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Comment by mrtksn

3 years ago

Thanks, I should check it out.

How do they explain Germany though?

In a park in Stuttgart a man approached us as we were walking the dog, and after realising we spoke English politely said "You must not be aware, dogs must be on lead here".

  • That's kind of a funny example, because my go-to on the subject is that if you visit a park in Washington State (or most of the US) you are immediately hit with a wall of text that starts with "no alcohol" but goes on to describe every annoying boom box cruising fireworks soliciting vending way you could potentially annoy someone. In Germany you can just sit on the grass, crack a beer, and watch the river roll by.

  • I think it's a great example of social policing, which IMHO better than anorganic, artificial traditional policing. But I'm still not 100% percent sure what he meant because I don't speak german.

    • It is more of a difference in British English, where a leash is used to control a large/dangerous animal, while a lead is used more cooperatively (like walking a dog).

      I heard lead quite a bit from trainers, and assume their choice in nomenclature is part of the general positive reinforcement nature of modern dog training.

    • > But I'm still not 100% percent sure what he meant because I don't speak german.

      Nobody said anything in German though. A German man said something in English. From what I can tell, you've got speaking english in your skill set.

  • So would a person from any country who supports that specific law would do...

    • I don't think so. Often I see people in the UK breaking rules like that and it's almost never mentioned.

      But it wasn't just that he mentioned it. It was the way he mentioned it. That the only possible reason for us to not be following the rules was that we must not know them.

      20 replies →

    • This is simply not true. Most people in New York would not say anything, regardless of whether they support the law or not. I saw people without masks on the subway every day while they were required and nobody ever said anything to them.

      7 replies →

Good Q.

From my own short stint in Germany, n=1, the rules often did tend to make sense, so it actually seemed like a good idea to follow them.

(I've also had friends complain that Germany wasn't actually as tidy or rules based as they were lead to believe. So take with a grain of salt!)