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America's Contribution to World Culture

Laura and I are taking an introductory German class. It’s a very international group — we’re the only Americans in the class, and the only two from the same country. Everyone speaks at least a little bit of English, so that’s the “backup” language if the teacher can’t convey a concept in Deutsch.

In last night’s class, toward the end of the class, she wanted us to play a game. We would pick celebrities or famous people, write down the German words for the things that they do, love, or are known for. Then we each were given a celebrity at random. We then had to interview each other to figure out which celebrity we were.

By the time we’d finished the list, I was stifling laughter hard enough that I was having trouble breathing. I was getting some strange looks, and I was afraid that I was disrupting the class. I was later told that a few of them were worried about what Americans would think of their descriptions, but my laughing put them at ease.

The list:

Lady Gaga
  • das Fleisch (the meat dress)
  • Musikerin (musician)
  • Tänzerin (dancer)
  • Schauspielerin (actor)
  • Sängerin (singer)
  • Mode (fashion)
  • nicht Programmierung (not a computer programmer — private joke)
  • Universal (employer)
  • Zürich Spital (Zürich hospital — another private joke)
  • Italien
  • tanzen (dancing)


Beyonce
  • NYC
  • Lotion
  • (it was agreed that most of the rest was similar to Lady Gaga)


Obama
  • rauchen (smoking)
  • Präsident (president)
  • Politiker (politician)
  • Anwalt (lawyer)
  • Jurist (law)
  • Amerika (America)
  • Washington 
  • die Geduld (patience)


Trump
  • Hochhaus (skyscraper)
  • America (America — actually, when our teacher asked where he lived, someone shouted “a mental hospital!”, but she sighed and wrote Amerika.)
  • Sich (himself — as the first answer to the question “What does he love?”)
  • Damen (women)
  • Schreien (shouting)
  • Beleidigen (insults)
  • Unternehmer (entrepreneur)


(At this point, someone said that we needed someone on the board who wasn’t American.)

Gandhi
  • Anwalt (lawyer)
  • Indien (Indian)
  • Bombay
  • Frieden (peace)
  • Yoga




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