Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Michael Every time when I return to the U.S. from a short trip to Germany, I realize there's a lot of subtle cultural differences between the two countries. In this new series, I'm going to take a closer look at them.
"Give me a break" is what Americans say when they're double parked with their emergency lights blinking in a narrow road and traffic starts to jam behind them. And the drivers stuck in traffic all agree that the poor chap blocking the road must be doing so because he wasn't able to find parking and it'd be unreasonable to park around the corner and walk for 30 seconds. Let's give that guy a break! Or when someone is looking for a parking spot, it's okay to do so at 5mph in a 25mph zone, with caravans of drivers following them without getting upset!
As another example, it's illegal in California to bring dogs onto business premises where food items are sold. The only exception are guide dogs for the blind. But if you go to Costco on 10th and Bryant St. in San Francisco, for example, you'll often see people with dogs in the store. In Germany, the dog owners would face outraged customers, calling them out on their disgressions like "Excuse me, that's not allowed!", but in the U.S., I've never seen anyone say anything, except some fellow dog lover maybe exclaiming "Oh, that's such a cutie! Is this a St. Bernard or a swiss mountain dog?". Restaurants in San Francisco, on the other hand, always seem to enforce the law, and many times I've seen waiters relegate people with dogs in no uncertain words to outside seating where it's legal to bring a dog. I presume that's because the restaurant's owner would lose their license if the health department found out that they are breaking the law by tolerating dogs inside.
Or take the dogs-on-leash-only laws on many beaches and in many parks across California. They're widely ignored by many dog owners, who consider it ridiculous government overreach that can safely be ignored. Who in their right mind would deprive little Fido of chasing after some endangered birds? In the rare case that a park ranger shows up and points out the various signs requiring dogs to be on leash, it always seems to help them to sheepishly claim to somehow not having caught a glimpse of any of them.
Or if you're driving your car through the streets of San Francisco at night and suddenly are forced to slam on the brakes because some completely spaced-out homeless guy is taking his sweet time crossing the road on a red light, you might be inclined to sound your horn in an advisory manner. Not so in California, where drivers simply slow down and avoid any possible altercation. They value their personal safety more than upholding law and order. If you know me, however, you've correctly guessed that I think entirely differently about this matter!
This couldnt-care-less attitude varies widely between regions in the U.S., and some of the most extreme proponents are the Hawaiians, who often have no idea what their car's horn even sounds like. If you make the mistake of sounding the horn for any reason whatsoever anywhere on Hawaii, the natives will look at you in complete disdain. I've also found that in most parts of the States, people tend to react in surprisingly irate ways to advisory honking. It's not uncommon that an innocent honk signal leads to a heated verbal exchange with obscene hand gestures, sometimes even followed by a lethal shootout. But someone has to take a stand, and I keep honking as I deem appropriate. Except when I'm on vacation on Hawaii, of course.
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