"Naked American Tourist Gives Locals a Sight to See"

[Dan D]

Respect!
It is always nice to hear when people seemingly enjoy their stay in Germany. Drinks are on the house and give that man a t-shirt.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...554357,00.html

[Skybird]

... then told shocked police he thought it was normal German behavior...,

That's as stupid a clichée as if I would go shopping in New York and empty a couple of magazines on the boulevard, saying that I thought that shooting around is the usual behavior in America.

[ASWnut101]

:rotfl: That's got to be so embarrassing.

...on the house and give that man a t-shirt.

And a pair of pants.

[LuftWolf]

Originally Posted by Skybird

That's as stupid a clichée as if I would go shopping in New York and empty a couple of magazines on the boulevard, saying that I thought that shooting around is the usual behavior in America.

That's only normal in Florida...

Cheers,
David

[ASWnut101]

Nonesence! That's Georgia.

[Letum]

Prahaps he is the guys who put the USA one IQ point below Germany.



Don't take that too seriously, the US may be near the bottom of the developed nations, but it is a close call with only a few points in it and the USA is far from the bottom of the global rankings.

[AntEater]

I think this whole public nudity thing is a generation question.
Present day (post 1980) people here are just as prude as americans (average americans), thanks to Hollywood.
FKK is generally considered something for perverts and old people or both...
Actually, I noticed a disturbing tendency among brits, and to lesser extend among americans to strip when drunk. Sadly this tendency appears limited to men
Germans do a lot of things when drunk, like vomiting, singing, dancing, doing the Hitler salute or starting fights, but they NEVER strip.

[Happy Times]

We have a tendency to strip, but thats when we are very, very drunk

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Dan D

Respect!
It is always nice to hear when people seemingly enjoy their stay in Germany. Drinks are on the house and give that man a t-shirt.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...554357,00.html

200 euro....I wonder how much that equates to per cm ? :hmm:

[FIREWALL]

I don't know about walking around naked.


But Los Angelos is well known for letting go with ASSAULT
WEAPONS unfortunatly.

[Hitman]

LOL

It is sometimes dangerous to asume what germans will do according to klichees, but anyway sometimes the klichees have a basis....anyone remember that funny incident about the flase Imperial Army Captain touring aorund a german town and doing all kind of unbelievable things that were accepted by everyone just because he wore the uniform. What was the city? Kople...Kopel...can't remember now:hmm:

[AntEater]

You mean the Hauptmann von Köpenick.
A real thing that happened in 1912, the last time Majesty's pardon was ever granted before a trial in Germany (the president today can still pardon people after a sentence).
Kaiser Wilhelm was so amused that he let this guy get away scot free.

But I suppose the same stunt would work in a midwest town in post 911 USA just as well. When I was there it seemed to me that the craze for uniforms (as one of the few things) a common trait of 1900s imperial Germany/Prussia and the modern United States.
Worked for me, though, even if I was wearing a foreign naval uniform, the effects were quite nice sometimes

[Dan D]

Yea, Hauptmann von Köpenick. It is an old story actually, just think of the fairy tale "The emperor's new suit".

The tourist guy was probably misinformed because of a wrongful newspaper headline saying that running around naked in public is now officially allowed in Germany.

However, there is actually one guy, who was allowed to stroll around naked in public by a court’s decision, at least for a while.
His name is Ernst Wilhelm Wittig aka “Ernie”.

I first met Ernie at the University of Bielefeld where I was drinking my coffee in the entrance hall when I saw this naked guy walking in. While I was staring at his crown jewels in disbelief, nobody else showed any sign of surprise.
I was then told that it is just “Ernie”, the notorious streaker, a kind of village idiot, who always does things like naked weightlifting or naked bodybuilding posing in public.
E.g., here he has just dropped his pants in front of 400 students (who are unimpressed)

Later, I attended one of the criminal proceedings against him which was the only time when I saw him dressed. He was his own trial lawyer and explained his basic rights to the judge and to the prosecutor who were very much amused.
Ernie’s most memorable quote: “You can’t pick a naked man’s pocket”. He lived on social benefits, 325 € per month.

In 2003 a court in Bielefeld made a courageous decision and found him not guilty of public nuisance, arguing that Ernie is a well known and widely accepted anomaly (“village idiot”) and as such is no nuisance to the public. Indeed, at the local tourist shop you could even buy “Greetings from Bielefeld” postcards with a photo showing Ernie naked on a racing cycle in heavy traffic on the main road. To enable him a life in nudity without punishment, would not lead to a collapse of the (local) public order the way that thousands of Bielefelders start strolling naked in the city, the court said.

Unfortunately, Ernie, fuelled by the attention of the mass media urging for new stories, then decided to become famous nationwide and in 2006 he did his bodybuilding posing at the centre spot of a football stadium in front of 80.000 people.
Look here:

The court in Dortmund sentenced him as a repeated offender and without a village idiot bonus he got 6 months and also his home court in Bielefeld pedalled back and found him guilty again, another 8 months sentence. He is now doing his time in prison. Altogether, he has already spent 5 years of his life in prison.

Free Ernie! Let him free!

[Jimbuna]

....and that's the naked truth folks

[ASWnut101]

Ok, please:

Take your second pic, open up MS Paint, and put a nice, thick black box around that guy's...area.

That was the last thing I wanted to see today.