Okay so funny thing happened to me just now:
On the German trains there's these groups of four seats facing each other, two facing the direction the train is going in ( Fahrtrichtung) and two the other way.
Train etiquette dictates that if you come across one of these and only one person is sitting there (Corona rules, people can't sit directly next to or directly across from one another....)
...you respectfully ask if you can sit there and if they say yes you sit down diagonally across from them and if you carry a backpack you put it on the seat next to you because no one is allowed to sit there anyways.
So weit so gut, am I right?
Well. Today I sleepwalked my way to the train station and onto the train (I have no conscious memory between having posted the Viagra ads masterpost and this happening) and there's this guy in this 4 seat group, so far so normal. He has a travel suitcase wedged into the space between the seats, nothing out of the ordinary.
But he has put his backpack on the seat across from him.
I say the line the script dictates at this point which is a mumbled: "isdano.....?" ("Is there.....?" (a free place here))
(btw please note that the bits of dialogue mentioned in this on my part is not Hochdeutsch and should not be used if you want to learn Hochdeutsch)
And he goes: ja ja, klar. (Yes, yes. Sure)
And I sit down but then I realize I don't know where to put my backpack.
Guy notices that I'm confused and moves to move his huge backpack
I'm like "basstschobasstschobasstscho!!" (it's okay it's okay it's okay)
And then I put my backpack on the remaining seat
And I smile at the guy for a second
And the guy smiles back briefly
And I think: look at us go, doing things differently.
And that's how for two seconds I shared an inside joke with a stranger met on a train. Which I think is neat. XDD
