Do Germans have Asperger's Syndrome?

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The German language itself includes grammatical distinctions between literal and figurative language. Languages are shaped and formed based on material needs throughout history. If the Germans are wired to have trouble intuitively distinguishing "literal" and "figurative" that would explain why this is distinguished in their language.

It needs to be explicit for law I guess. English isn't perfect and we use Latin words in law otherwise you have to speak a whole paragraph of words to explain a concept. Ya know what I fu**en mean?

My grandfather was from Germany, he had Aspergers and six out of eight of his descendents had it.

Before the Aspergers diagnoses came along, I remember other people that were of German descent say things about their family like he is a perfectionist, pays attention to detail because he is German. I thought to myself, how could a country have anything to do with personality traits.

There is some research indicating a possible Northern European Genetic Link. If you haven't already seen the stuff on the possible link between Neandathrals and Autism; plenty of information if you do a google search.

Anyway, I found some strictly anecdotal german personality traits, meant for humor, from a website. Do many of them apply to you?

Source:
http://schnitzelrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/07/seven-personality-traits-of-german.html

Excerpt from source:

The Seven Personality Traits of a German
Over the years, I've come to agree....there are are seven obvious and traditional personality traits of a typical German. I realize....that I will take heat for this. But in some ways, I consider these to be positive in certain ways. And no, not all Germans are this way....but these are the obvious ones that you will notice.


First, stubbornness. It was obvious from two world wars. It's obvious from the 1950s and the rebuilding of Germany. It's obvious from the economy stumbles....especially from the vision of Greece and its woes. A German simply holds to one ideal, and continues on. They don't change their opinion often....and when they do....it's a necessity that they approach in a mental sense and just do it.


Second, holding to traditions. If a German starts a tradition....they rarely fail to accomplish this. I would put Octoberfest as the prime example....but there are millions of these in German society. It could be the start of fall clean-up in your neighborhood and the accepted date for that. It could be the summerfest week that has gone on for sixty years in your local town. Unless a flood occurs, folks don't shift from the traditions.


Even on the personal level, there are things like a guy sticking to Opel cars for his entire life. Or the wife who demands a weekend getaway to Berlin the 2nd week of May of each year. Or the color scheme of a house that's been owned by some guy for forty-five years. It might even be the tradition of using only one car mechanic for your entire life, until he retires.


Third, thriftiness. Normally, I'd just call this cheapness....but I have to be fair here. You could walk up to most Germans and tell them they have $300 for an entire 10-day summer vacation....and somehow, they'd figure a way to enjoy their 10 days off....with such a modest amount of money.


When you look at German retirees....and what they often end up with at age 65.....and then somehow....they live off $1000 a month and you are kinda shocked how they do it.


Right now, there is this massive use of Hornbach (the German home improvement store). Instead of paying some guy to renovate your bathroom....a German will find the right Polish guy for a week....buy all the materials.....and then do the paint and tile himself.


Fourth, argumentative. This one.....some folks might argue about (get it?). Germans can find a thousand things to argue about. It could be one guy planting shrubs of a disliked nature that the neighbor can't stand. It could be the act of cranking your car for two minutes in winter to warm it up. One minute of such a cranking would be tolerated, but not two, and thus inviting an argument sooner or later.


Pointing out how you screwed up....would go hand-in-hand with this personality trait. They'd like to let you know something....and hopefully you agree....otherwise, it's an argument.


Fifth, a bit of humor that is different. The wild humor of Robin Williams doesn't work in Germany. Jerry Lewis humor doesn't really work. Seinfeld humor doesn't work. But you start to notice is a cynical sort of humor that most Germans tend to appreciate. It's the comparison of how bad the political system has become when compared to a drunk in a pub....which will make a German laugh his head off.


Germans love office humor if it's compared to their actual environment. They laugh over the stories at a butcher shop or government bureaucracy.....because they face this each and everyday.


Sixth, coldness. It could take a decade to really know your neighbor after you move in. In fact, you might never know your neighbor beyond a beer you share together once a month when mowing the grass.


You don't see cases where a German gal meets some guy and agrees to marriage within six months....that simply doesn't happen.


A German keeps this coldness.....as a defending tactic. It protects their inner circle and makes them feel secure.


Seventh and final.....creative. The little sensor that detects rainwater on the windshield of your car and automatically turns the wiper on? It's from a German. ABS? It's from a German. There are dozens of car devices which relate back to a German who just kept thinking about how things work.


It's the same with heating systems, pens, printers, tires, subway cars, and even zippers. They sit there and pause over the way things work.....and then announce this fantastic vision with just a simple toggle switch or a light sensor.


