Saturday 8 February 2014

Rant No. 8: Shhhhhhh!




I’ve been shhhhhsh’d on the bus.

I’ve been shhhhhhsh’d in a café.

I’ve been shhhhhhhsh’d in the office.

Ok, I admit it, I can be pretty loud, but I’ve even been shhhhhhhsh’d at a gig!

The Germans just love their quiet. Even at a concert they prefer it when everyone stands around silently appreciating the music, rather than dancing and having fun.

We were shhhhhhhhhsh’d at an electronic concert. I couldn’t believe it! It is not a library, it’s a place where people go to dance, party and let their hair down. How could someone really think it was ok to shhhhh us?

So we were deliberately loud after that. Petty, but childishly satisfying.


But for the rest of the gig I kind of wanted to shake people and shout at them, “Why aren’t you dancing?” dance goddamnit, this is Digitalism.

4 comments:

  1. Last summer I was walking down the street with my husband in East Berlin, we were bickering, not really arguing heavily, we were running late for meeting up with friends at a nearby restaurant, as we passed by a guy walking his dog, I heard him shout: "Can't you shut up? You are going to upset my dog! For fuck's sake!" I turned around and asked him since when people had to be quiet out on the street and who the hell was he to tell me what to do. What followed was an array of insults, from "You fucking bitch I'm going to set my dog on you" to other similar insults, I don't take that kind of stuff calmly, I admit I gave back as good as I got because I was beyond furious, the guy attempted to punch me and all I remember is my husband dragging me away from him to avoid the situation from escalating. I still can't believe the cheek of that bastard, when all around Berlin all I see is loud tramps, crazy people shouting in the ubahn, etc. But of course, we were speaking English, therefore we shouldn't even be allowed to breathe because it offends the locals.

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  2. We've been shhhhhhhhhhhhhd'd during the introduction of The Orb concert at Berghain !!! Did you already experienced Berghain's sound system???
    And i can swear that we were not talking loud at all... The best of the story is that this girl started to talk with her neighbour 10 minutes later, and it was a big pleasure for me to shhhhhhhhhhish her with a big smile...

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  3. This is a really well-observed blog! So many "so true" moments here for us expats to recognise!! Keep up the good work...

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  4. This is so true! :D Especially the part about Germans at concerts.

    I will have to follow your blog now.

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