Germerican Denglish

If there is one cultural difference that is most glaring between Germany and the USA, it is how the subjects of sex and violence are dealt with. In America kids are allowed to play violent video games and are regularly exposed to brutal action movies or horror film trailers in the middle of the day, but heaven forbid they see a nipple during a Super Bowl halftime show and they must be damaged for life. Germany on the other hand makes every effort to prevent young people from being exposed to violence and brutality, while taking a much calmer approach to innocent or natural nudity. What Germans realize there is a difference between nudity and sex, while American minds have been conditioned to assume that nudity can only be for sex. But let’s be honest, is it more harmful for a kid to see a topless woman or a woman cut in half? I for one am for the latter.

Enough with the seriousness though, instead let me show a funny result of the German pragmatic approach to sex. My father-in-law  gave my son a note pad to play with, and I just noticed today that they are actually Public Service Announcement from the government to promote condom usage and prevent the spread of AIDS. Besides the pictures of vegetables with condoms on them, the word play on each sheet (top of each page) is actually rather amusing. I will try to explain them well enough for the non-Germans speakers to get the joke. So without further adieu, I give you……..vegetables wearing condoms!

 

What do you do with corn to get popcorn? Pop it! What’s a German slang word for having sex? Pop(pt)!

 

The German word “faul” means lazy, but also food going bad. Notice the banana that has turned…….because it didn’t have a condom on!

 

“Steht” in German means standing and also that something (i.e. shirt, dress, etc.) looks good on a person………get it?

 

“Zutat” means ingredient, but also addition.

 

“Überleben” means to survive, “lebensmittel” means food, and “mittel” is means/method………clever, eh?