Somewhat incongruous in a well-kept, twee Bavarian village are the garish posters advertising upcoming 'events' in the area. They are plastered everywhere. The latest promises - get this - 'Couch & Porno', whatever that means. I don't like to speculate. It might not be as low-grade as it sounds, though.
The fact is that using English words makes things seem more exciting, enticing, exotic; the actual meaning of the words is not always important. (I am pretty sure that 'porno' is understood everywhere, however.) I've blogged before about the vast amount of English that has crept into the German language. And it's still creeping. If it carries on much longer, German might disappear altogether.
Take swear words. I know lots of Germans who use English expletives, presumably as this sounds less offensive to the Teutonic ear. I, on the other hand, cringe in embarrassment when 'fu*k' rears its ugly head in a stream of German. 'J-sus' is another one. Try it the other way round though - use a foreign swear word in place of your usual one - if indeed you swear at all - and it is true, the impact is reduced, perhaps to nil if your listener is not familiar with the language you picked. So that could be a reason, or do they simply think it's cool? (You can say 'cool' in German too, by the way.)
Maybe the posters round here don't bother non-English speakers. I asked CG and he hadn't even noticed them. I find them pretty gross, and I am dreading the day when Gaia - whoops, I mentioned her again - demands to go to one of these things, whether Couch & Porno, Turkish Nights (one for my hairdresser), Stay and Play, Sex and Sounds... the list goes on and on, scheisse, I have to stop now. Time to pick up Hedda and Titus from their judo class.
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