There is this book called A Year in the Scheisse: Getting to Know the Germans, which is modeled after A Year in the Merde. According to Amazon.com The Scheisse is not as well received as the Merde. I suppose it's just because of the age old belief that the French are superior in everything. I bet their Merde smells like roses. All I can say is after living on the border of Germany and France for six years, I've had plenty of both. Sadly, I can say I've only quickly browsed the German version and was not surprised at what I expected. A whole lot of Scheisse. Just plain old stereotypes. But let me confirm and or break those down and introduce you to a part of Germany you probably had no idea existed.
The Saarland.
What is that, you ask. That's a fair question. It's the smallest of the 16 federal states in the west and borders France and Luxembourg. We don’t know what we are, which is not really our fault. Are we German? Nein. Are we French? Mais non! We are Saarländers. Once belonging to France, then Germany, then France, then Germany, then the puppet UN, then officially back to Germany in the 1950s, you can imagine the identity crisis. I’ll give a more detailed history later in some posts.
One thing I can tell you is Saarländers are known for is never leaving. The 80s is also known for that here as well, but that’s a story, a mullet and a crop top for another time. They have a saying in Saarland. You’re born in the Saarland, you go to school in the Saarland, you marry in the Saarland, you die in the Saarland. Needless to say, they don’t get out much which in turn has caused every town to concoct their own dialects. None of which involve speaking English. That’s where I come in.
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