Top 10 Funny German Words And Phrases

1. Ich hab keine Lust

Likewise, when you say “I have no lust” in German it doesn’t mean you’re impotent, it just means you cant really be bothered to do anything.

2. Fahrt, Einfahrt and Notfahrt

Has nothing to do with breaking wind, breaking wind once or never breaking wind. Fahrt means ride or trip, Einfahrt means entrance and Notfahrt means emergency trip, apparently. Can a Notfahrt be to the bathroom? What’s that? I can’t put that on the website? But I’ve already done so.

3. Kohlensäure

I initally thought this must be some kind of German dinosaur like Kohlensaurus Rex but it just means bubbles. In your soda.

4.Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz.

This is a law that refers to the correct labelling of beef. Obviously considered important enough that there’s a (very long) word for it. Then again, there has been that horsemeat scandal in Europe lately. 

5. Kugelschreiber. 

In English it’s a pen, in French a stylo, in Spanish a pluma. Only in Germany would such an everyday object have so many syllables. It’s like they just have so much time to spend speaking, why rush? Literally translated, Kugelschreiber means “ball scriber” which is also funny for other reasons.

6. Lustgarten. 

Pardon me if I got rather excited about visiting this park in Berlin. I’d imagined something akin to a debauched garden of Eden. It turns out it just means the more general “pleasure garden”.

7. Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung

Wow, such a long word, this must be an abstract legal term or a chemical name, right? No, it’s the word for “speed limit”. What!!!?

8. Herr Doktor Professor

In English we generally go by one title such as “Mister” or “Doctor” or “Captain”. Not in Germany where you are expected to know their full set of titles. Something of a collective German identity crisis? It’s like “I am at once a male, a doctor and a professor, why would you seek to rob me of any one of those attributes?!”

9. Rathaus

You might think this would be a house for rats, with little holes in the wall and rats darting to and fro. Alas, it’s the town hall, though it does show what Germans think of their local government.

10. Kartoffelpuffer

Or as we would say in English “hash brown”. I’m not sure why but every time I read this on a menu in Germany or hear someone say it, it brings a smile to my face. It just sounds so cute, like a baby penguin.





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6 Reasons I’m Proud to be Canadian

6 Reasons I’m Proud to be Canadian

Being patriotic in Canada is sort of like knowing how to skate. Most Canadians do it, most people enjoy it, and most people don’t really know why or how. It’s just a good time, something we start at a young age and carry with us for the majority of our lives. Maybe it’s the competitive nature of Canadians, the fact that we feel like we need to boost ourselves up that much higher in order to stand out from elephant on the continent (Psst, that’s a reference to America). While I may be ashamed to be Canadian on occasion, it usually is for good reason; however, there’s countless reasons to be proud to be a Canadian. And no, it’s not just our beer.

The Canadian Healthcare System

In 1984 a large piece of federal legislation was adopted by the true north strong & free. This legislation in short said “Hey insurance people, hospitals, doctors, it’s time to heal those that are sick, injured, or that require medical assistance. By the way they don’t have to pay you. If you don’t abide we’re coming for you. Boom!” While universal health care may not be perfect, it’s still a success story in most eyes. Canadians have access to free, high quality health care, it’s pretty tough to complain about the price. At the end of the day we’re strides ahead of other countries in terms of quality of life. I can’t imagine what life in Canada would be like without this perk. While Canadian health care is fantastic, we’re still encouraged to have travel insurance when leaving the country. C’est la vie!

Need some video explanation on the Canadian Healthcare System? Check out Real Canadians Talking Real Healthcare, or if your feeling like something a little more polished with a bit of humour check out Michael Moores Documentary Sicko. 

Same-sex marriage

I like to think Canadians have a good grasp on human rights. While there’s clearly been some hiccups in the past, we’re a pretty progressive country that’s happy to face the ridiculous claims of “1 man + 1 women = true family” and drop the gloves all over that craziness. In July 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize the sanctity of marriage between same sex couples. LGBT rights in Canada are still the most advanced in the western hemisphere. So neighbouring countries and such, maybe come stop by the Village in Toronto, or Le Village in Montreal and see for yourself it’s all about love! It’s been almost seven years since the same-sex marriage legislation passed, and the world still spins.

