Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Mr. P in Moscow had this screw problem too, and then, someone must have told the annoyed Mr. P. that he could find the appropriate screws in the Ikea in Kiev!
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German and Austrian Culture and Words ( to run away but also having fun with it before )
- Thread starter Silent_Water
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old slave
FELIS RESPICIENS
Having had the pleasure of watching the Rosenmontag parade in Köln in more normal times, I applaud the sentiment behind this year's one.
Silent_Water
Tribune
There is a word, which was not used so often in Germany for a long time, but now, you hear it several times every day in the news for about 3 weeks:
"Zeiten-Wende" means "Times-Turnaround" (= "turning point") and concerning the actual and current situation in Europe, it is really disturbing and worrying for everyone.
To me, it feels a bit like we Germans were sleeping and having a beautiful dream of a world in which there is no more war and everyone of every other nation is our friend.
Now, we feel like waking up from sleep into a new nightmare.
At the same time, nature in Europe shows some changes, which make me sometimes wonder in "mystical thoughts" if there might be more relations between nature and human life than you would expect.
For example, during the last 2 days there were very unusual "Aurora borealis" -northern lights to be seen in Northern Germany and Berlin-Brandenburg because of a "sun storm" which is usually not to affect anything by such lights so much to the more southern states of Central Europe:
The same days, a huge meteorological low-pressure-area is transporting a lot of Sahara sand and dust across Spain and France to Germany's south:
... and this is Munich / Bavaria yesterday evening: 
This is no "orange filter", this is dust from the Sahara desert in North Africa!
And this is the city of Granada in Spain: 
And then these disturbing news from politics and from the war in Eastern Europe:
Only one month ago, no German would have expected the speeches we heard in the meantime from our politicians and even the most peaceful ones before are sounding now "martial".
I think, even some members of the smaller parties in our governing coalition of 3 parties were very surprised by the speech of the new German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was rather seen as a pacifist some years ago, but now declaring that Germany will rise its military spending alone this year to the incredible sum of 100.000.000.000,- Euro! (in German 100 "Milliarden" Euro = 100 "Billion" Euros in American English) Our partner France will rise its military spending "only" to 70.000.000.000,- Euro.
Before this speech on Sunday, 27th February, in an extraordinary assembly of the German parliament, the whole assembly rose and applauded to the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany:
You really remark the war in Eastern Europe now in Germany and you can now meet many Ukrainian refugees in German trains which they can use for free, when they show their Ukrainian passports.
There were automatic cameras on German "Autobahnen" (= motorways / highways) which showed the traffic there on the internet for everyone in order to hint at possible traffic jams. They are now no more delivering pictures for the public because of the many military transports by German and Allied US-and other troops to the East.
And I am obviously living in a German area which is now becoming something like the entry area for military German and US-airports because I can hear and really see these giant transport machines circling in the daybreak sky almost every day between 4 and 6 o'clock in the morning near my city before landing on the biggest military airbase in Europe, sometimes even followed or escorted by several F-35, F-15 or/ and F-16 fighter jets, and Germany will soon buy at least 30 new F-35s as soon as possible:
These are now really unexpected, "uneasy" and "restless" times in Europe ...
"Zeiten-Wende" means "Times-Turnaround" (= "turning point") and concerning the actual and current situation in Europe, it is really disturbing and worrying for everyone.
To me, it feels a bit like we Germans were sleeping and having a beautiful dream of a world in which there is no more war and everyone of every other nation is our friend.
Now, we feel like waking up from sleep into a new nightmare.
At the same time, nature in Europe shows some changes, which make me sometimes wonder in "mystical thoughts" if there might be more relations between nature and human life than you would expect.
For example, during the last 2 days there were very unusual "Aurora borealis" -northern lights to be seen in Northern Germany and Berlin-Brandenburg because of a "sun storm" which is usually not to affect anything by such lights so much to the more southern states of Central Europe:
The same days, a huge meteorological low-pressure-area is transporting a lot of Sahara sand and dust across Spain and France to Germany's south:
... and this is Munich / Bavaria yesterday evening: This is no "orange filter", this is dust from the Sahara desert in North Africa!And this is the city of Granada in Spain: And then these disturbing news from politics and from the war in Eastern Europe:
Only one month ago, no German would have expected the speeches we heard in the meantime from our politicians and even the most peaceful ones before are sounding now "martial".
I think, even some members of the smaller parties in our governing coalition of 3 parties were very surprised by the speech of the new German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was rather seen as a pacifist some years ago, but now declaring that Germany will rise its military spending alone this year to the incredible sum of 100.000.000.000,- Euro! (in German 100 "Milliarden" Euro = 100 "Billion" Euros in American English) Our partner France will rise its military spending "only" to 70.000.000.000,- Euro.
