Why would German ladies stare at my Daughter.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: UK.
Posts: 719
Thank you everybody for your comments...all noted and I will pass it all onto my daughter,
She has been home a week now and very much enjoyed her honeymoon cruise...the incident is all forgotten about now,
All very interesting though.
She has been home a week now and very much enjoyed her honeymoon cruise...the incident is all forgotten about now,
All very interesting though.
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Europe
Posts: 1,420
I can explain why a group of maturity-challenged young women, female chavs from the centre of England on a "hen" trip, were being stared at by German ladies when they visited a German spa for a laugh last week, kitted out in their Primark bikinis.
They not only refused to strip off in accordance with the absolute custom - and house rules - but stared and giggled at the other guests, 50:50 male/female, aged 10 - 80, to whom spa nudity is as natural as dressing warmly in winter to go outside. They were making some very moronic comments in English, evidently oblivious to the fact that most Germans speak it better than them.
To the Germans it's a matter of hygiene, not nudism, naturism or voyeurism, and they are totally unconcerned about their bodies and everyone else's.
Eventually the women were told by one of the German ladies to conform or get out, so they went, bleating that "no-one tells us to take our clothes off, innit."
They not only refused to strip off in accordance with the absolute custom - and house rules - but stared and giggled at the other guests, 50:50 male/female, aged 10 - 80, to whom spa nudity is as natural as dressing warmly in winter to go outside. They were making some very moronic comments in English, evidently oblivious to the fact that most Germans speak it better than them.
To the Germans it's a matter of hygiene, not nudism, naturism or voyeurism, and they are totally unconcerned about their bodies and everyone else's.
Eventually the women were told by one of the German ladies to conform or get out, so they went, bleating that "no-one tells us to take our clothes off, innit."
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Europe
Posts: 1,420
No, just a British person relaxing between some very tedious meetings, and pretending to be Norwegian, or Swedish, anything but British after overhearing some of the Germans' justified comments about the British!
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Sunny side up
Posts: 1,207
Eventually the women were told by one of the German ladies to conform or get out, so they went, bleating that "no-one tells us to take our clothes off, innit."
TBQH it wouldn't be my thing, so I wouldn't go. I'm sure there are plenty of other things to do. Good on the Germans. 
Glad to hear we don't have the monopoly on stupid, yobby tourists, anyway, though we certainly export aot of them
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Last edited by Worrals in the wilds; 6th Jun 2012 at 00:14.
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Ireland
Posts: 627
PS: Currently living in Germany, I experienced an english man in his 40s waiting for his wife inside his car on an Aldi car park. After a few minutes of german stare from every single person walking by, he was short of having some kind of stroke. I sincerely believed he would attack the next passer by. Sadly, I fully understood what he went through.
Funnily enough in terms of staring I found another nationality inclined to stare, Icelanders, not that I'm a pretty girl or even a pretty boy or even pretty. Just normal looking. It was quite disconcerting. On the other hand my wife suffered no such indignity and thought I was imagining it. In the end I concluded they were inclined to stare at obvious foreigners. My wife on the other hand looks scandinavian, blonde etc. One translation of her surname is actually, Viking. In shops she was invariably addressed in Icelandic. I on the other hand was always spoke to in English.
We are all inclined to think that everyone in Europe is culturally similar, that we're somehow merging into a euro culture. Seems it's not so true after all.
Last edited by corsair; 6th Jun 2012 at 16:07.
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Join Date: May 2008
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Age: 76
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to whom spa nudity is as natural as dressing warmly in winter to go outside.
So how do Germans deal with members of the Moslem faith ? Here, nudity is par for the course with English, Germans, Spanish, Catalans, etc - in our fitness centre sauna - but Moslem men always wear bathing trunks in the sauna and hot tub. I assume it's part of their beliefs & doesn't bother me, but do Germans look at them for not being nude ?
So how do Germans deal with members of the Moslem faith ? Here, nudity is par for the course with English, Germans, Spanish, Catalans, etc - in our fitness centre sauna - but Moslem men always wear bathing trunks in the sauna and hot tub. I assume it's part of their beliefs & doesn't bother me, but do Germans look at them for not being nude ?
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Sunny side up
Posts: 1,207
OFSO, do you have mixed gender nudity in Spain?
I though Middle Eastern baths were traditionally taken nude, though gender segregated. A friend went to one (in Tunisia, from memory) and all the women were naked, which is almost unheard of in Australia. I distinctly remember her mentioning it because she has quite extensive tattoos, and all the Arab women were really curious about them.
I though Middle Eastern baths were traditionally taken nude, though gender segregated. A friend went to one (in Tunisia, from memory) and all the women were naked, which is almost unheard of in Australia. I distinctly remember her mentioning it because she has quite extensive tattoos, and all the Arab women were really curious about them.
I'll mak siccar
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Tir nan Og
Posts: 282
I do believe the "staring" in not uncomon in German Switzerland. I recall a teacher from those parts tell me that she planned an outing with the kiddie-winkles to some spot where she expected they might encounter foreign tourists.
"Do not", she instructed, "Talk about them there and then. Talk about them when we get home".
It befell as foreseen. Some splendid and comment-worthy samples of tourist were spotted.
"Miss!", said one urchin, in German I suppose, but loudly, "We'll talk about THAT one when we get home!"
"Do not", she instructed, "Talk about them there and then. Talk about them when we get home".
