May 24, 2004
JAWOHL!
Talking toilet orders men to sit down
(Boston Globe, May 21, 2004)
A German inventor who developed a gadget that berates men if they try to use the toilet standing up has sold more than 1.6 million devices, his business manager said on Tuesday.German women fed up with a man with a poor aim can turn to the ghost-shaped gadget, which lurks under the toilet rim and, if the seat is lifted, declares in a stern female tone:
"Hello, what are you up to then? Put the seat back down right away, you are definitely not to pee standing up ... you will make a right mess..."
It is heartening to see that, after so many false starts, Germany has finally found a noble sense of national purpose.
Posted by Peter Burnet at May 24, 2004 7:19 AMMost heartening.
As is this German breakthrough in the field of infertility (via Instapundit).
Cutting edge.
Posted by: Barry Meislin at May 24, 2004 9:35 AMSit down.. Stand up.. Lift seat... put seat down ..
This is so confusing. I can't ever remember. They didn't do this on Mars.
Posted by: h-man at May 24, 2004 12:35 PMI wish I had one of those. It would be so more satisfying to piss right into the mouth issuing those idiotic orders.
Posted by: Brandon at May 24, 2004 1:15 PMGerman Mensch! Come to Amerika where you can stand up and piss like a man!
Posted by: Genecis at May 24, 2004 3:13 PMSurely you know that Germans utterly adore taking orders. And you need a little device that orders you to work on your German grammar, whether or not you are easing your bladder. One does not expect such solecisms from you.
Posted by: bernard hassan at May 25, 2004 1:32 AM1.6 million sold...
Apparently, one cannot go broke underestimating the taste of the German public, either.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at May 25, 2004 6:28 AMbernard:
I thought fifteen minutes with a German-English dictionary would suffice, but apparently not. I have corrected it, as I agree completely we should always take care to ensure our national insults are grammatically accurate.
Alles Gute!
Posted by: Peter B at May 25, 2004 8:28 AMPeter B:
Your German still needs some work, as does mine. Nonetheless, one may readily mock them in English, now that major German companies have begun the practice of conducting meetings and keeping minutes in English even when the meeting is held in Germany and all present are native German speakers. The Germans with whom I have worked put huge amounts of energy into their English. I asked one to explain why. His response: "Don't you know we'd give anything not to be German?" Therein lies a major motivation behind the European Union. They can be good Europeans, Germans no longer. Alas that a magnificent language should be dying before it has truly exploited its vast possibilities.
Posted by: bernard at May 26, 2004 12:54 AM