Erlangen 91052 (13)—Tschüß! and Geographical Diversity

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One year ago on Round and Square (12 March 2013)—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 03-12
Two years ago on Round and Square (12 March 2012)—Displays of Authenticity: Game Face
Three years ago on Round and Square (12 March 2011)—Chinese Management (2)

[a] Region RF

So I was chatting with a number of colleagues at my research center the other day, and I thought it might be a good time to bring up that word again. "What do you think of Tschüß!, and when did it find its way here from the north?" My question was supposedly innocent (there is a fieldwork méthod behind it). The first colleague, in her early thirties, said that she has been saying it for most of her life, but that it has become far more prevalent in the Erlangen (91052) area in recent years. She implied quite strongly that it was just part of life, and the German language as spoken in "Bavaria" today. 

Not so with her slightly older peer, who had a very different take on the term. "I hate it, and refuse to say it. It is far too informal for serious Franconians, and it is ruining our local ways."

[b] Tschüß! RF

Whoa! What a blow was there struck.

That was a big Tschüß!-off to that particular sound of goodbye. "I don't want it here. I still say auf wiedersehen or schönen Abend, and it annoys me when people assume that I must say it because they happen to do so. I won't do it; I say auf wiedersehen, and I don't care if it sounds 'old'."

Her colleague did not disagree. She just shrugged, as if to say, "...and yet, it's here (there, and everywhere)."

Who ya gonna call? Tschüß! Busters.

For that task, I would have chosen Gabrielle (my buster-colleague, and not her real name...or gender?)... And she was not done—oh, not by a long shot. Her Murrayian and Ackroydian invective was aimed more generally at infiltrations into Franconian mores, and her deepest contempt was reserved for the (new in Erlangen 91052) habit of greeting friends with a kiss on each cheek. "What is that? It's not Franconian. It's not even German." It's French, and yet on the street I see all of these young people all kissy-kissy—one cheek, the other cheek—as though they are in Paris. This is Franconia. We are much more reserved."

[c] Kein Küß für Franconia RF

Oh, and one more thing.

"You don't have to say Tschüß!. If you choose to say it, fine, but it does not just mean goodbye in German. We have perfectly useful words for that, and saying Tschuß! is a choice."

Ah, language...and "culture," and temporality...and location.

Did we really ever think that we could speak seriously of "Western culture?" Seriously?

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Let's tease(-out) a few issues, and then call it a week on Erlangen 91052. It is easy to give priority to linguistic matters, and even to focus upon historical and cultural change (and continuity). We need to talk more in anthropological and historical studies about geography. We have failed to keep our eye(s) on the ball there. The more I travel and the more I learn...the more I realize that easy statements about "China" or "the United States" (or "Europe"...or "Germany"...or, for Pete's sake, "Russia") are so fraught, so problematic even at the level of abstraction that most speakers or writers intend to use them, that they are close to meaningless. 

The debate over "Bavaria" and "Franconia" is one of these. 

[d] Creepy Regionalism RF

As I have mentioned in much earlier posts (from my first trip here in 2011), people with roots in Erlangen 91052 and the greater Nürnberg area bristle when called "Bavarians." And yet, even in Germany, it is common to look at the map (as a friend in Berlin did recently) and say "I'm happy to see that you have arrived in Bavaria." And they all have a point. The map on my wall makes it clear that "Bayern" is a big block of southeastern Germany. That it is the largest territory in all of Germany makes it unsurprising that there is some contention. People in the "Bavarian" north might see things differently from people in the "Bavarian" south (for one, the latter do tend to see themselves as "Bavarians"). I have dealt with this issue in depth in Prairie Ethnography: Bavaria posts, so you can check out details there. For now, let's think about language, difference, and identification.

"We are Franconian" makes a distinction within a distinction. Bavaria is a "legal" part of Germany, but not all of "Bavaria" sees itself the same way. Think globally. Is that an issue in, say, Britain? How about the former "Sudan," or even more poignantly today's "Southern Sudan?" Is there tension? Yup. Let's take it further. Think of American states. NoCal, SoCal; Upstate, Downstate; or, as I once heard it, "Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh...with Alabama in-between."

[e] Franconian Reserve RF

Geography (and lived experience) is complicated. Language "challenges" flow from there (and into there). 

That is how Tschüß! got into the mix.

Just think of where you live. Have you ever thought something along the lines of "That's not how we do things in North Dakota?" Of course you have. 

"That's not how we do things"..."at Beloit College," or "at Beijing University," or "in Wyoming," or "we Lutherans," or even "us Texans." Have you ever felt like you were part of an in-group...that resented the intrusions of outer ways? Don't read American national politics into this, at least not at the moment. Just think about it in the context of your own life. Of course you have. You have thought that football players don't understand the cross-country team, or basketball players don't understand how hard cheerleaders work, or that wrestlers are misunderstood. This goes back at least to high school for most of you...and then we all really know that it goes back to, well, very early days (my brother and sister...mom or dad...don't understand me). 

[f] Schönen Abend RF

How could we ever think that generalization could work?

And yet (releasing, temporarily, my inner Jared Diamond)...there are patterns, and they even might "hold" if we are disciplined and think about what a "pattern" really is. We are in Franconia, to be sure. It is easy enough to draw lines of demarcation, trying to keep out crudely "Bavarian" or (in the context of conversation here) "Low German" ways. 

And yet (I am reminded of Galileo pointing out that the heavens still moved, even after his recantation)...Tschüß! ist hier, and so is the double-buss of cheek-kisses (what my colleague referred to as "French kissy-kissy." 

In Germany. In Franconia.

This is a complicated, global (commodified...intersubjective) world (there, I have temporarily appeased the anthropological jargon community). And I think that we need to...think...about geography...more. And migratory patterns. They have been happening...forever.

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Tschüß! is filled with cultural and historical (if not linguistic) depth, and will probably require a return post now and then in our Erlangen 91052 series. For now (and until next Wednesday's Erlangen 91052 post)...auf wiedersehen!

[g] Regional Distinction RF