The Nazis sure did a number on the death’s head hussars. 
Only when they list out “The FBI, CIA, DEA, SS, NSA etc”
I completely agree.
However, wearing a orange armband with the tan shirt with black pants might be a bit over the top…
Exactly.
I’ve just chosen a letter of the alphabet to signify the message “Fuck you right up in the face. Yeah, and your children too”.
I can then use that letter, and have a little chuckle to myself that I secretly gave someone a helluva insult.
Until people realize, that is, and that letter gets banned.
Nein! Ich liebe Bernd das Brot! -Und mein Deutsch ist schlecht
Somehow though, whenever I am in Germany (used to be a lot) I find Bernd and both understand and ejnoy it. The first couple of times there, I would get back to the Hotel and seek it out. I didn’t know what was going on, but I couldn’t stop watching. Now I get it!
Great username/post combo also from J&R
I would have thought “88” was a reference to an Oldsmobile mode, which in turn was referenced by Jackie Brenston (Ike Turner’s band) “Rocket 88”, arguably the first (major) rock and roll song
Your choice of “flying fuck” gives me the impression you think you are dismissing my question as stupid. People other than me have commented on how well known that usage is. Hell, I’m sorry neo-nazis corrupted a perfectly good number, but they did. No one is saying that an Olds Rocket 88 is the secret nazi car (that would be the VW Thing), but to ignore the well-known usage of this particular symbology is just willful ignorance.
But, go ahead, get that good luck “88” tattooed on your neck, put a Sanskrit swastika on your schoolbook, put that Confederate flag on your car (not because you’re racist, no no, because they look cool), whatever. Just don’t act all dumbfounded when people judge you because of it.
You mean a Hindu (or Buddhist) swastika. Sanskrit is a language.
I believe you are correct. I think I am conflating the origin of the word swastika with the origin of the symbol swastika.
Even just plain ol’ flying the current gold-black-red German flag is considered too nationalistic by the Germans I know. You rarely see German flags being flown except in Berlin—unlike your local elementary school or local Wal-Mart.
The closest thing to national pride that’s socially allowed is rooting for Germany in the World Cup.
and I’d add German food in the US (spaetzle, schnitzel, even German cake). Completely out of sight even in areas where German descendants are the biggest ethnic group by plurality.
Heh, one of the first cases I worked on as an articling student involved the Hindu swastika, of all things … and the fact that, in the popular mind, it was forever ruined by the Nazis.
The client was a recently-immigrated Hindu community group, who was seeking legal advice as to how to respond to the fact they were getting rudely dicked around by the municipal planning board - who was throwing up all kinds of bullshit red tape barriers to prevent them from building a community centre. They had no idea why (and were assuming it was anti-Hindu bigotry).
The key to this was that the board had never actually set eyes on these folks - only seen their correspondence.
One look at the community group’s letterhead solved the mystery of why they were getting dicked around … it was decorated with swastikas and prominently used the word “Aryan”. A single phone call solved this alleged “problem”, with a little bit of education as to the difference between Hindus and neo-Nazis. The paperwork issues melted away.
We tactfully suggested to the client that, to avoid similar problems in the future, a different decorative motif be used on the letterhead. Not that Hindus do not have every right to use their own symbols, but the cost is having to educate everyone or suffer a certain amount of hostility.
In the United States, the initials SS are used more commonly to mean Social Security.
Heh. 
When I was about 16, I spent a couple of weeks in Bavaria with a school group. Because of lack of German speakers amongst us - even the adult leaders, for goodness’ sake, didn’t speak any German* - I was the person who had to make the polite speeches necessary.
“Oh, nice people. we have so much enjoyed touring your very interesting factory, which is really fascinating and on behalf of all of us and our group leaders, I would like to express our thanks …blah blah”
Now, the thing is that I certainly DID wonder whether “Führer” ought to be avoided. But I thought that it was likely to be the case that ostentatiously avoiding the word might even be more impolite. My thinking was that our hosts might think “Stupid Scottish visitors - don’t they realise the war was ages ago and it’s all different now”.
Therefore, although I might have used “Leiter” sometimes, I did sometimes use “Führer”. :smack: remember, the adults in charge of us had no German, and I’m am sure our hosts might have been offended but would have been far too polite to tell me. Luckily, there were a couple of Heidelberg students that we had made friends with, and they were kind enough to explain to me, that my thinking it was all so long ago might be fine in theory, but in practice, use “Leiter”.
Isn’t it horrible when you know you have done the impolite thing but there’s no way changing it? :smack:
- which wasn’t very clever planning, really.
Really? Even now? That does seems a bit sad. How about German ham? Or Lebkuchen at Christmas? Is German beer OK? Ah, just realised that would be quite a long distance to export beer. OK. But isn’t there a sort of young-people fashion for drinking Jägermeister?
Not true. German beer, Wiener schnitzel, knock wurst, bratwurst, spätzle, Black Forest cake, and other German foods are found in cities all over America and are included prominently in annual German ethnic celebrations in many large cities.
Just this past weekend I spent an afternoon in the GERMAN VILLAGE neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, which is decorated with plenty of German flags and has many signs in faux German typefaces saying “Wilkommen!” And other things.
It features a (non-kosher) German deli called Katzinger’s and a sausage house called Schmidt’s, Jürgen’s bakery and Kaffee, Haidfrau Haven wine beer & gifts.
And Columbus doesn’t have nearly as big a German heritage as St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati.
German ethnic cuisine might not be as popular as others, but in places where there is some amount of German heritage, it is prominently celebrated.
Is it pretty much acceptable in Germany to be into Wagner’s music & Nietzsche’s philosophy? Because both in the U.S. will get you looked at a bit sketchily in some circles.
As far as I know Nietzsche is wildly misunderstood just about all over. I blame his raging bitch of a sister. Also the fact that he can be really hard to follow at times. Being half-insane will do that.