I’m Canadian and the weirdest encounter of English speaking accents I ever heard was in the south of Germany. We were in a rental car and just exploring the country and getting hopelessly lost. We were in the south near Nuremberg and we stopped at a gas station. A young man came up to us to operate the pump. He spoke German at first but then realized we were English speaking so he changed languages.
It was the weirdest form of English accent … it was English with a strong German accent mixed with a heavy southern American country twang. He even asked “How y’all doin?” in that weird accent of his.
We asked him about the accent and he said he had learned his English from an American military base nearby that had a lot of people from the American south, especially Texas.
Reminds me of the first time I tried speaking Spanish with some Mexicans. I learned it with a Dominican accent and boy did they look at me weird. I think I accidentally said something about tits. “What the fuck did this white boy just say to us??”
Don’t think too much of it. If you are a German from the north, visiting the south you’ll get a similar experience if they speak whatever they see as German.
A young men came out to operate the pump? Really? In Germany, within the last 30 years? This seems highly unlikely. Those places are almost never manned with more than one person and they don’t leave the counter.
This was about 20 years ago and we drove off the main highway to try to find the smallest road stop we could find. Driving in Germany is a nightmare by the way … but the people were fantastic. This was just before the period of easy to use GPS, we had to keep stopping to ask for directions. People were always generous, especially when we told them we were Canadian. They gave us detailed directions, suggestions and even led us to friends restaurants and bed and breakfasts where we could stay. At one point, one guy showed us directions on a massive national highway map book. When he was done giving us directions, he said keep the book and that we needed it more than him.
I don’t know if the young man had the job of pumping gas at the time … I remember we talked to him about lots of things, including how to operate the pump, how to pay and what it all cost. We so confused with everything that he ended up pumping the gas for us. We felt like children that didn’t know how to find the toilet.
I’ve travelled lots over the years and in many places in the world, we always saw the ugly German international traveller - the loud, ignorant idiot that gives everyone a hard time. We were afraid of driving in Germany because of this but the opposite was complete true. Average German people were some of the most generous, kind and helpful people we ever met. Danke!
I’m Canadian and the weirdest encounter of English speaking accents I ever heard was in the south of Germany. We were in a rental car and just exploring the country and getting hopelessly lost. We were in the south near Nuremberg and we stopped at a gas station. A young man came up to us to operate the pump. He spoke German at first but then realized we were English speaking so he changed languages.
It was the weirdest form of English accent … it was English with a strong German accent mixed with a heavy southern American country twang. He even asked “How y’all doin?” in that weird accent of his.
We asked him about the accent and he said he had learned his English from an American military base nearby that had a lot of people from the American south, especially Texas.
Reminds me of the first time I tried speaking Spanish with some Mexicans. I learned it with a Dominican accent and boy did they look at me weird. I think I accidentally said something about tits. “What the fuck did this white boy just say to us??”
Don’t think too much of it. If you are a German from the north, visiting the south you’ll get a similar experience if they speak whatever they see as German.
A young men came out to operate the pump? Really? In Germany, within the last 30 years? This seems highly unlikely. Those places are almost never manned with more than one person and they don’t leave the counter.
This was about 20 years ago and we drove off the main highway to try to find the smallest road stop we could find. Driving in Germany is a nightmare by the way … but the people were fantastic. This was just before the period of easy to use GPS, we had to keep stopping to ask for directions. People were always generous, especially when we told them we were Canadian. They gave us detailed directions, suggestions and even led us to friends restaurants and bed and breakfasts where we could stay. At one point, one guy showed us directions on a massive national highway map book. When he was done giving us directions, he said keep the book and that we needed it more than him.
I don’t know if the young man had the job of pumping gas at the time … I remember we talked to him about lots of things, including how to operate the pump, how to pay and what it all cost. We so confused with everything that he ended up pumping the gas for us. We felt like children that didn’t know how to find the toilet.
I’ve travelled lots over the years and in many places in the world, we always saw the ugly German international traveller - the loud, ignorant idiot that gives everyone a hard time. We were afraid of driving in Germany because of this but the opposite was complete true. Average German people were some of the most generous, kind and helpful people we ever met. Danke!
It’s a heartwarming story and I love it, don’t want to mess with it at all, but just one question: Are you by chance a beautiful woman?
I’m indigenous Canadian, with brown skin and long dark hair … from 100 feet away, I’m either a beautiful man or an ugly woman.
Beautiful either way. There are no ugly women, except Republicans.