Category Archives: Culture

Culture

A Naughty Exhibit?

I didn’t use the word s-e-x in the title because I was afraid of sending your internet firewall into a tizzy.

But the poster on the left says it all…apparently, some words are the same whether written in German or English.

When it comes to this particular subject, there are two truths that are universally accepted…Europeans are more comfortable with their sexuality and more importantly, sex sells.

This exhibit is on display at the Nature Museum in Stuttgart, Germany until May 2012. I guess last year’s symposium on Coleoid Cephalopods Through Time just didn’t draw in the crowds, so this year the museum decided to try a different tactic.

I visited their website to find out more information and had to use Google’s Translate feature to read it. I think maybe something was lost in translation:

To the special exhibition, we offer an extensive program. Things to do in the public management program are special tours for couples, singles, men only, or women only.

Hmm…

Standard
Culture

Best Christmas Tradition We Didn’t Steal

We stole most of our favorite holiday traditions from other cultures. The Christmas tree, the hiding of treats in footwear (many cultures use shoes instead of stockings), and of course, everyone’s favorite…Santa Claus.

But the best Christmas tradition that we didn’t steal is the German Christmas Market.

These outdoor markets brim with crafts and goodies. Vendors nestle inside quaint booths topped with exquisite manger or winter scenes. They have old-fashioned carousels, ice skating rinks, gigantic nutcrackers, and lights and ornaments galore.

So what gives?

 

Who doesn’t need a heart-shaped gingerbread (lebkuchen) cookie to hang around her neck?

Or a chocolate-drizzled dessert that doubles as an awesome snowball (schneeball)?

We had no problem stealing the Oktoberfest idea and running with it. So why not Christmas Markets? After all, eating cookies and chocolate is way more fun than brats and sauerkraut.

It’s too cold, you say?

The Germans have that all figured out. While the kids get hyped up on sugar, the grownups stay toasty warm by drinking mugs of hot spiced wine known as glühwein (pronounced gluevine).

Eating cookies and drinking wine in the streets? Sign me up!

This year, whatever your favorite holiday traditions may be, I hope you enjoy them and have a very Merry Christmas (Frohe Weihnachten!)

Standard
Culture

Do You Have A Stretched Ego?

I have bad news. If you live in the northern hemisphere, where most of the earth’s land mass is located, you probably have a stretched ego.

Now, don’t be offended. It’s not really your fault. If you went to school prior to about 1993, you probably saw a map hanging on the classroom wall that looked like something this:

Mercator Map (www.odtmaps.com)

Because the earth is round like a ball, when map makers convert the earth into a flat map, they have to distort things to make it fill up a rectangle. To see how hard this is to do, try taking the peel off an orange in one piece and stretching it out into a rectangle.

The further north you go on some maps – like the Mercator map above – the more stretched out the earth becomes. This makes Greenland, North America, Europe, and Asia look ginormous, while the continents in the southern hemisphere look relatively tiny. Some people say this gives us northeners a stretched ego.

Fortunately, the cure is simple. We can use maps that shrink us north-types back down to size, like this one:

To discover more about seeing the world in a less distorted way, check out this site.


 

Standard
Culture

In Costa Rica, Order a Married Man

Next time you’re in Costa Rica, find a restaurant that serves comida tipica, or typical Costa Rican cuisine. Pick up your menu, browse through the selections, and choose the dish that offers rice, beans, salad, and meat. Then put the menu down, look bravely at your waiter, and ask for the married man. It’s that simple.

Of course, you might want to use the Spanish word for this: casado. This is the Costa Rican equivalent of a blue plate special. Why do they call it a casado, or married man? I’ve heard a couple of versions of this story.

One version says that in the past, Costa Rican wives would pack this meal in their husbands’ lunch boxes when they sent them off to work. Here’s another:

(From the novel, See Before You Die: Costa Rica)

“Married.”

I jumped at the smooth voice over my shoulder. I turned and there he was—Mr. Ripped—smiling down at me with a plate in his hand. Did he just say something about marriage?

“Excuse me?”

“Casado.” He pointed at the table. “Traditional Costa Rican cuisine. Black beans. Rice. Meat. Cabbage. Tomatoes. It’s known as casado. The word translates as married, or more specifically, married man. It means the boring daily fare a man can expect to eat after he’s been snagged into marriage.”

“Nice.”

“What can I say? These Ticos have a wicked sense of humor…” 

 



Standard