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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France
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...
Is it Germany or is it France?
If you like your French with a side of German, the Alsace-Lorraine is the region for you. Traded back and forth between the two countries as borders changed throughout time, France came out the winner with this lovely little territory. Alsace-Lorraine might sound like...
German and Austrian Pioneers in LGBTQ Rights
Update: This post was last updated in April 2023 to reflect new laws and to add information for Switzerland. Although we tend to think of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) rights movement as a modern, fairly recent phenomenon, the advocacy of...
How to tell when Germans are really being rude versus just being German
If you want to confirm the fact that the internet is not improving people's IQs, just type "rude Germans" into your favorite search engine. Boom! You'll get over 1.9 million results, most of which were written by morons. (But "rude French" pulls an amazing 39.1...
Green Sauce
The origins of Frankfurter Grüne Sosse (green sauce) are not entirely clear. It is largely believed that the Romans brought it from the Near East. But the route the recipe followed from Italy to Hessen (where it is today a celebrated local speciality) is disputed....
Comparing Germany and France and…
There was a time when I thought certain practices and cultural quirks were uniquely German (or Austrian or Swiss), but as I traveled around Europe more and more, I realized that some "German" things are actually European things. The fear of a draft or breeze, for...
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