Bilingualism

Throughout Canadian history, the French language has been there for nearly every step it. Over 22% of Canadians call french their mother tongue. While officially, Canadian language comprises itself of English and French there’s still a lot of work to be done in order to perfect the bilinguality of the citizens of Canada. I was fortunate enough to have parents who enrolled me in the French Immersion program, which means that from Kindergarten onwards, all subjects were taught in French. I have that program to thank for my french skills. While I clearly don’t use those acquired skills often enough, french immersion is the main reason I’m a huge supporter of the french language and culture in Canada. Being raised in that environment makes it easy to be proud of the bilingual aspect of Canada.

Mosaic of cultures

I remember being taught by a teacher at a young age one of the key differences between Canada and America. She preached that America was a melting pot, where languages and cultures are encouraged to assimilate and become “Americans”. Canada, on the other hand, is a mosaic of cultures. While each person becomes a Canadian, they are still encouraged to maintain ties with their mother land. They’re encouraged to hang on to their familial ties, keep their traditions and culture, and ultimately enjoy the freedom in Canada. It’s sometimes hard to find this “mosaic” in smaller anglophone communities (but I assure you it’s there). If you want it to hit you in the face, a weekend in Toronto exploring the different neighbourhoods will prove that no matter what your background is, we can all get along.

Underground Railroad

In the 19th century, Canadians from all walks of life helped enslaved african-americans escape to the northern parts of the United States as well as Canada. Estimates indicated that anywhere between 30,000 and 100,000 slaves successfully made it to Canada through the secret network of stations. Stations were said to have been as far west as British Columbia, and as far east as Nova Scotia. Survival on the railroad was hard, and on many occasions had it not been for the help of the Native Americans along the trail, many people wouldn’t have survived. While freed slaves found safety all over Canada, the majority settled in the Ontario area where they formed their own communities and pioneered their own farmland.

As it turned out many of the new arrivals to the “promise land” found the weather to be cold, the life to be hard, and when civil war erupted in the United States, some chose to fight with the Union and help rebuild the United States from the ground up. While many African-Americans headed home in search of family and friends, some stayed and formed communities. Men like Josiah Henson began to purchase land in Ontario and formed communities around what is now Dresdon Ontario, such as the famous Dawn Settlement. Josiah Henson is/was the inspiration behind the famous abolitionist tale, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Hariet Beecher Stowe. This book is said to have been one of the books Abraham Lincoln read which encouraged him to pass the Emancipation Proclamation.

While the most of the credit needs go to the brave souls of the african-americans who made that journey, I couldn’t be more proud that Canadians helped people find their own freedom.

Peaceful country

According to the 2011 Global Peace Index, Canada scores an in the Top 10, at the relatively charming number of 8, just behind Finland (7) and Austria (6). This index looks at up to 23 different measures, including military spending, percentage of violent crime, possibility of violent demonstrations, deaths from conflicts with neighbouring countries, along with the political terror scale, which apparently we didn’t score too high in due to the G20 Protests in Toronto. But to most Canadians, you don’t need a fancy number to know we’re a pretty peaceful bunch.

This is Canada, the land of everlasting sorry’s, a free country built on a strong foundation of coffee and donuts. The majority of our violence is kept on the ice, one of the few places the majority of Canadians can agree is a completely acceptable place to air your frustrations with another through the use of hard body-checks and taking a break in the game to drop the gloves and punch the crap out of another human being. We do not have a nuclear program, despite being one of the largest providers of uranium in the world. Gun crime is crazy low, so the chances of getting shot are pretty minimal unless you’re chasing illicit drugs. We’re raised in a country where health-care is free, where you accept your neighbour regardless of race, creed, or sexuality. We have flaws like any other country, but spending any amount of time in this country, it becomes easy to see that Canada is ultimately a peaceful country. One that I’m proud to live in.

The Canadian Pride

Canadians are a proud people, not the obnoxious type of proud but the “grateful for what we have” proud. This feeling has been building over the years, heck, even Molson Canadian tried monetizing it (see “My Name Is Joe“). What started off as a quiet type of pride evolved. The notion of “keep your love of Canada, inside Canada” was more or less obliterated after the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. There was a call to arms to cheer loud, embrace our differences and show the world how proud we are to live in a country where you can be gay, straight, french, english, sick without worry, practice any religion you choose, and hail from any background and not have to worry about persecution. Canada’s not perfect, but it’s trying to get there.

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10 things Canada does better than anywhere else

10 things Canada does better than anywhere else

1. Apologizing

It's not so easy to get a simple apology in most of the world.

Being jostled in India. Getting your foot stepped on in Greece. Not having the door held open for you in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

That's just all part of unrepentant life.

In Canada, apologies happen constantly -- "sorries" flying in from all sides like swarms of affable killer bees.

Apologies are issued not just for some negligible mishap, but for actually having the gall to be on the receiving end of one.

