That, in my opinion, means you weren’t personally at fault. Quit apologizing. It’s not like you personally committed any war crimes. If you really sorry, get me some kosher German sausage and find me a fraulien who will kiss my shvanstucker. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/39 "2009-02-25T16:17:53Z")
My broad view of German engineering is that it’s excellent but overly complex in many cases. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323/40 "2009-02-25T16:34:09Z")
All you need to know is [Dr. Z](http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2006/06/who_is_dr_z.html) went home, and _now_ look at the state of the American auto industry. Hilfe, Herr Doktor Z! Wir brauchen Sie! Kommen Sie back, bitte! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-germans-make-any-bad-stuff/487323.md?page=3)