Comments by "T J" (@TJ-hs1qm) on "Brit in Germany" channel.

  1. I noticed that people from the UK are exceptionally good in pronouncing German fluently. It seems like second nature and this guy's accent is really good. props!
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  2. 3:45 it's not only your skill, it's your UK passport that allows you to travel to every country there is 😅
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  3. Politeness is a product of power imbalance, and it works for those in power. Asking politely for a pay raise isn't likely to achieve much. However, if your landlord politely informs you that the rent is going to double, or if your boss asks you politely to finish the work over the weekend, you feel the threat. Hence, you do what you've been 'politely asked' to do. Anyone who has to endure this on a daily basis resorts to sarcasm to get along. Among family and friends, politeness and sarcasm are much less useful. I guess, politeness and sarcasm are the result of centuries of refined social and economic class hierachies. It is also how lower classes mimic the language of people in power, either to avoid open confrontation or to use etiquette to appear morally (but not factual) equal. The greater the class differences, the more politeness you'll probably see.
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  4. We visited Halle once in the 90s shortly after reunification and were immediately told by a local that after dark we should keep away from the city center. It was the place for the local Nazis to get together. We are Germans but not ethnically, and this was decades before the refugee crisis. I think the root problem here is the very idea of the nation-state itself. National borders, national armies, national parliaments, national flag, national football teams, natonal anthems, national pride... Being constantly surrounded by this nationalist rhetoric (propaganda), how can you blame anyone for turning into an ardent nationalist? It doesn't really shock me to see how democracies are always a stone's throw away from turning into fascism because they both depend on the exact same nationalistic underpinnings. Also eloquently expressed in the phrase "America First" which isnt far away from the infamous "Deutschland Deutschland über alles".
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  5. Imagine if Murdoch spoke German, he would have wiped the floor with us just like he did with you.
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