A Queen's University poll titled "Sorry ... I'm Canadian," found that 90% of Canadians aged 18-25 will immediately apologize if a stranger bumps into them.

But while it may be true that some of the ugliest brawls in Canada have been waged over who's sorrier, travelers should be wary of such niceties, notes another Canadian apologist: "Sometimes we're actually expressing our sympathy for your shortcomings."

2. Lakes and "Cottage Country"

Canada has more lakes than any other country -- about 3 million.

The province of Ontario alone contains about a third of the world's freshwater, spread over 250,000 lakes.

No surprise that "heading up to the lake" is more than just a favorite national phrase.

It's Canada's sacred version of lighting out for the territory -- but with cottages furnished with Muskoka chairs, Kevlar canoes and competing Gordon Lightfoot and loon mating call soundtracks.

Recently, Ontario's prime lake district, Muskoka, got the nod from National Geographic Traveler as the top summer destination -- in the world.

Well, yeah, eh? It's beauty up there.

3. Stand-in movie locations

Even if you've never set foot in Vancouver, Halifax or those handful of cities in between, you've frequently been staring right at them without knowing it.

You're not in Kansas, "Capote" fans. But Winnipeg. 

You're not in Kansas, "Capote" fans. But Winnipeg.

Why?

Because Hollywood loves making movies in Canada -- big movies -- while passing the settings off as New York City, Wyoming, ancient Persia, the bow of history's most ill-fated oceanliner ...

Basically anywhere else but Canada.

If you've sat through "The Incredible Hulk," you've visited Toronto's Yonge Street -- at least via celluloid.

"Brokeback Mountain"? That ain't the American West, pardner. It's Southern Alberta's Rocky Mountain country.

"Capote"? You're not in Kansas, Dorothy. But Winnipeg.

"Twilight"? Vancouver.

"Blades of Glory"? Montreal.

"Titanic"? Much of it filmed off the coast of Halifax.

And where in the world was Morgan Freeman's shack in "Unforgiven"? Just up the road from Calgary in the Drumheller Valley -- a moonscape-ish backcountry that's also passed for Egypt, Persia, Armenia and East Africa in several film and TV productions.

4. Air

In a recent national air quality study by the World Health Organization, Canada placed third for the cleanest air on the planet.

Until the first and second placers (Estonia and Mauritius) are covered in CNN Travel's "better than anywhere else" series, we direct your breath to Canadian cities -- which average a relatively pristine 13 micrograms of PM10 particles per cubic meter.

5. Humor

Canadians are hilarious -- sometimes even intentionally -- as a disproportionate number of comic heavyweights like Jim Carrey, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Aykroyd, Seth Rogen, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, Michael Cera, Leslie Nielsen and so many others have repeatedly confirmed over the years.

What makes Canadians so crazy funny?

The subject has launched sociological studies, none of which are funny at all.

But even if you've never watched SCTV, can't name a single member of "The Kids in the Hall" and weren't aware that SNL was created and produced by a Torontonian, or that Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival is the world's biggest comedy festival, or that the most deadly funny movie sequence ever filmed (the "Serpentine!" scene from 1979's "The In-Laws") was directed by a dude from Edmonton -- know this:

If there's one thing Canada barrels superbly at home or abroad, for whatever boring reason, it's laughs.

6. Chocolate bars

Just a few giant corporations pump out most of the world's mass market candy bars -- but not always with the same goods under that familiar-looking wrapper.

Fatty, velvety chocolate goes down best with Canadians.

Fatty, velvety chocolate goes down best with Canadians.

"Canadian chocolate is higher in fat and it is a higher particle size," a Hershey's senior chocolate expert recently noted in the National Post, adding that Hershey's now offers a separate recipe for the more discriminating Canadian chocolate palate.

"Americans tend to gravitate toward a little more of a grittier or even cheesier flavor."

That's why eating any of those generic chocolate bars or local Canadian faves like Caramilk, Aero, Mr. Big, heck even Sweet Marie in Saskatoon, is a creamy, velvety experience.

And why a KitKat somewhere else is a gritty, cheesy, polyglycerol polyricinoleate-y one.

7. Ski country

Sitting across the border from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Vermont would be intimidating to most countries hawking their own powdery slopes.

Not Canada, which boasts some of the best reasons to haul your skis or snowboard a little farther north.

In the West, there's Lake Louise, plunked right in gorgeous Banff National Park, and a ring of powder havens throughout eastern British Columbia. Whistler Blackcomb is one of the world's leading ski resorts, getting a "best in North America" nod from SKI Magazine last year.