So I hope I didn't insult any Germans....but it's just a note of mine about their lives and impacts.
Posted by Letters from Ripley at 2:53 AM 9 comments:
Anonymous said...
you are right on and I'm proud of all of them.

August 2, 2010 6:35 AM
Becky Z said...
I got a real kick out of this post...my family has strong German roots, settling in Pennsylvania in the 1700s to farm. Our personalities fit this list perfectly, despite being removed from the country for centuries. We don't like change! hehe.

August 12, 2010 6:30 PM
Anonymous said...
In mostly German but i also have dutch roots. I'm adopted, so i wasn't that sure about my ethnicity...i just relied on looks. this really helped me personality wise to discover that i am with out a doubt German

August 29, 2010 8:03 PM
Stuttgartgirl said...
Great post! I found myself nodding my head. Regarding German humor, it's a tough one. Many times I find myself making a sarcastic comment, only to have it taken literally by a German, shaking his head at how stupid I must appear, but I'm learning.

September 8, 2010 3:26 PM
Anonymous said...
I have an exchange student from Germany. These traits are right on... Bingo! This definitely fits her. Good to know...

September 15, 2010 5:44 PM
t said...
I can't confirm or not confirm that you marked Germans correctly. However, your last point of instinctively thinking about how things work at length is true of me. It is one of the best topics to talk with my dad about. And, a German friend visited me in LA. We went to a bar with a lot of hot chicks. He didn't make a single remark about the hot chicks. However, he expounded at length in what ways the bar could be constructed better.

September 27, 2010 8:06 AM
Anonymous said...
Happy Oktoberfest! Great Post of German Traits...each one fits spot-on for me, especially the stubbornness & the argumentative traits. Creativity and dark humor are also at the top of the list for this Meissner girl!

October 3, 2010 7:22 PM
Matt said...
I so agree with all of these! I'm a bit more than half German and I have to say right now that I found myself nodding my head the whole time. I can't say there's a single one I don't have in myself. Ever since I was little I've always been stubborn, argumentative, and known to get on someone's case about anything I see wrong. I'm also known as the "perfectionist" haha. This was a great post and I can't disagree with any of 'em, so even if you didn't nail Germans head on, you've got me perfectly.

November 6, 2010 4:53 AM
Lindsey said...
I actually just found out that I have German in my family tree. I was looking into the personality traits of the German culture to see if it really fit with me and my family.

Who would have thought my ability to not step out of my familiar "I have to get the same thing when I go to this restaurant, coffee shop, etc" really had to do with my stubbornness to keep traditions going.

These made me giggle.

I haven´t read this whole thread.....

Though I just thought I´d add that I live in Germany at the moment, and, well, there sure seem to be plenty of NTs here! If they all have Asperger´s Syndrome, then I must have it 10 times over.

Of course not all Germans are autistic, but I can't help but think that maybe a larger percentage of them are. And by extension, maybe the German cultural values simply started to accommodate that after a while.

I've traveled around a bit, and I know quite a few Germans, mainly because you always seem to run across a large group of them in every country you visit. Sure, I've met Germans who were really social and affectionate, but I recall most of them being at least shy if not outright antisocial, and yes, very picky about having things in order and routine. An Austrian (also a Germanic nation) I worked with while volunteering at a retreat center once spent six hours washing windows, trying to make them spotless. Eventually the head housekeeper just told us to go and get him.

I also went to Germany (Kiel/Hamburg) for a weekend to visit a guy I'd had a huge crush on for a couple years. I left out of London and had spent the day before in Liverpool, lugging around two large suitcases because I had no idea there were any such thing as train station lockers. (where's the "dunce cap" emoticon?) In Liverpool I had people stopping every five minutes asking "Are you all right? Can I help you with those?" Whoever said Brits were reserved and aloof--not true. Two days later I'm in Kiel, dragging the same two suitcases around looking for the hostel, which took forever to find since it's in a rather odd (but beautiful) location. All I get are weird stares...and even somebody snickering at me.

Not to mention that "Mr. Wonderful" himself was never too much of a social butterfly. I feel kind of bad in retrospect for intruding on his space--he tried so hard to make me comfortable, he meant well, but I got the impression that I was pretty much just disrupting his routine and that this sort of thing wore him out. He was basically dragging me around, saying things like "First we will see this and then we will do this...." in the sequence he wanted. Oh, and he ate the same smoked fish sandwich with the same sparkling apple juice for lunch both days I was there.

