Ah, wonderful! Vonderbar! Ahh! Please allow me to introduce myself, I am the owner of Fawlty Towers. And may I welcome your war... your war... you all... and hope that your stay will be a happy one. Now, would you like to eat first, or would you like a drink before the war... AHH! Er... trespassers will be tied up with piano wire... SORRY, SORRY!

Wow, taunting a German with references to the war- how witty and original....

Shut up, you stupid Kraut!

bathbubble: Wow, taunting a German with references to the war- how witty and original....

Yeah, especially when he could've mined the poop-porn angle for all it's worth - much more 21st century.

It has been said the men never talked before the incident. Said the German neighboUr, "Up until now, everything vas satisfactory."

cleveoh: bathbubble: Wow, taunting a German with references to the war- how witty and original....

Yeah, especially when he could've mined the poop-porn angle for all it's worth - much more 21st century.



Approves.

heh

"mining the poop porn"

now that's a phrase that has a certain something.

colinspooky: Have they done a sneaky with Cameron in that pic? Stupid boys

Why the hell have they done that? I'm guessing they took it from their library of stock photos and haven't noticed.

Warty Towels

Whatever you do, don't mention the war!

I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it.

Flowery Twats

Watery Owls.

Fatty Beavers

Damnit...


Fatty Owls...


\curses ageing brain cells

/you can't go on and on about the War.

Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war!"

My German girlfriend's cousin came to visit a few years ago. We went to work and left him to explore the city by himself for a day. When we came home at night, I asked Mathias how his day went. He described a pretty good day of sightseeing and, at the end of it, finished in a pub. He said, "I met a guy and we started to talk. I mentioned the war, but I think I got away with it." Then he started to roar in laughing.

This is when I knew he was a good bloke.

/TSB

I'm British and, mostly, I'm proud to be so. Rule Britannia etc etc... I'm also English and, again mostly, proud to be so. Land of Hope and Glory etc etc.
Sometimes, though, I'm not so sure. I don't fully get this whole England Vs Germany thing especially against current, modern German people, I really don't.

So, Germany - which was a broken country until Hitler brought the Nazi party to power - got a bit carried away and went and started a war by trying a bit of land-grabbing. We, along with a few other countries, didn't think this was such a good idea (America waited until they realised that Russia may very well get to Berlin first and claim Germany for themselves - but that's another story). Once defeated, Germany rebuilt (granted, it was paid for by all the countries that had blown it up) and, for the most part, has tried to put that part of their history behind them and have become a strong, wealthy, reasonably balanced nation.
There was also a football match, of some relevance within the sport, whereby England and Germany met and England triumphed. Hurrah for England. However, since then, the German team have generally prevailed in all other encounters. Not so hurrah for England.

Now, my point is this. The Second World War ended 67 years ago, the World Cup which England won was 46 years ago. Germany has ended up doing better than us at pretty much everything ever since. Stop banging on about it. Be proud of your cultural history, yes, but history doesn't give you licence to be racist, xenophobic or jingoistic.

In summary:
Germans are not Nazi's. It's like saying all Englishmen are Whigs.
The only World Cup we won was nearly 50 years ago. They've whooped us ever since. Shut up.

hippyneil: I'm British and, mostly, I'm proud to be so. Rule Britannia etc etc... I'm also English and, again mostly, proud to be so. Land of Hope and Glory etc etc.
Sometimes, though, I'm not so sure. I don't fully get this whole England Vs Germany thing especially against current, modern German people, I really don't.


Honestly, as far as I care, it's all in good fun and nobody is taking it seriously. Just some good natured ribbing. I'm saying this as a German, living in the US, but I'm also posting at britishexpats.com (most other expat boards are unreadable) and I get along there just fine

Seriously? I'm first?

So! It's all forgotten now, and let's hear no more about it. So, that's two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering, and four Colditz salads.

Whigs? Everyone knows that the English are a bunch of fat, bigoted Tory landowners.

Meanwhile, my local PBS station taunts me nightly with the hate crime that is "Are you being served?"

Read headline, click on Netflix link, type "Fawlty"... jackpot.

Thanks Subby!

special20: Yeah, the German guy was born in 1949. So yeah, let's fark with him about something he was never a part of.
Good show!

If I have to keep being reminded about slavery, why can't the german be reminded about ww2?

Silly boy.....

Best not be obscure

5 years ago this French guy moved out of his office on the floor I worked on, and nobody could tell what the sour milk smell was in his office. This German guy who worked on the floor came in and we were talking about the weird smell and he asked me why the French guy moved his office. I said "he must have heard the Wehrmacht coming". We both laughed.

TKM: Flowery Twats

Came to say this.

Good thing he didn't have the cold steel. They don't like it up 'em...They do not like it up 'em.

Kar98: hippyneil: I'm British and, mostly, I'm proud to be so. Rule Britannia etc etc... I'm also English and, again mostly, proud to be so. Land of Hope and Glory etc etc.
Sometimes, though, I'm not so sure. I don't fully get this whole England Vs Germany thing especially against current, modern German people, I really don't.


Honestly, as far as I care, it's all in good fun and nobody is taking it seriously. Just some good natured ribbing. I'm saying this as a German, living in the US, but I'm also posting at britishexpats.com (most other expat boards are unreadable) and I get along there just fine

Hey Kar, I appreciate your view. Yeah, most people here are in the "good-natured ribbing" camp. But sometimes people go too far and that's what this story sounds like. There is a lot of back-story here, and I'm not saying the German couple are, necessarily, guilt-free, but what this guy did is stupid and just perpetuates this conceit some of my countrymen seem to have.
I was just ranting off against the whole "2 world wars, 1 world cup" mentality that this sort of story comes from. I find it quite embarrassing, really.

Still, if the same situation was in a t.v. sit-com, I'd probably be laughing along with everyone else.
But then t.v. and real life are different. Or, at least, they should be.


/why so serious, neil?
//I have no idea what came over me

potterydove: special20: Yeah, the German guy was born in 1949. So yeah, let's fark with him about something he was never a part of.
Good show!

If I have to keep being reminded about slavery, why can't the german be reminded about ww2?

You do have a point. Some people just can't let go of the past even when they weren't there at that time. I lived in the southern states for a long time and this is a big reason I can't stand being in the area. The only people in the south not racist, really are great people or just visiting. Regardless of race or age, you can find racist. When somebody is having a bad day it comes out. If you are different than you caused their bad day. My ancestors never lived in the south, yet I still heard my share of it. Born in MI, yet somebody felt the need to rip the US flag off my truck on July 4th. I was told "you should fly the conferate flag, it is your heritage." Most of the people in that region really are mentally unhealthy. If you cannot leave the past behind especially the past that you had nothing to do with, YOU NEED HELP!! I read the books that The Pacific was based on. (name slipped my min) The marine from New York noticed the drill seargants from the south treated norther recruits harshly. This was also pointed out by Eugene Sledge(from Alabama) as being true and found it funny. Sledge also commented in his book that he was surprised watching his fellow recruits from the north, it struck him as odd that the north won. I am trying to let go of the memories I have of that region. I have gotten over my great-grandparents leaving Germany during WWI to get away from what was coming.

I was not aware that the British prime minister was a '70s comedy actor.

Dad's Army? Seriously? Does he even know what that show was about? If I was his neighbour, I'd be laughing.