Three things
1. I am really pissed right now.
2. My German is atrocious
3. I am proud of my German language skills right now, I thought I could only order in a restaurant but I guess I can argue too.
I spent today at the Science Engineering Library a building that one of my classmates thought was a Korean dorm. It sometimes seems like the only people that hang out at the SEL are me, Desis and international students. When I left, I was tired but low on gas and needed an ice scraper (it is about 4 degrees outside). I stopped at a gas station and went inside to get my ice scraper. Inside were two men talking and a man behind the counter. The two men were speaking in English and one said to the other “You know these niggers, all they want is money. This is America you can work. If anyone ever asks you for money it is always a nigger” The other man nodded in agreement as the man continued “I am an Italian-American and I did it.” The man who was nodding in agreement then asks “Oh do you speak Italian?”
man #1: “No, I don’t speak Italian but I speak German.”
man #2 in German: “Oh I do too”
At this point they look over and notice me, and I’ve been staring at them. They start to say some sexual things about me. I guess by the look on their faces they caught on that I might have had a clue to what they were saying but the continued anyway. Then
Man #2 says to me in English “Oh, do you understand what we are saying?”
I respond in German “Yes I do. I lived in Bavaria.”
Man #2 says to me in German “You are very beautiful.”
I respond in German “You are a fucking cock sucker.”
I think I may have said it somewhat harshly and loudly because the guy behind the counter stopped what he was doing.
Man #2 then says “Excuse me? I did not hear what you said”.
I then say again in German “Do you know ‘cock sucker’? That is what you are.” I say as I finish signing my receipt. I start to walk out of the store, with man #2 in shock and man #1 says to me in German “You shouldn’t use the familiar form in asking him, you should use the polite form of ‘to know’” I turn on my way out and say in German “Fuck you too”.
I was pissed. These mean were racist, They talked about me in a sexual manner and continued to do so even after they realized I understood what they were saying. I am also pissed that I don’t have a larger vocabulary because I don’t like calling someone a cock sucker. I think cock sucking can be a beautiful, wonderful, intimate thing that should never be used as an insult. However, I am proud that I now realized I can not only order in a German restaurant but also go off on someone. Who knew?
That’s so funny, what you called him–and the guy corrects your German!
I think it would be heaven to have a day go by when a woman isn’t subjected to this kind of treatment.
I’m in Ohio too, but grew up in New Mexico.
Well, it’s actually spelled Schwanzlutscher, not Schwanzlucher. And if you’re calling someone like that, it’s absolutely ok to use the familiar form. Also z.B.: Weißt Du, was Du bist? Du bist ein verdammter Schwanzlutscher!
is perfectly ok.
Anyway, if you might meet this ppl again and are short of german swear words, feel free to ask ;-)
“Schwanzlutscher”
That’s beautiful. I will never forget that word. See, in the blogosphere, you learn something new every minute.
Wow, mujer you’re my shero for the day.
I’m glad you got a chance to make use of your German. Five years of German and all I can say is, “Das ist nicht mein Gepack” and the movie theater is “um die Ecke.”
same here, i took 4 years of german and all i remember from reading the books in class is about some chick named heide and her urge to buy Kartoffelpuffer
You should be proud that you stuck it to them any way you could! Man, what detestible examples of humanity.