The night I asked The Wife to marry me — after getting down on one knee, offering her a diamond ring and giving her a picture I drew of a squirrel (seriously) — I took her to the Rose and Thistle Pub in northeast Portland. There, we sent text messages to all of our friends and family members announcing our engagement.
We also ordered beer, and if you know much about Portland, you know it is the Microbrew Beer Capitol of the United States. (And with this in mind, I once suggested to my German class teacher here in Hannover that the US actually produces good beer. He rolled his eyes, because Germans think we only drink Budweiser and Coors Light. I laughed and played along, but inside I was seeing red, thinking, ‘Oh you poor, naive little man. You don’t even know. You don’t even KNOW,’ and then I used my telepathic powers to make his giant German head explode.)
Anyway, Portland beer is awesome, and it is often quite strong. There are all sorts of ways to discuss drinks with high alcohol content, but translating these idioms directly from German into English is easily the most entertaining. So, as we looked over the menu, my German wife announced:
“I want a beer, but I don’t want something that pulls my sock off.”
Oh God, My Wife Is German. 
Imagine the horror of Americans when they realize there is another Budweizer, a better Budweizer. And I though Seattle was the microbrew Capitol. I think we are spoiled by the variety of different styles of beer, where in Germany there are just a few varieties. There are billions of breweries all making about the same thing….not that there is anything wrong with that. But I’ll tell you a secret that will probably get me arrested under the Germany beer purity law…I would drink a Pyramid Hefeweizen anyway over a weizen here in Germany.
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Oh me too. I can’t stand hefeweizen… unless it’s the American version. :)
Thank you for reading and commenting, Kathleen!
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da zieht’s mir die socken aus! :-) i love this expression.
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So THAT’S where it comes from. I’ve been meaning to ask my wife for the original expression.
Thank you, Trashbus, and have a great day!
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Yeah ;-) .. You’re welcome! I’m looking forward to your next blog post. You, too, have a nice day!
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