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Filler Post #70 - Annoying Sign



As the company where I work becomes increasingly international, the amount of daily bitching from

1.) Germans lamenting the anglicization of the German language

and

2.) New expats to Germany fussing about the lack of English everywhere in Germany


has increased ten-fold. My empathy for both groups is super low. Personally, I think German is quite an extraordinarily expressive language and scarily (perhaps even obsessive-compulsively) accurate. But, in the immortal words of Sweet Brown, sometimes... "ain't nobody got time for that!"

And as for the expat situation...that should be pretty obvious. For better or worse, that's just how it is when you move to a different country in which the official language isn't English. Some amount of cowpersoning up and learning the language will be required, if you intend on fully interacting with your surroundings. Or at least come to terms that non-native English speakers will speak to you in less than perfect English.

You can't have it both ways. Ain't nobody got time for that? So I thought. The sign pictured above is proof. As psyched as I am to have a new coffee and pastry place right next to my preferred bus stop, I can't condone this abomination.

No.1 Coffee Fee

Coffee Fee (English pronunciation) = A fee for coffee

Kaffee Fee (German pronunciation, roughly "Kahfay Fay") = coffee fairy

Coffee (English pronunciation) + Fee (German pronunciation, roughly "Fay") = I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

My brain is already scrambled eggs. I literally do not have the time to sort this out in my mind grapes.

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