Concentration Camps in Italy?

[Dill]

(12-27-2017, 09:31 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Warmth in your interactions only comes with the conversion from "Sie" to "du".

Nicht immer.  An older couple lived above us for seven years. We considered them good friends. They babysat for us. We had long talks about the War and post-war period and problems with their grandkids. They cried while they talked sometimes. We always addressed them as "Sie."

Then one day I attended a seminar at the U. of Heidelberg, my first time in a German university. After a round of discussion, I noticed that everyone, including the professor, called one another "Du." And they corrected me on that. Too much "Abstand" or something. Those were all people I had only just met. (That was a seminar in the French department; maybe it's different in engineering or physics.)

Ok, so I figured maybe I've been too uptight. I went home that afternoon and the elderly couple came down to visit. I started calling them "Du," then stopped. Their facial expression clearly showed surprise and offense.  I went back to "Sie" and kept it that way. So I think it is a generational thing. Most people my age who were social acquaintances or real friends I called "Du"--my kids teachers, neighbors, my wife's co workers, friends from the university hospital, fellow students from the Mannheimer Abendakademie. Older people, my parents age, I called "Sie" even if I knew them well.  People at the bank or the Apotheke or the cashier at the grocery store I also called "Sie." Doctors I always called "Sie," until we had dinner with them. Nurses on my daughter's ward I also called "Sie." My daughter's kindergarten teacher I called "Sie," aber sie war ziemlich verklemmt. (Und wo bleibt der Hollo? Er kann meine Erfahrungen sicher bestaetigen.)

One more anecdote. I saw the philosopher Hans Georg Gadamer speak once at Heidelberg. After his lecture, he told a story about how he still called colleagues of 50 years "Sie."  He was proud of that and did not like the current casual usage of Du. But he was in his late 80s at the time.