In the East, there's Quebec's beer-commercial-fun Laurentians -- where après-ski needs no translation.

Heli-skiing? That all started in the Canadian Bugaboos, which remains one of the best places to do it.

8. Nation branding

No national symbol is as ubiquitous as Canada's maple leaf.

From Newfoundland to Victoria, it's everywhere you look -- a proud, unrelenting reminder of where you are. Not the United States. Not Australia. Not Nigeria. Canada.

The most obsessive leaf activity occurs abroad, where generations of flag-bearing Canadian backpackers are famous for sewing maple leaf patches onto their bags just to make sure everyone's clear at a glance who they are.

Not American. Not German. Not Rarotongan. Canadian. See the leaf? Canadian.

"No other country on earth seems to feel the same need to self-identify," posts one traveler from an undisclosed country.

9. Highway grub

Road trips are all about the food.

Nothing says gustatory bliss on the Trans-Canada Highway like Timbits with a double-double coffee. 

Nothing says gustatory bliss on the Trans-Canada Highway like Timbits with a double-double coffee.

At least in places like Alberta or Manitoba, where nothing works up an appetite like hours of sedentary driving along some of the longest, straightest roads known to non-Australian mankind with nothing to do but count Petro-Canada stations -- and pull over for the best comfort food gracing any rest stop.

Tim Hortons. Harvey's. Swiss Chalet ...

If you don't know these names, it's time to look beyond the Golden Arches.

You can eat McNuggets wherever.

Nothing says gustatory bliss on the Trans-Canada Highway like a peameal & natural smoked Bacon Bacon burger, or half-chicken plate with Chalet sauce, or a box of Timbits with a double-double coffee.

Better grab a butter tart and Nanaimo bar, too. It's a long way from Red Deer to Flin Flon.

10. Adorable terms and phrases

While you'll be hard-pressed to find a real-life, toque-wearin' local who's ever called someone a "hoser" or told them to "take off," Canadians do call their two-dollar coins "Toonies," cases of beer "two-fours" and napkins "serviettes" in polite company.

Nowhere else will you be called a "rink rat" for loitering at ice arenas.

Or be "given the gears" if you do something dumb.

Or get asked, "What do you pay for hydro?"

Or alerted that "your gitch is showing" if your belt is too loose.

Enough said.

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Are Canadian Political Values Becoming Americanized

Are Canadian Political Values Becoming Americanized

Canada and the United States may be the most extreme case of the small nation, big neighbor syndrome but when asked to point the main differences between the two countries, more than 70 people from both the sides said that Canada is just like a shadow of America. But what makes them make this confound argument? On what basis have they decided that they are the same? And on the other hand why does the rest of the 30% think that they are different? Going against all the odds, I would like to oppose the fact that Canadian Values are becoming Americanized by evaluating healthcare, the global culture and the free trade agreement between the two countries.

Since the early 90's, the US has been successful in making a security system for the elder people, a medical help for the welfare recipients which can be called disorganized as there was no public funding in the health care center for the rest of the population. Canada on the other hand relied on a constitutionally entrenched system of equalization transfers from "have" to "have-not" provinces to balance roughly welfare state provisions, while the US adopted no such approach. . When needed, it is easy for Citizens of Canada to get healthcare or needs some assistance from welfare then it is easily available. The United States have said that they desire to have the same. Along with universal health care, Canada's welfare system is distinct from the United States. As Bashevkin pointed out, Canada's remain even while the United States' remain uneven.


Canada is portrayed as an executive political system with different languages and various significant regional bonds, where legislative, executive and judicial power and control lies largely in the hands of the prime minister." This horizontally centralized control system allows Canadian political elites in a majority government to impose their preferences more readily than executives in a horizontally decentralized case like the US, where a constitutional separation of powers creates multiple veto points across the three branches of government. In a more racially divided society with a diffuse congressional regime, American presidents are generally unable to command the concentrated institutional levers available to their Canadian counterparts.

My next argument will state about the free trade argument between the two countries and its evaluation.

Since before Confederation, Canada's national identity has been defined in part by its relation- ship to the United States. In Canada, this relationship has been characterized by divisive tensions between believers in the economic benefits of closer commercial relations with the US and those who have feared that free trade would "Americanize" Canada, either literally in the form of joining the union or figuratively in terms of values and culture. These conflicts have been particularly evident over the past 15 years, as Canada entered into the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement in 1988, which was expanded six years later to include Mexico in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Opponents of these agreements argued that they would cause jobs to be lost, wages to decline, inequality to increase, Canada's national identity to be undermined, and the capacity to forge distinctive policies to be vitiated. Proponents of free trade claimed that it would foster tremendous economic benefits and vehemently denied that it would lead to the Americanization of Canada.