I've also seen a German guy on a different message board who pretty obviously has AS, even though to my knowledge he's never said so. Ever seen My Fair Lady? He's Henry Higgins. And yes, he really is a linguist. And yes, he will nitpick at your tiny errors and argue to the death about pointless details.

I am from Germany living in the US since the age of 25.We Germans are brought up controlling our emotions & not draw much attention to us.Unlike Americans who are raised to look at themselves as individuals,Germans think as a regiment.For instance,every blue collar worker wears the same outfit at work:blue jeans overall.I am a machinist by trade.Although i have to say it was not my first choice,it was the easiest choice in terms of steady employment.Again that regimental thinking.My late father was a Jew from Poland & my mother lutheran from the eastern part of Germany.That being said,i did not experience the socalled "typical" upbringing other Germans receive.But no doubt,the influence of german society played a big part as well.German do like to argue,but they are not the only nation who does.Israelis like to argue just as much.There the similarities end.While Germans may try to avoid each other after an argument,Israelis are looking forward to the next time & ask their opponents to give their family their regards.I always considered most Germans to be smartaliks.They like to show off how much more informed they are.I was always annoyed by that.
Then there is the issue of formality.Germans expect to be addressed by 'Herr' or 'Frau' (surname).If it's a doctor,'Herr' or 'Frau' Doktor.If i would great a new neighbor 'You',i'll be asking for trouble.Another dilemma i could never deal with.
German jews always tried to pass for German first before being jewish.i have noticed that during my childhood in the 70's.
Thanks to living n the US i was able to break free from most of the german mentality within me.Americans love to start a conversation,even if only to talk about the weather.Therefore Americans have no idea how much help they have been for me.I hate to think of what my mentality would have looked like if i remained in Germany.
Right now i can't think of anything else worthwhile to be mentioned.But i'm sure there will be more.

I think it is true that while most Germans are NT their culture seems to be more accepting of Asperger's traits than the USA. The stereotypes of not having a sense of humor, being unemotional and a little bit cold, industrious, very organized, always follow the rules, blunt to the point of sounding rude, etc. These may just be stereotypes, but if a culture is very accepting of these traits then it will make sense that the gene pool would have more Asperger types (as a disorder is just a deviation from the norm). Germans even have legally enforced quiet hours (many aspies can't stand loud noise). If you take someone from that culture and put them in the extroverted USA they are going to stand out. I even heard a Robin Williams stand up routine where he talked about being on a German talk show and made a joke and the talk show host just took what he said literally and did not laugh at all.

Silly.

As for Germans and Asperger's - my father's family is from Germany, and all relatives I've met from that side of the family had those characteristics.
Additionally, the Germans I've encountered were much more unique than any other people I've encountered.

I don't think it's the "Aspieness" of Germans. It's about cultural and societal norms and values. German culture (broadly speaking) may be akin to Japanese culture in that sense that you do have so many unspoken and codified rules that it can shape your way of being and the way a society looks to an outsider.
Me, living in Germany, I wouldn't say that I felt or feel particularly accepted. Maybe not that pressured or bullied but not accepted either. Tolerated would be a better word here and that's what I see with most germans and how they react to people that are or seem a bit different.
You have to differentiate between macro (society) and micro (individual) perspective.

My maternal grandfather grew up in a German/Chinese mixed family. He, his children, and I have always identified a fair bit with German culture and social norms in general. Also with our Chinese side, just as much. We're all actually kind of off-beat, but when we watch German television or read German books, et cetera, there's always that sense of recognition, familiarity. It's something that was handed down to us from my great grandfather, and his father before him (who was full-blooded German).

I've always felt kind of drawn by the German 'Gründlichkeit' and 'Pünktlichkeit'. While I'm certain that German culture also favours 'neurotypical' traits, and values hierarchy, I find it a more accessible culture for me than, for example, Southern European cultures that are more emotion-centered.

I've been to Germany twice for a total of a few weeks. Somehow, in a way, it felt like home more than the country I grew up in.
There's much more natural beauty in the German landscape than there is in the Dutch, and German culture is much more appealing to someone who happens to love the Middle Ages the way I do.
Even cities in Germany aren't as bad as the cities we have here.

Eh, I don't think any ethnic group should be classified like this. I'm sure there's plenty of nts.

In my experience,...there are definitely more NTs in Germany than people with AS.
In my lifetime I may have come across 3 at the most.

Remember, Oktoberfest. That doesn't seem very aspie-ish... I've encountered that most love to go to parties and get drunk (sometimes even before the party starts).
I'm not saying everybody is like that...It's the indiviual level that counts at the end. That's why I'd agree with jamieevren.