Before this speech on Sunday, 27th February, in an extraordinary assembly of the German parliament, the whole assembly rose and applauded to the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany:
You really remark the war in Eastern Europe now in Germany and you can now meet many Ukrainian refugees in German trains which they can use for free, when they show their Ukrainian passports.
There were automatic cameras on German "Autobahnen" (= motorways / highways) which showed the traffic there on the internet for everyone in order to hint at possible traffic jams. They are now no more delivering pictures for the public because of the many military transports by German and Allied US-and other troops to the East.
And I am obviously living in a German area which is now becoming something like the entry area for military German and US-airports because I can hear and really see these giant transport machines circling in the daybreak sky almost every day between 4 and 6 o'clock in the morning near my city before landing on the biggest military airbase in Europe, sometimes even followed or escorted by several F-35, F-15 or/ and F-16 fighter jets, and Germany will soon buy at least 30 new F-35s as soon as possible:
These are now really unexpected, "uneasy" and "restless" times in Europe ...
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
And further north! There is a strange brownish glow in the daylight and the skies here!
Silent_Water
Tribune
Yes, the Sahara dust has now reached the atmosphere above Germany up to the federal state of Lower Saxony (= Niedersachsen), so you must remark it in Belgium and the Netherlands, too. In my city, the clouds are now looking a bit of yellow-brown. It would really be strange and probably "unique" in German history, when there would be to be seen an "Aurora borealis" at the same time together with a sunset colored in orange by Sahara dust. This could look like a natural phenomenon on another planet like Mars.
Incredible times!
I just tried to find newspaper articles when there was such an unusual and famous "Nordlicht" or Aurora borealis in the "farest" south of German-speaking countries for the last time. It did not really make me happy now, because it was in reported in 1938 in Austria and Southern Poland's Silesia and the people in the mountainous regions of Austria really thought that the neighbouring villages must be on fire because it was such a red glowing in the evening over the Alps. There were not so many telephones in those times to call these villages and they really sent firefighters to the horizon in those times:
In the Middle Ages, many people in our German-speaking countries would have seen this as a bad "Omen", I think ... but fortunately, we are living now in times of the humanistic enlightenment of the 21st century, in which only science matters and only rational and intelligent persons are governing our world ... hrm ... wait, there was something irrational in the news lately, I think ...
Silent_Water
Tribune
OK, but also in Austria's Alps?
Oh, my Smartphone just told me by the latest news, there has been a strong earthquake ("7.1" or so) around Fukushima again ten minutes ago and a tsunami warning was made by the Japanese government right now. Oh no, we have already enough problems in this world, don't we?
old slave
FELIS RESPICIENS
The BBC in the UK devoted three hours of its morning radio news show Today to this very topic, we are learning much about European attitudes to the crisis.There is a word, which was not used so often in Germany for a long time, but now, you hear it several times every day in the news for about 3 weeks:
"Zeiten-Wende" means "Times-Turnaround" (= "turning point") and concerning the actual and current situation in Europe, it is really disturbing and worrying for everyone.
It's a pity the media did not give as much air-time to Europe before we made that fateful decision.......
Silent_Water
Tribune
Well, there is this saying in Southern Germany: "Es ist schade, dass immer erst etwas [Schlechtes] passieren muss, bevor etwas passiert."
(= "It is a pity that always something [bad] has to happen first before something happens.")
I once even heard some "inverse jokes" of this saying in Bavaria, e.g.:
A tourist comes to the mayor of a very small village in the Alps and asks:
- "Isn't it madness that you do not have any warning signs for the traffic on the serpentine road to your village? No sign is warning a driver before the first serpentine is beginning!"
- "Yes, I know, but we do not have so many tourists here and there once was a warning sign 30 years ago!"
- "And? So?"
- "An avalanche took this warning sign down to the valley and even after that, nothing happened for the following 25 years. Everyone here knew that there once was a warning sign and so, why should we buy a new one?"
Silent_Water
Tribune
Concerning German "speed limits" and "traffic signs", there is a current new discussion about a general speed limit in Germany because of the skyrocketing energy costs. Scientific predictions are telling us Germans that a speed limit on German "Autobahnen" would mean about 2 billion liters less fuel consumption in Germany.
So, our new "Minister of transport and traffic on streets and railways" from the smaller German party FDP - which is famous of being called the "party of pilots and dentists" - was asked why we do not have a general speed limit in Germany. His answer made him famous throughout all German TV satires: "We do not have that many speed limit signs in stocks!"
The general opinion of German satirists is: "That's the dumbest excuse we've ever heard from a transport minister on this subject."
But the typical German solution to this problem would be this traffic sign:
"There is no speed limit here because unfortunately we don't have enough signs."
The anchorman of this satirical news magazine was similar surprised as the majority of Germans was:
In any case, we Germans and Austrians are having right now a lot of problems with our supply of gas which is unfortunately imported by up to 45 % from a big country no one would really like to visit at the moment, but this energy supply problem is also the reason why our 3-party-government looks right now similar like ... aahrrrmm :
On the other hand, one of our female politicians ...
