Louisiana: The Pelican State, the Bayou State, the Creole State No. None of Louisiana's nicknames, official or otherwise, offer even a hint of how much of an impact German-speaking immigrants have had on the state. In fact, despite having lived in Louisiana as a...
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Europe
What’s in a Name? Exonyms: Köln vs Cologne, Donau vs Danube, Beijing vs Peking
Exonyms: Shape-Shifting Place Names "Munich" is the English exonym for the city that Germans call München. An exonym is a name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language is spoken, and differing from the...
Walt Disney’s European Tour in 1935: Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
The Nazi Rumors and Disney Over the years, at various times, Walt Disney's been labeled anti-Semitic, a Nazi sympathizer, and a racist. When Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) visited Hollywood to promote her Olympia film in 1938, Walt Disney was the rare exception of a...
Dreaming of a Move to the Netherlands
I have heard this period between Christmas and New Years described as Zwischen den Jahren, or "between the years". It is a quiet time where Germans spend quality time with friends and loved ones, chatting and drinking and eating at homes as many restaurants and shops...
Summer holidays: a postcard from England
As every summer, we are holidaying in the north of England, where compared to Berlin the days are cooler and the evenings longer. I should be used to it because this is where I grew up and it has the unpredictable (or all too predictable) summer climate of my...
Baedeker, German Reiselust, and vacation days
Kings and governments may err, but never Mr. Baedeker. - A.P. Herbert, in his 1929 English libretto for J. Offenbach's operetta La Vie Parisienne[1] In both German and English, the term "Baedeker" (BAY-day-ker) is synonymous with "travel guidebook" (Reiseführer)....
Making a small contribution – refugees in Berlin
The situation is all over the news, it's what people are earnestly discussing over dinner, it has moved the country on a national scale - I'm talking about Europe's migrant crisis and the role Germany is playing. This is not the time nor place to be political. All...
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