That's SO Germany! issue two: Signs

If there's one thing Germans are known for worldwide, it's being precise. As I have written about before, the German roads reflect this to a stunning degree. At a construction site, where in California a man in an orange vest with a sign saying "go left", and perhaps a row of cones would be the only markers, German highway repairmen construct elaborate systems of new, taped lines on the road to direct traffic, sometimes complete with portable streetlights. On one especially bad section near where my first host family lived, they went so far as to pave massive detour between the fields so that they could rip out the whole street at once!

This exactitude extends to normal street signs too. The most common sign in Germany is round and white, with a red ring, and means "Don't drive here". It's on almost every street, but, confusingly enough, rarely means what it says. Instead, it is almost always modified by a small sign under it saying "Blahdeblahdeblah Frei", which means that a certain type of vehicle or driver can use this road, but the rest of you had better KEEP OUT. This notice can come in basically any form. A common one around here is "Land- und Forstwirtschaftsverkehr Frei", which is a stunning example of the beauty of the German language, and means "Farm and Forestry Traffic allowed". Another common one is "Anlieger Frei", and means that unless you live or have business on that street, you shouldn't drive there. Of course, this is not easy to control, and has caused my host dad to joke that it should be "Anlügner Frei", "Liars Free"

Of course, it doesn't just stop here. There are almost infinite variations on these signs... here are some of the best I could find.

"While we're giving out beer, only residents allowed." You think they'd let just anyone have free beer?

"No Mofas". Some sort of anti-gangster law?

"Green wave"? Okay, Germany, what does this even mean?

Eww... Just ew.

My personal favorite, seen in Dresden:

Because the trains would otherwise never follow the tracks into the station; it'd be against the law!