... is right now really popular internationally because you often can see in her face at once whom she likes and who is not really a friend of hers:
In contrast, her look at the EU-China summit "sweet-sour":
Comment: "He can wave and smile as much as he wants. He did not make his school homework and hers is the look of a mother of seven children (really indeed!), when all of them did not practice enough playing the violin!"
So, our new "Minister of transport and traffic on streets and railways" from the smaller German party FDP - which is famous of being called the "party of pilots and dentists" - was asked why we do not have a general speed limit in Germany. His answer made him famous throughout all German TV satires: "We do not have that many speed limit signs in stocks!"
The general opinion of German satirists is: "That's the dumbest excuse we've ever heard from a transport minister on this subject."
But the typical German solution to this problem would be this traffic sign:
"There is no speed limit here because unfortunately we don't have enough signs."The anchorman of this satirical news magazine was similar surprised as the majority of Germans was:
In any case, we Germans and Austrians are having right now a lot of problems with our supply of gas which is unfortunately imported by up to 45 % from a big country no one would really like to visit at the moment, but this energy supply problem is also the reason why our 3-party-government looks right now similar like ... aahrrrmm :
On the other hand, one of our female politicians ...
... is right now really popular internationally because you often can see in her face at once whom she likes and who is not really a friend of hers:
In contrast, her look at the EU-China summit "sweet-sour":
Comment: "He can wave and smile as much as he wants. He did not make his school homework and hers is the look of a mother of seven children (really indeed!), when all of them did not practice enough playing the violin!"
Really? Two billion litres? That seems like a very optimistic prediction!
Love the 'not enough signs' excuse!
Silent_Water
Tribune
Really? Two billion litres? That seems like a very optimistic prediction!
Love the 'not enough signs' excuse!
Maybe, it is very optimistic but this prediction is to be found on this internet page of the most influential German news "Tagesschau":
I couldn't stop me from laughing either when I heard this explanation that the lack of signs are one reason for not having a general speed limit in Germany. This is a country which is usually overflooded with warning signs, traffic signs etc. You can even order for yourself all kinds of warning signs with your own message, e.g. warnings of the dog in one house, low flying alien saucers in your garden etc.
Or real warning signs for everything you do not see very often like these ones:
But exactly our Ministry of Transport does not have enough signs for speed limits (!!???). This is so ridiculous that I would almost like to pay this sign on the nearest "Autobahn" by myself:
I love this sign and hope it will soon exist: "Here is no speed limit because we unfortunately have too few signs!"
Silent_Water
Tribune
Eulalia answered:Answering a little late again, but I thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes. I probably will not be here so often in the near future because I am having some unexpected problems with my musculoskeletal system in feet and legs - even to be seen on my orthopedic X-ray pictures, photographed the day after my birthday, causing my "clownesc" orthopedist to tell me: "First, he bad news: this really does not look good and you probably will have in some years a really complicated operation of your heel spur and the Achilles tendon. The good news: This heel spur looks so unusual and almost alienatic for me that you might become famous in the world of orthopedic surgeries! You are in the top 5 of the most unusal X-ray pictures I have ever seen in my life and I am an orthopedist for 35 years now!"
Isn't is always nice to hear that you have something almost unique in your life?
Maybe, this was caused by this long standing at hotel receptions and walking at night through long hotel corridors. My bones always seemed to feel much older at night than my brain did and some mornings, I already thought: "I would have rather liked to feel so old in 30 years but not already now!"
In any case, compared to many others, I am really happy because I still can do everything I did 30 years ago, only a little pain was added now ... hrm ... this may also show to you what a terrible weakling and German "Weichei" I have been all my life.
On the other hand, these new problems are really endangering my new job at a new hotel desk and maybe, I soon will have to find another job. But it's also OK because an old Romanian proverb from the Bucovina is saying: "In this world, nothing is so bad that it could not become much worse, so be happy as long as you can!"
OK, that's all for today and thank you very much for you all and all your wishes and greetings!
Click to expand...
Well, congratulations on your unique anatomy! Make sure you patent it and charge a hefty fee to your consultant or anyone else who dares to write articles about it, publish pictures of it, etc.
But, seriously, that's a bit of a downer. At least, if it's a long-term issue, medical science will move on, maybe it will prove less challenging for surgeons if and when surgery becomes necessary.
And now the latest "science fiction" news from my unique anatomy which showed me again how much I seem to be "a chosen one" in this universe (
!) :My orthopedist recommended to visit a famous German surgeon in another German city and this surgeon surprised me by telling me, I am not yet "invalid" enough to be "operated" on - in his opinion. He recommended a "radiotherapy" I had never heard of before to be used on heel spurs and osteoarthritis.
