Thousands of football fans (known to Americans as soccer) are about to descend on Germany for a month long football orgy that takes place every four years. Germany is the 2006 World Cup tournament host, as it was in 1974 when the German team won the world title. A number of travel guides are now available to help visitors cope with German culture.

"FOCUS" magazine comments that "foreign visitors are repeatedly amazed by us. We are so punctual, always say Sie to each other, but we are also so direct as to be impolite and can’t stand in line."

Here are some of the pointers listed on the "FOCUS" magazine website:

Don’t use the informal "du" form of address. Germans expect to be addressed by the formal "Sie", even in cases where they have known the person – like a business colleague – for years. (Reminds me of a visit to the American consulate in Stuttgart years ago, where a well-meaning Marine guard addressed a somewhat startled elderly German couple by calling them "du", which was wrong anyway, since "du" is the singular form.)

Don’t wait to be seated in a restaurant. Anyone who waits at the entrance to a restaurant for seating instructions from a waiter is definitely not from Germany. Germans just go right in and find their own seats.

If no table is available in a restaurant, share one with others. An American would never think of asking to sit at a table with free seats if no totally free table is available in a restaurant. Here it is considered perfectly polite to ask if one may take a seat.

Don’t ask for free tap water in a restaurant. Water is sold in restaurants, by the bottle. Don’t hurt sales by asking for free tap water.

Waiting in line is a waste of time. Americans are amazed at how the otherwise orderly Germans push and shove when they have to wait in line, including on the Autobahn. 33 years ago Monica and I waited our turn in line on top of Germany’s highest mountain, the "Zugspitze", to ride the cable car down to lower ground. Although we were 2nd or 3rd in line, a bunch of middle-aged women who could have played (American) football for the Green Bay Packers knocked us over and we had to wait another turn. That was enough initiation for me into standing in line in Germany – we got on the next car down. 🙂

Don’t smile all the time. Germans tend to be more serious than their English-speaking visitors. Someone who smiles all the time might be considered an air-head.