May I pick your brain about Germany please?

May I pick your brain about Germany please? What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear "Germany" or "German"? Thanks, SY

Now I know what Paul was saying.  He suddenly said to me, "First thing you think of when you think of Germany.  Go!"

"Fawlty Towers."  Sorry!   I grew up watching it! 

But number two was the Computer Chaos Club; then Wizzley... yes, I know that Wizzley should have come before that, but I was a geek before I was a Wizzley writer!

Then the funny story that my friend told me.  She went to live in Germany for a year, teaching English.  She lived with a German family and taught German children.  When she came home for a visit, her parents and brother picked her up.  All excited, she gabbled on and on and on about her adventures. Finally she paused for breath and her mother gently said, "Dear, you're talking in German.  We have no idea what you're saying."

Castles.  Beer.   Those big, round sausage things.

The German Market at Christmas!   We have them in several British cities these days.

Rammstein, especially the song they did for Matrix.

Beethoven.

Achim! Then probably frankfurter sausages followed by the Nürburgring. As for the people, I think of them as highly efficient (as proven by the admins here!)

Edit: Du, du hast, du hast mich!

The gorgeous blond men *ahem*.

Seriously, the fact that the language is so similar to English.

Two things I've learned in the past five minutes.  The first is that I haven't watched that Fawlty Towers clip in about 20 years; the second is that I've been singing along to Ramstein (Du, du hast, du hast mich) for years, without having a clue what they're actually singing.

Sometimes I think I ought to apologize as soon as I walk in, just as a matter of course.

Jo! You're letting the side down! *Haven't see that clip in about 20 years*?

And yes, I hear you about the apology. I actually say that in my reviews, that I feel as if I should apologise for even bothering to air an opinion so different to anyone else's, because all I get is flak.

Mercedes-Benz. Cars. Volkswagon. Beer. Octoberfest. (Even though I don't drink beer.) Eckhart Tolle. 

And oh, I live in a town called Germantown but that was like the 5th thing that came to mind. 

Bhavesh.

farfegnugen?

1. farfignewton

Okay... I know this will sound crazy but here goes.  

The first thing I think of is the "snuff" that supposedly gets snorted by people in Germany.  It comes in different "flavors" like peppermint.  It is a really fine dark brown powder that gets put on this little wooden board.  You put your nose down to the snuff and flip this little thingie on one end of the board while you snort the snuff.  Okay Chef - help me out here.  There is such a thing right?!  I feel like I need to explain myself on this one...... because I do not go around snorting things!

The last company I worked for was a distributor for MTU / Tognam which is headquarted in Germany.  They (Tognam) were just recently purchased by Rolls Royce (sp?) I think.  As a distributor or dealer we sold engine generator sets (back up power).  They were all manufactured in Germany and shipped over to us to send to our customers.   They have a USA based headquarters in Mankato, Minnesota.  Every October the Mankato facility would host this huge Oktoberfest event where all the distributors / dealers across the USA and Canada would send their sales force along with customers.  It was a week long training session with a lot of German accents since most of the trainers were from Germany.  So I would take 5-10 of my best customers to this event every year.  At the end of the week on the last night we would go to this Oktoberfest event they set up in their parking lot under tents with a live band, all German food, lots of beer, and a lot of girls running around in the little dresses with tights.  These girls all had these little wooden boards in their hands with 2 or 3 choices of flavored snuff.  They went around asking us all if we wanted some snuff.  So of course I did it the first time on a dare from one of my customers.  Then I was hooked.  I loved the mint flavor.  The next day was not so great.  Imagine flying home with a massive hangover and coughing up this dark brown snuff for most of the next day.  ughhhh.  

So snuff is what I think of when someone says Germany or German.  Crazy but true. 

My history teacher at School. He was actually English but had lived in Germany for many years. He used to break out into the German language every now again, it fascinated me. Now when someone mentions Germany, I think of Wizzley and Achim!

That's Schnupftabak, Angel. Snorting tobacco.

Any real Bavarian carries around his supply in a small ceramic bottle with a cork stopper and attached brush (to brush excess tobacco out of your handle bar moustache).

Forget the board. Put a fat pinch on top of your fist and snort away.

Of course, you need a large handkerchief for the inevitable sneeze (loud).

WTh???? Germans snort tobacco- UP THE NOSE??? This is news to me holy cow, I wouldn't put anything in my nose like that, that's insane! Not to mention a good way to break your noses delicate systems... what a fascinating share Angel, that blows my mind (and makes my nose hurt just thinking about putting cocoa powder up the nose (I know it's tobacco but the description sounds like that consistency of cocoa...

Ok, at this point I feel the need to step in an let you know that it's a very small part of Germany's population which still engages in the consumption of tobacco snuff. Mainly some "mature" male of the Bavarian sub-species. Not pointing fingers or naming names, just sayin'.

Oh man that was great Nightowl! LMAO (I got tears mate'- tears, laughing)

ehum... thanks for clearing that up. Until today I had no idea about this stuff at all.. perhaps chef could enlighten us with a wizzle :) if that stuff is available on amazon I'm gonna fall out of my chair...

Actually, it seems I stand corrected:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/smoking-ban-puts-snuff-back-in-fashion-7194446.html

And yes, it is available on Amazon.com.

My apologies...

Jerrico_Usher: 02/22/2013 - 04:25 PM

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....  if that stuff is available on amazon I'm gonna fall out of my chair...

Safe landing Jerrico >>> http://www.amazon.com/Braniff-Guarana-power-powder-nasal/dp/B005YO9IVO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361569080&sr=8-2&keywords=snuff+tobacco

Jerrico - I had already had one too many of the big mugs of beer when I was dared to do the first one.  I could not do it the way Chef explains with a huge glob of it.  This was just a little bit on a board ......even though I did participate many many times throughout the night.  Besides, the customer who dared me had just purchased $17 Million in equipment for a new data center in my territory.  I would have probably streaked naked through the corn field across the road from this makeshift Oktoberfest event if he had dared me.  

Hmmmm.... I am tempted to order some of that Mint Energy 

Sounds like a great article to me.

Check out these people - My experience was nothing like this!  Or maybe I did not remember looking like this.

http://www.odditycentral.com/news/german-village-hosts-weird-tobacco-sniffing-championship.html

And they have technology for that- A "bullet snuffer"

I love learning about things I never heard about- fascinating, just fascinating.  Chef, does it burn? I once got too close to a can of coffee (smelled sooooo good, velvet chocholate) and got a whiff of burning hell (coffee up the nose) but the grains of coffee are much bigger... this is giving me the heebeegeebees.... 

@Angel thanks for the url, I'll check it out (is that oddities the tv show?)

ryank: 02/25/2013 - 05:14 PM

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I'd love to go to Berlin, Cologne, and on a Rhine river cruise, all on my list. Not fussed about the rest of it though to be honest, heard great things about Berlin. 

Recommend Dresden and Leipzig. Lots of history and if architecture's your bag, plenty of that too.

And the beer...