German Idiosyncrasies

Surely there is not another language that is soslipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp

Mark Twain in A Tramp Abroad 1880

The Germans are well known for their idiosyncrasies.

This ranges from quirks of language, quirks of behaviour, quirks of culture to extremely absurd rules that could only have been made by a practical joker.

See this new item in the Washington Post for a rollicking case of PhDs!! Doktorands!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031304353_pf.html

In a nutshell if you have a PhD from any country other than Germany and you happen to be in Deutschland, beware!! You can't use the title Dr. in your name, its illegal and prosecutable, you are committing a crime by masquerading as a medical practitioner.

Some German gems:

"Let us meet us each other tomorrow"
"My friend is with his mattress"