Prejudice (Joys Of Summer)

The next sequel of "Rush Hour" takes place in Paris, and since the whole series is driven by prejudice, it takes the trailer about five seconds to feature the first smelly-French-joke. Another riff on Europeans lax relations to personal hygiene can be seen in the Simpsons Movie trailer. Of course every prejudice has it's kernel of truth. Although in this case it's more a whole sheaf. If you'd ever taken a morning tram in Munich at the current height of summer mugginess you'd know what we're talking about. Sure tests your gag reflexes. Even at the office some visitors leave persistent trails of butyric acid behind that will linger on for the day. And deodorants don't make it better. Most local brands have the tendency to just float a cheap flowery scent on top of the wafts of perspiration, which can even make sitting in an open air cafe a challenge.

Well, troubled summer hygiene is only topped by European standards of dental esthetics. I'm not talking about the average man on the street. You'd think people who regularily go on TV would invest in some corrective work. Not so. Last night the almost chancellor Rudolf Scharping was on TV sporting a rack of crooked yellow stumps he obviously wasn't ashamed of for a second. But nobody can top our minister of the interior, whose dentals seem to be a memorial for the great famines of past centuries. Oh scurvy - sure can take a toll on your smile. Maybe they should produce a German version of the PSA in the post below.