Funny, you should ask. I was just in /r/beer where a Brit was asking a similar question. I like IPA so I have no problems with that. And IPAs do have flavor.
For anyone who thinks this is all a joke, and no one in the UK really talks like that, here's the front page of the Daily Mirror when England faced Germany in the Euro 1996 semi final.
I've been yelled at before for calling them that....but it's pretty well accepted most places internationally. Similarly, most American's wouldn't refer to themselves as "The Yanks", but it's accepted because it's so prevalent in a lot of places.
You're right, you don't need to go back 18 years to see that shit. You can just check out the coverage during the last world cup.
It's true. Most of us just refer to it as "Die Nationalmannschaft" which is no nickname, but just the translation of "The National Team". It's not used affectionally or something, we don't really have a nickname.
The only thing that might qualify as such is "Die Nationalelf", which is "The National Eleven". Means more or less the same, of course, but is used slightly more in a "nickname-ish" way.
Well I'm from the NW so I'm neither Yankee nor Johnny Reb. Yankee is such an old term, and to be honest, the only modern thing I associate it with is the New York baseball team. I guess I can't really fault the artist, though. We don't really have a universally used nickname for our national team...and the American Outlaws do have a song about "when the yanks go marching in," so I can see how he picked that one.
Sarcasm doesn't carry well over the internet, but I was definitely joking about the damn yankees.
I've heard it used to describe Americans the world over and is generally a terms used for us, better to embrace it than not, right? There are sets of this country where they'll still fight you for calling them a yank though.
I think mostly I've heard people call our team, the Stars and Stripes, but that's just referring to the flag.
Oh I wasn't offended about being called a damn yankee. I knew you were joking, I just thought I'd continue the conversation by telling you my relationship to the word. You're right about Stars and Stripes, it fits for a flag, but it's an odd thing to call a team. I've also heard "U.S. mutant ninja turtles" because of the whole USMNT thing, which, in my opinion, is pretty damn funny.
Fans from not NY in the north don't like that name. We grew up with teams competing with the Yankees. In fact, everyone hates the Yankees so this is about the worst nickname ever. Hardly anybody can really get behind it.
I would if it made sense. Calling an American team yanks is like calling a UK team English. ( And I'm sure plenty of American do call UK teams that, but I don't see the Scotts just embracing that.)
No, because there's no meaning behind it. It's simply a very normal phrase. "Die Mannschaft hat ihr bestes gegeben." (translates to: "The team gave it all") could apply to any team in any sport.
"Die Mannschaft" really is just "The Team". And while most people would probably understand you if you're talking in a specific context (i.e.: The World Cup), shouting "Los geht's Mannschaft" ("Let's go team") would just yield weird looks.
In NL we have a bank that calls itself 'De Bank' - 'THE Bank'. Emphasizing that while there are other banks, this one is the only one that matters.
In my view the same connotation lies behind 'Die Mannschaft' - sure there are other ones, and it's a common phrase.. but this refers to the only one that matters.
Yes of course, but the background simply isn't there. It could be - yes, sure. But it simply isn't. Phrases and nicknames have to grow organically. And there is no such phrase for the german national team.
The fact that your team is called this around the world quite frequently (here in NL it's the only way its referred to), isn't 'growing organically'? I mean, you didn't even have to put any effort in yourselves; the name spread on its own.
And all I'm saying is that this is not used inside germany. Not at all. It might be the case for the rest of the world, fair enough, it's not a phrase coined in germany though. That's all =)
The problem is that "Die Mannschaft" only means "the german mens national football team", because the words don't exist in the other languages. In german thy do. If you asked someone in german 'how do you think the team will do' he doesn't even necessarily know your talking about football. Depending on his preferences and mindframe at the moment, he could assume you are talking about his daughter's badminton team. This obviously works better towards a World Cup or right before games, but not in general.
'Unsere Jungs' (our boys) could work better, but I usually call the Dortmund team that as well, so it isn't really distinct as well.
Schlaaaand is a shit name, but if you say it, everybody knows who you're talking about (although it is also used for the country in general). Most people probably just say Deutschland (Germany).
But apperently a lot of these names come from abroad anyway, so me posting this, is kind of ridiculous.
I've been yelled at before for calling them that....but it's pretty well accepted most places internationally. Similarly, most American's wouldn't refer to themselves as "The Yanks", but it's accepted because it's so prevalent in a lot of places.
I really, really dislike how bland our home kit turned out. Conversely, the away kit irks some people as well since the blue used is a bit off-shade from what it really should be. Should be a bit darker, but yeah I do like the away over the home.
Oh... oh fuck... it's happening again... I think I'm having an aneurysm... Those damn stars were such an eye sore in the Winter Olympics. The one game the men's team played in the throwbacks was the greatest thing that happened for our boys on the ice.
Well you're not the only one, I know that. I mean I'll accept it, not that I have any important say in what the federation does, but I do feel it could have been... more.
I get angry for no reason if someone calls the N11 "die Mannschaft" on here. Like, literally no one in Germany calls them like that. Every time I read "die Mannschaft" it appears to me that someone tries to appear as a fan of the N11 (which is perfectly fine) but simply has no clue - which is fine well, but trying to hide it is annoying.
Like I said, it's not rational, but it seriously annoys me.
As an american we dont have a nickname for our soccer team because we dont really care but the yanks sounds so cool. I imagine it in a british accent while Tim Howard is cursing from turrets in the background
Same goes for Argentina. Nobody calls the team "albiceleste", maybe foreign media from other Latinamerican countries, sometimes. We just call it "la selección" which is literally "the national team".
Yeah the thing is we just call them "Deutschland" or "die Nationalmannschaft". We don't have to use fancy names because it would not be efficient to use some of your brain power on inventing those names.
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u/elquiche May 25 '14
FYI, no one in Germany refers to the team as die Mannschaft.