Sanders refuses to rescind endorsement of candidate sporting Nazi tattoo

[DFW]

266. The Europeans do love their abbreviations.

In English, we usually just say “National Socialists,” although many people use the verbal abbreviation for Nationalsozialistische by using the first two syllables of the German pronunciation, which is “nah-tsee-oh-NAHL-zo-tsee-ahl-IST-ish-eh.” I still bet that most people who use the abbreviation “Nazi” have no clue that it means “National Socialist.” I was born after the National Socialists’ “Third Reich,” but I did get to experience their immediate successors, the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, the Socialist Unity Party of (East) Germany, as well as Castro’s Cuba and the “mild” versions in France of Mitterand and the even milder Hollande. None of were places I would ever want to live, and all were places that more people wanted to leave than move to. I don’t imagine that a country run by “Democratic” Socialists would end up being much different, but I’m in no hurry to find out.

I speak German, am married to a German and live in Germany. Our daughters are fully bilingual. My family and I are used to mouthfuls. My younger daughter went to law school in the USA, and in one class, the students were all asked to read aloud brief portions of a case involving VW. The company’s full name was written out in italics in mid-sentence in the portion that landed in my daughter’s passage: Volkswagenaktiensgesellschaft. My daughter, who grew up here in Germany, breezed right through the word without stopping, while the rest of her class and the professor gaped and said WHOA!! She looked at them with a “what’s da big deal?” look, and reminded them, “I’m German!” I only WISH I had the video!