Live and Learn

[Bigguy]

You guys will be rolling your eyes at my ignorance and I shouldn’t display it publicly, but this blows my mind to the point I’ve got to mention it.

First a little background you can skip if you wish.

BACKGROUND:
We were watching a series on Netflix named “Capitani” In the first season it follows a police detective working in a small village close to the city of Lexumbourg named Merscheid.
I began to notice things that caught my attention. It’s dubbed so it sounds like they’re speaking English, but watching their lips it’s clear they aren’t. Considering all the names and signs, I assumed it was German. There were also a lot of signs in English, but having taken a bunch of Google Earth tours, I’m aware that signs in English are common throughout Europe. But the uniforms and vehicles used by the police were labeled “Police,” not “Polizei.”

The second season he is now a private investigator working in Lexumbourg. Again it’s dubbed, but the signs and names are now French. That got me curious. I thought that maybe Lexumbourg is close to the French border and has a large French community. So I got on Google maps to find out.
END BACKGROUND:

Up until yesterday morning if you had asked me where Lexumbourg was, I’d have confidently assured you it was a city in southern Germany. Imagine my surprise to learn the the city of Lexumbourg is the capital of the COUNTRY of Lexumbourg. According to Wikipedia it has three official languages, French, German, and English.

Just curious, am I the only one who didn’t know this?

 

[General Zod]

You, uh...might be? Luxembourg is notable for being the tiniest country in Europe.

 

[Eastexasrick]

I did not know that.

 

[Eastexasrick]

Derail, the mouse that roared, Peter Sellers, sounds like a parody on this

 

[Gordo]

Don't know, don't care, as I never watch that crap.

 

[Bigguy]

You, uh...might be? Luxembourg is notable for being the tiniest country in Europe.

And, the richest in the world according to IMF.

 

[seeker_two]

But how is the show? ....

 

[leVieux]

<>

I knew that Luxembourg is a tiny Nation, one of the smallest.

Years back when we visited Antwerp Belgium, we were unprepared for the signage. The official national language of Belgium is French, so we expected signage in French, English or perhaps German; but no, North of Bruxelle (Brussells) it was in Dutch, which neither of us understood at all. The kindly train crews all spoke French & translated the signs for us, but they didn’t speak Dutch, either.

Then on arrival in Antwerpen, everyone again spoke both English & French, w/ signage in those languages.

Another time in Geneve C H (Geneva), I asked a passer-by for directions in French & she responded in excellent English. (C H has 4 official languages: French, German, Italian, & a Swiss dialect.). Her reply was welcome: “We can’t understand each other in the official languages, so we all learned American English from movies to be able to communicate with one-another.”

Hospitality workers everywhere are expected to have basic English.

We’ve noted that those dreaded movie “subtitles” can be terribly erroneous.

I guess the WEF will fix that, too. . . . . . . .

<>

 

[Bigguy]

But how is the show? ....

It was OK. I don't want to go into details, but the wife and have have just about become shut-ins. As result, we've streamed stuff we wouldn't normally have looked twice at.
We've discovered that we enjoy these European police shows. We been long time fans of the British shows, but now we're catching them from the Nederlands, France, Germany, and occasionally other places.
We get a kick out of the cultural differences between not only them and the U.S., but between all of them. There are differences between police power, policy, reaction to the populace, and even which side of the road they drive on.

 

[Bigguy]

<>

I knew that Luxembourg is a tiny Nation, one of the smallest.

Years back when we visited Antwerp Belgium, we were unprepared for the signage. The official national language of Belgium is French, so we expected signage in French, English or perhaps German; but no, North of Bruxelle (Brussells) it was in Dutch, which neither of us understood at all. The kindly train crews all spoke French & translated the signs for us, but they didn’t speak Dutch, either.

Then on arrival in Antwerpen, everyone again spoke both English & French, w/ signage in those languages.

Another time in Geneve C H (Geneva), I asked a passer-by for directions in French & she responded in excellent English. (C H has 4 official languages: French, German, Italian, & a Swiss dialect.). Her reply was welcome: “We can’t understand each other in the official languages, so we all learned American English from movies to be able to communicate with one-another.”

Hospitality workers everywhere are expected to have basic English.

We’ve noted that those dreaded movie “subtitles” can be terribly erroneous.

I guess the WEF will fix that, too. . . . . . . .

<>

My Dad told a story I always enjoyed. Back in the early 1960s we were stationed in Germany. Bt this time were were in Oberammergau and Dad was with the Weapons Assembly Department Headquarters. One a year they would go up to Scotland for live fire with NATO. Dad tells of trying to communicate with a Scottsman. They could not understand each other. But they both knew enough pigeon German to speak to the German soldiers. The wound getting a German to translate from American English to Scottish brogue and back.