It befell as foreseen. Some splendid and comment-worthy samples of tourist were spotted.
"Miss!", said one urchin, in German I suppose, but loudly, "We'll talk about THAT one when we get home!"
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: .
Posts: 2,179
Well, these two blog sites think they have an answer
"The Germanic Stare Down": Watcha Lookin' at, Granny? - SPIEGEL ONLINE
http://berlinblogazine.********.co.u...man-stare.html
Basically the Germans were conditioned during the 1930's and 1940's to spy on and report on their neighbours, and the East Germans carried on under the Stazi
If the theory is correct you have an institutionalised nosy-b'stard mindset thats run through a couple of generations and is now probably self-perpetuating
edit - replace the stars with b-l-o-g-s-p-o-t without the dashes
Why does this forum have these stupid hangups?
"The Germanic Stare Down": Watcha Lookin' at, Granny? - SPIEGEL ONLINE
http://berlinblogazine.********.co.u...man-stare.html
Basically the Germans were conditioned during the 1930's and 1940's to spy on and report on their neighbours, and the East Germans carried on under the Stazi
If the theory is correct you have an institutionalised nosy-b'stard mindset thats run through a couple of generations and is now probably self-perpetuating
edit - replace the stars with b-l-o-g-s-p-o-t without the dashes
Why does this forum have these stupid hangups?
Last edited by Milo Minderbinder; 7th Jun 2012 at 01:05.
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: N54 58 34 W02 01 21
Age: 75
Posts: 1,859
Basically the Germans were conditioned during the 1930's and 1940's to spy on and report on their neighbours, and the East Germans carried on under the Stazi
If the theory is correct you have an institutionalised nosy-b'stard mindset thats run through a couple of generations and is now probably self-perpetuating
If the theory is correct you have an institutionalised nosy-b'stard mindset thats run through a couple of generations and is now probably self-perpetuating
It was, however, very early in the process of 'freedom' (the towers were still in place along the Iron Curtain - though abandoned, as were the Russian R&R camps in the previously 'closed to locals' town of Bad Berka where we eventually found accommodation at the Stasi Sanatorium), having failed to find anywhere to stay in Weimar despite going 'door-to-door' to 'B&Bs' from a list supplied by my German cousin.
Dresden still had Russian troops patrolling the streets.
We found longer-term accommodation at Pirna with a farmer who now owned his property. He told me that the biggest problem was that after 40 years they now had decisions to make such as what make and model of car to buy - and they could even choose the colour (something that was previously denied them if they wanted to buy a Trabant - they simply paid the money and would be told, years later, that their car was ready for collection). He said that they "weren't ready for such decisions . . . "
A most enlightening experience for us.
We were even allowed to drive through Czechoslovakia (though under strict control of our route, monitored by leather-clad 'agents' with walkie-talkies at every junction until we reached the exit border).
Of course we got 'fleeced' by getting change in Ostmarks for our Deutschmarks payments (the 'official' rate was 10 Ostmarks to the DM), but the prices were so low that we never challenged this.
We never encountered any animosity or staring, indeed, we were treated like Royalty when we stopped at a R&R B&B in the Hartz mountains with the wife fetching fresh meat from the butcher for our breakfast - raw minced pork (in August!). The lady asked whether we had come from England on an aircraft with our car . . .
Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: 03 ACE
Age: 69
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The German tourists visting around here certainly like a good stare at a tragedy !
Wherever a road accident occurs or some poor sod is dragged out of the sea, you can be 100% certain that the emergency services will have to fight through a crowd of staring Germans.
They seem to have no shame whatsoever and group around even tighter when any treatment is being dished out to the victim.
Pretty gross really !!
Wherever a road accident occurs or some poor sod is dragged out of the sea, you can be 100% certain that the emergency services will have to fight through a crowd of staring Germans.
They seem to have no shame whatsoever and group around even tighter when any treatment is being dished out to the victim.
Pretty gross really !!
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Somewhere between E17487 and F75775
Age: 76
Posts: 723
a crowd of staring Germans
They are called "Schaulüstige" and whenever there is a crash on the autobahnen, on your car radio you'll get the warning for the crash site and "achtung, opposite direction blocked by "schaulüstige" - sometimes hours after the crashed vehicles have been removed, so great is the press of Germans wanting to see a crash.
They are called "Schaulüstige" and whenever there is a crash on the autobahnen, on your car radio you'll get the warning for the crash site and "achtung, opposite direction blocked by "schaulüstige" - sometimes hours after the crashed vehicles have been removed, so great is the press of Germans wanting to see a crash.
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Somewhere between E17487 and F75775
Age: 76
Posts: 723
OFSO, do you have mixed gender nudity in Spain?
On beaches, I think so, but not in fitness centres, or not any wot I have been in. Frankly it's not something I ever take any notice of. (Too old, too jaded, always accompanied by wife, etc...)
Last autumn I walked into a sauna in a well-known spa near Redhill U.K. and I was the only person in there who was nude ! I detected some kind of negative thoughts from the other visitors....
On beaches, I think so, but not in fitness centres, or not any wot I have been in. Frankly it's not something I ever take any notice of. (Too old, too jaded, always accompanied by wife, etc...)
Last autumn I walked into a sauna in a well-known spa near Redhill U.K. and I was the only person in there who was nude ! I detected some kind of negative thoughts from the other visitors....
