Journal Ethelred Unraed's Journal: For a better understanding 24

Having said that, I have also come to learn that such attitudes are by no means the sole province of a subset of Americans.

As mentioned in a post in tuxette's journal, there are a number of...odd...things in Germany that are good examples of how little the average German really knows about America, or the English language for that matter.

The example mentioned above is a German product -- toilet paper -- sold in a German supermarket and that uses an English name: Happy-End.

For a while, a German telecom provider used the English slogan "For a better understanding". Uh, okay, if you say so.

There are other things, though, that blow my mind. A favorite is frozen "American-style pizza", which one sees everywhere in stores. The various types are usually named for some region in America, and I'm at a loss as to why they chose that particular place (or indeed the ingredients). Smoochy-Bear, brace yourself. Here are a couple examples:

The Boston Pizza with spinach, feta cheese, garlic and almonds. Uh, okay.

Or the Western Pizza with kidney beans (WTF?), tomatoes, mozzarella, kernel corn (WTF?!), pepperoni and bell peppers.

Or a pizzeria in Hamburg I used to go to that had "American style pizza" (they were even called "Smiley's"), with the...American?...gyros pizza, drenched in tzatziki. Yeah, sounds really American to me...

It's not that no American would eat this kind of pizza (/me shoots a warning look at Bethanie and other Californian apostates). More like they sell this as the typical American pizza, which to me is...strange.

Another one that has come up: I've occasionally run into people who think Heinz ketchup and Kraft foods are German (because of the name, of course) and were surprised to hear that they are sold in America. I've also been asked -- perfectly seriously -- if native English speakers notice it when a German speaks English, i.e. do people notice a German accent. Nein, ve are happy to hear you speak ze Englisch so vell.

Meanwhile, Germans like their ketchup with curry powder in it -- yet I've seen the stuff marked "just like in the USA". Same goes for "pommes creme", a.k.a. mayonnaise for French fries. Just like in the USA. Uh, right.

The point being that what they market in Germany as "American" isn't American at all -- it's what Germans expect to be American. Similarly, what I've seen in America as being "German" usually isn't, or is only an approximation.

Try mentioning the beer St. Pauli Girl to a German, and they will probably laugh themselves silly -- for one thing, they have never heard of it (it doesn't exist here), and for another, St. Pauli is a place in Hamburg mainly known for prostitution, drunken sailors and drugs, giving the name a rather interesting twist.

Try offering a German a bottle of Liebfraumilch. It's basically the rotgut they export because they won't drink it themselves. Their reaction will probably be one of gritted teeth while trying to politely accept the 'present'. (You may hear the voice of experience in this.)

As another example, one gourmet grocery store I visited in Minneapolis last summer had Braunschweiger "just like in Germany" that tasted nothing at all like what I've had in Germany. I was also taken (dragged?) to a "German restaurant" that served things more typical of Austria or Switzerland (like Rösti and Wiener Schnitzel).

Meanwhile, back here in Germany, a local supermarket had a brochure in the newspaper today trumpeting their "International Week", with each page featuring stuff from a particular country. The page for Greece was typical: all it had was ouzo, olives, feta cheese and (German-brand) olive oil. Whoo-hoo, that's one amazing 'international' selection you got there...

Of course, the pinnacle of this phenomenon is neither German or American. It is Japanese. Happy reading!