I returned to my home town and told this to my orthopedist who was a bit surprised, too. He gave my the typical German transfer document for being used from one medical German expert to another one and told me: "Right now, I really do not know where I could send you because there once was a center for radiotherapy in a hospital near this city but last year, they - like many others in this region - had a few problems with a little water which also was mentioned on TV, ... you remember?"
(By the way, I love this German kind of "usually British-style understatements" because I really remembered the "little water problems" of this hospital in 2021: )
There was a very little creek named "Kyll" with a width of about 50 CENTI-metres about 400 metres away from this hospital but unfortunately during only one night, it rained there as much as usually in 4 months and the lowest floor of this hospital was in all German TV - news the day after:
Unfortuntely, there was a center for computed tomography and radiotherapy at the lowest level of this hospital and you probably can imagine the faces of the staff there after their "little water problems".
But German doctors are not so different from most other people around this world after catastrophes. So, they probably went down their staircases in their non-flooded cellars and basements and cursed for some time in solitude like this: "OK, .... damned SHIT! I AM NOW VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED !!! This simply cannot be true! I am so damned angry about this water catastrophe that I will do everything I can in order to rebuild a completely new house, hospital and tomography center, even if I have to open up the worst hell of German bureaucracy!!!"
And the most surprising thing is the speed in which this really happened. When I called the biggest hospital in my town 2 weeks ago in order to ask if they have again a center for "radiotherapy", they told me: "Hm, yes, but it is so new that we ourselves did not really understand the administrative character of this new division in our hospital. It is located on our ground but it does not really belong to our hospital ... mhm ... but I can give you their telephone number!"
They gave me their number and now, I feel like in a science fiction movie because I am one of the first patients in one of the most modern German centers for computed tomography and radiotherapy. There are only four of them across all Germany and just in my little town, there is now one of these "high-tech-centers".
On the internet, you can even find a short movie how fast it was built and it looks a bit like in the science fiction movie "Elysium":
Elysium:
German reality with brandnew devices for the patients:
There is really a touch-screen on the right side of this "bed" and after the doctors marked the body parts of their patients like on my foot, ...
... the doctors just put their fingers on a few parts of this screen, the tomograph rotates aorund my body, switches on its automatic cameras, focuses on the "paintings" on my foot, turns its radiation segment exactly on my heel spur and starts its radiation on its own. At the same time, this very latest machine also can adjust its focus after small involuntary motions of the patient. I have never seen such a perfect medical machine ever before! And I am surprised that it really works and helps me! After only two radiation sessions, I can move my right foot much better and with much less pain than before!
This is for me like living in a science-fiction movie. Additionally, the movie about the construction of this machine's turning segment during the last months looks a bit like the "erection" of the "Stargate":
You can find the movie here, when you scroll down a bit:
I asked one doctor, how much this will cost my insurance. His answer: "You and almost every German citizen is paying for your insurance as long as you are healthy. Now, you are ill and so: Never ask what you can do for your insurance! Only ask, what your insurance can do for you! But to your information: This machine alone costs around 3.5 million Euros. You do not really want to know what the building around this machine will cost because it is not finished now!"
This country is sometimes only to be described by: "WOW !"
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Silent_Water
Tribune
Sorry, but I just wanted to put this somewhere on the internet in order to find it easily again at a later time and I could not find a better place for such quotes than this one, because after her quotation in English, she said in German that she will not translate this into German. She is a famous news correspondent for the most seen German TV news "Tagesschau"! 
Full video in German main TV news:
Full video in German main TV news:
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She speaks English with a British accent.Sorry, but I just wanted to put this somewhere on the internet in order to find it easily again at a later time and I could not find a better place for such quotes than this one, because after her quotation in English, she said in German that she will not translate this into German. She is a famous news correspondent for the most seen German TV news "Tagesschau"!
View attachment 1244938View attachment 1244939View attachment 1244940
Full video in German main TV news:
poem21045
Tribunus Plebis
But Apostate, who fahking cares?She speaks English with a British accent.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
"Ich bin verdammt wütend und es ist mir verdammt noch mal egal!"
Also, liebe Zuschauer, we keep our language polished!
@Loxuru, I never learned German very well, but I don’t think the word "verdammt" has the linguistic wallop that "fucking" has in English."Ich bin verdammt wütend und es ist mir verdammt noch mal egal!"
Also, liebe Zuschauer, we keep our language polished!
I could be wrong.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
I was merely suggesting what the newsreader could have made of it! German has no real counterpart for 'fucking', unless one would venture scatological wordings. These would not be appropriate for prime time.@Loxuru, I never learned German very well, but I don’t think the word "verdammt" has the linguistic wallop that "fucking" has in English.
I could be wrong.
Google Translate™ goes halfway: "I'm fucking angry and I don't really care!"