"We can do anything, except of speaking proper German" - marketing strategists from Stuttgart advertize their "picture-perfect region" Baden-Württemberg with this slogan on posters and TV. True!
The Swabians, that's how this successful crowd of southwestern Germany is called, can manufacture expensive cars (Merzedes, Porsche), turn an industrial city such as Stuttgart into the greenest metropolis in the country, make Spätzle and Maultauschen and of course "schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue." Very early the inhabitants of Stuttgart made a virtue out of necessity: Being barred from industrialization of Germany in the 19th century due to lack of traffic roads and primary products the "poor" fellows started to work meticulously and experiment in their workshops. Today the city is deemed to the capital of middle class dispite of the big car factories.The big family owned business produce one export-hit after the other. That much of perfection brings jealousy and therefore the so called hardworking, cheap, persnickety and narrow-minded Swabian now and then becomes a target of mockery. One reason might also be their songful-sweet dialect, because there is one thing they really can't do - speak proper German.