For Canada, globalization is effectively 80 percent Americanization. That figure represents the percentage of Canadian exports that go to the United States. Clearly, it is too simplistic to reduce the complex nature of US influence to trade relations. Nonetheless, that percentage is an effective representation of the importance of the United States in Canada's external relations with the world. Indeed, when one considers the cultural content of the media to which Canadians are exposed, the 80 percent figure is probably conservative. The main theme of the North American integration research for the Project on Trends is that the consequences of continental integration have not been as formidable as widely believed. Despite a sharp rise in trade dependence as a result of the Free Trade Agreement and growing American dominance of global media, the border between the two countries still matters. Admittedly, some policy instruments have been surrendered in exchange for access to larger markets. In addition, pressures for harmonization do exist, and have probably in- creased. But Canada still retains significant room to manoeuvre even in the areas of policy most affected by growing economic integration. (Hoberg, G. 350)

The next argument is related to Globalization and Culture.

With its awe-inspiring characteristics like limited government, an open society and Internationalism, Canada holds a position somewhere between France and United States when it comes to Cultural Politics. Just like India and Nepal, Canada and United States practice International Culture co-operation by engaging themselves in bipartite and multipartite activities.

Like Kevin V. MULCAHY said that it represents an interesting case when countries like Canada-United States define statements like "where you sit determines where you stand." For the United States, culture is judged generally to be a sidebar in the spectrum of politics among nations, as cultural expression is more often considered to be a commodity than a value of identity. For Canada, culture is a much more central concern in its bilateral relations with the United States given this asymmetrical relationship.

The International trade agreement has really affected the cultural, political and economic relations between the two countries, to a limit that is very unusual but the artistic provisions of such a commitment, the work process of the cultural sector can clearly raise a debate on this political subject of Canadian Values becoming Americanized. Even though Canada is sensitive about its identification and coherence, there is awareness and the cultural practices ARE given a lot of importance.

The counter arguments:

Virtually, the cultural relations of these 2 peas in a pod may have their own identity in their own divergent and heterogeneous ways between power and smaller neighbor commonality, their adjoining population and keeping in mind the geographical condition of Canada. This may conclude for many others that Cultural, Rational and Political mix of Canadian Values and Culture stand more on the side of dependency of the United States.

As is often the case, where a small nation has a big neighbor, geographic propinquity can create awkward, even difficult, cultural relations. (De la Garde, Gilsdorf, and Wechselmann, 1993) None of this is to suggest a loss of Canadian political sovereignty. Yet, Canada has had to grapple with a persistent stereotype of being the "fifty-first American state." As such, colonialism (the cultural dominance of a stronger power over another) persists in its post-colonial era: moreover, there is a significant question about whether political sovereignty can be sustained without cultural independence and the concomitant value of individual identity. In sum, how can a distinct Canadian identity thrive in the face of a hegemonic American culture?

Evidence- Canada does not have that unique point which acts as an advantage of differentiating them and giving them an edge over the other countries like the United States does. For example barely one percent of the movies that Americans watch are foreign (Mulcahy,2003).

The attitude and their vast cultural diversities that American Industry has, galvanizes the fact about the Americanization of Canada.

The US has clearly been dominating the Canada Free Trade agreement since the beginning of this new decade. The rivalry with the UK and US were preety much the same since the early 19th Century but after the Second World War there was a clear increase in trade with the US. The imports were measurable but the imports were much more from the US then it was from the UK. The world war had clearly left a major impact on the trade and the economic policies. The markets were devastated as 70% of the imports for Canada came from the US.

In the wake of the Free Trade Agreement, there was a sharp (15 percentage point) increase in Canada's dependence on trade with the US. In 1998, total exports constituted a staggering 40 percent of GDP, with the US accounting for 84 percent of that total,

Or 33 percent of GDP. Thus, while trade dependence was quite high previously, the current levels of trade dependence, globally and on the US in particular, are record setting.

The Rebuttal

Although small in population, Canada is home to two major linguistic societies and may be ideally positioned to mediate a global cultural perspective that is an alternative to the hegemony of American entertainment. A hybrid Canadian culture, which is post-colonial, bi-lingual and multi-cultural, could serve as a model for other nations that seek to retain their heritage and identity without retreating into autarchy or dependency.

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