Weißwurschdäquador /vaɪs – vu:rʃt – eəʳ – kva – dɒr/
Hochdeutsch: Weißwurstäquator
English: Bavarian veal sausage equator
As you might have guessed by now, Germans are a very territorial people, especially inside Germany itself. Franconians look down on Swabians, both of them do not like Hessians because of the way they “talk funny”, and so on. This can be contributed to the rich and cultural history of Germany when it consisted of single tribes, later kingdoms, whose most favourite pastime was to hit each other on the head, repeatedly.
By BertlvoZwiesl – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Though hitting each other on the head with big sticks is frowned upon in our modern times, Germans still have some animosity for each other, even if they do not show it openly anymore. For that reason, they started to invent different forms of torturing people without it being actual torture. Franconians found that brewing the very best beer and talking endlessly about it is a very good way to annoy their enemies, but another weapon at their disposal for intercultural fighting is the Weißwurschdäquador.
While, of course, it is not an official border, it rather symbolizes the divide between Bavarians and pretty much everyone else living in Germany. Depending on who you ask, the border can be the Donau, the 49th latitude or, if you ask the wrong people, everything inside a 100km radius around Munich. The name comes from the fact that everyone contained in this border knows what a Weißwurschd is, and they also better like that rather unconventional sausage, always with a nice blob of sweet mustard.
NordNordWest, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
It must be said that the border proclaimed by inhabitants of Munich is very much contested by pretty much everyone else, since every true Franconian knows that only Großköpfada (essentially people who think too much, especially of themselves) live in Munich and therefore cannot be trusted with such an important decision.
I’ve had more than one person make a Bavarian Breakfast for me like it’s God’s gift to humanity.
Ah, Bavarian breakfast. A nice Weißwurschd with Süßer Senf and a Bredzl, accompanied by a Weizn. Probably not to everyone’s taste, I have to admit, but definitely something that will put some weight on your bones.
On that remark, I also like to put some attention on the saying “Gott sei Dank, bin i a Frank”, which roughly translates to “God be praised, I’m Franconian”. That should tell you enough about what we think about the gifts that God bestowed upon us. 😉