 

[leVieux]

I have distant Cousins who are police detectives in far-away nations. From my understandings; in nations which don’t have the “presumption of innocence”, the police & prosecutors have to be extremely ethical.

 

[Coiled]

I knew because I've been there. Classic European charm, very clean and berry berry 'pensive !

1992

 

[benenglish]

From my understandings; in nations which don’t have the “presumption of innocence”, the police & prosecutors have to be extremely ethical.

I assume you are limiting that comment to Europe. In this hemisphere, it wouldn't apply.

 

[Aus_Schwaben]

Derail, the mouse that roared, Peter Sellers, sounds like a parody on this

That was the Grand Duchy of Fenwick. And the movie was poorly done as Peter Seller's character was supposed to be a throwback to the swashbucklers like Robin Hood a la Errol Flynn.

 

[Rafe]

My favorite moniker that has a capitol city named the same as the country? Djibouti, Djibouti. Just sayin'...

 

[jimbo]

I didn't know that.

 

[General Zod]

My Dad told a story I always enjoyed. Back in the early 1960s we were stationed in Germany. Bt this time were were in Oberammergau and Dad was with the Weapons Assembly Department Headquarters. One a year they would go up to Scotland for live fire with NATO. Dad tells of trying to communicate with a Scottsman. They could not understand each other. But they both knew enough pigeon German to speak to the German soldiers. The wound getting a German to translate from American English to Scottish brogue and back.

There's an accent called "Doric" from the deep Highlands, and it does not sound like English. When my wife and I spent two weeks in Scotland (jeez...22 years ago...) we had a cab driver with a THICK Doric accent. Luckily we had friends in the cab who were from Yorkshire. They were able to understand the cabbie, and we could understand them...

Funny thing, though. By the end of that cab ride into Aberdeen, I was conversing directly with the cabbie and catching about 90% of what he said. But man, it's a hell of an accent.

 

[benenglish]

Luxembourg is notable for being the tiniest country in Europe.

I knew that Luxembourg is a tiny Nation, one of the smallest.

Depends on how you define "country."

Is Monaco a country? Is The Most Serene Republic of San Marino? (Yeah, I know that's an affectation, not the official name, but I like it. It was amusing to see the last Olympics use that name for the place.) There's also Liechtenstein, Andorra, Malta, and the Holy See. Depending on your mood, those can all be called countries and they're all smaller than Luxembourg. And they're all in Europe. Except for Malta, they're also all filthy rich.

But if you're not in a charitable mood, you can just call them "microstates" and dismiss them as not really being countries. (I'm being flip. There are some legal reasons to not consider them countries such as the fact that they mostly rely on surrounding countries to do things like defense and other basic things that, well, if you don't do those things it's debatable if you deserve to be called a country. But this post is going to be too long as it is. Sorry.)

And some European countries have protectorates of one sort or another outside Europe. I never can get it straight if they should be called countries or some other noun. I mean places like Diego Garcia for the Brits and the dozen or so territories that France still has scattered all over the world, places that are sometimes called countries and sometimes other arcane, bureaucratic names.

You'd think something as basic as "Is this place a country?" would be a settled question everywhere on Earth.

Nope.

 

[leVieux]

I assume you are limiting that comment to Europe. In this hemisphere, it wouldn't apply.

The German based Euro model. And, yes, in “theory”. Germany, France, Belgium, C.H., etc.

In Latin America there is much corruption & incompetence; but that is not the fault of their “System”.

 

[General Zod]

Depends on how you define "country."

Is Monaco a country? Is The Most Serene Republic of San Marino? (Yeah, I know that's an affectation, not the official name, but I like it. It was amusing to see the last Olympics use that name for the place.) There's also Liechtenstein, Andorra, Malta, and the Holy See. Depending on your mood, those can all be called countries and they're all smaller than Luxembourg. And they're all in Europe. Except for Malta, they're also all filthy rich.

But if you're not in a charitable mood, you can just call them "microstates" and dismiss them as not really being countries. (I'm being flip. There are some legal reasons to not consider them countries such as the fact that they mostly rely on surrounding countries to do things like defense and other basic things that, well, if you don't do those things it's debatable if you deserve to be called a country. But this post is going to be too long as it is. Sorry.)

And some European countries have protectorates of one sort or another outside Europe. I never can get it straight if they should be called countries or some other noun. I mean places like Diego Garcia for the Brits and the dozen or so territories that France still has scattered all over the world, places that are sometimes called countries and sometimes other arcane, bureaucratic names.

You'd think something as basic as "Is this place a country?" would be a settled question everywhere on Earth.

Nope.

Luxembourg does at least have its own (small) military.