{"id":6505,"date":"2015-08-17T12:57:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T12:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=6505"},"modified":"2017-11-21T14:39:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T14:39:59","slug":"power-of-german-traffic-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/power-of-german-traffic-lights\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of German Traffic Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who knew a pedestrian crossing could have such an impact? Yet that\u2019s exactly what the Ampelmann<\/strong> (also sometimes called by its more endearing term, Ampelm\u00e4nnchen<\/strong>) has been doing in Germany and Austria over the years!<\/p>\n

A LITTLE BACKGROUND<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fascination with pedestrian crossings in Germany started with the famous Ost-Ampelm\u00e4nnchen<\/strong>, which was born in Berlin. This traffic light was developed in East Germany pre-unification, and what was so interesting about it was that it was distinctly different to the one seen in former West Germany, and anywhere else in Europe, for that matter; The West German one was a standard man that you\u2019d see anywhere, while the East German one had a different shape, and wore a little hat.<\/p>\n

\"Ampelmann\"<\/a>

EASTERN AMPELMANN. Photo: zanaguara on flickr.com under CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ampelm\u00e4nnchen.jpg\"<\/a>

WESTERN AMPELMANN. “Ampelm\u00e4nnchen” by An-d – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

The eastern Ampelmann has since become a symbol of the former East Germany, being one of the only things from that time to have remained. It is much-loved, and even has its own website.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE DIFFERENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The term Ampelmann<\/strong> refers to the East German traffic light man, but is also a generic term for all pedestrian crossing lights. You could also use the more generic term die <\/strong>Fu\u00dfg\u00e4ngerampel<\/strong> \u2013 \u2018the pedestrian light\u2019 \u2013 if you wanted to, to create a clearer distinction.<\/p>\n

In recent years the Ampelmann has become a powerful little figure in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE AMPELFRAU \u2013 FEMALE PEDESTRIAN LIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Ampelm\u00e4dchen<\/a>

“Ampelm\u00e4dchen – Dresden” by Iago4096 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2004, Joachim Rossberg invented the Ampelfrau<\/strong> \u2013 the female version of the Ampelmann, which can be seen alongside the Ampelmann at certain pedestrian crossings. Allegedly, Rossberg invented the Ampelfrau because wearing a dress meant she had a larger surface area, so would be easier for pedestrians and motorists to see.<\/p>\n

In late 2014, politicians in the German city of Dortmund announced a plan<\/a> to make an equal number of Ampelm\u00e4nner<\/em> and Ampelfrauen<\/em> in the city, in a bid to support gender equality and fight sexism.<\/p>\n

This was criticised by some, however, who said that the Ampelfrau herself was sexist; they thought the representation of a German woman with a Kleid<\/strong> (dress) and Z\u00f6pfe<\/strong> (plaits) was outdated and stereotypical!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SAME-SEX COUPLES ON PEDESTRIAN LIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conchita Wurst, the famous LGBT rights campaigner and \u2018bearded lady\u2019, won the Eurovision Song Contest for Austria in 2014, which meant Austria were to host Eurovision in 2015. In the run-up to Eurovision 2015, Vienna introduced a mixture of heterosexual and same-sex couples<\/a> onto their pedestrian crossings. Similarly, and following in Vienna\u2019s footsteps, same-sex pedestrian crossings were introduced to Munich\u2019s<\/a> streets in July 2015, ahead of their Gay Pride weekend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Gay<\/a>

Photo: nicokaiser on flickr.com under CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

It seems that the pedestrian crossing is far more than just a light in Germany and Austria. Because of the Ampelmann\u2019s cultural status, it is now being used as a powerful means of representing the countries\u2019 changing attitudes towards gender, sexism & LGBT rights.<\/p>\n

And if that isn\u2019t enough to convince you of its power, here\u2019s one last fact to win you over: Cross the road in Germany before the Ampelmann or Ampelfrau tells you to, and you could be told off by the angry pedestrians you\u2019ve left on the sidewalk, or, if the police catch you, even fined! Most people will wait obediently at a pedestrian crossing for the light to turn green before they walk \u2013 even if there is not a car in sight. That\u2019s the power of the Ampelmann!<\/p>\n

Oh, and if you get bored of waiting, perhaps you’ll be lucky enough to be at a crossing that lets you play Pong with an opponent standing across the road from you:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C3Ozz6_pdMI<\/a><\/p>\n

Bis bald!<\/p>\n

Constanze x<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vocabulary<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

der Ampelmann \u2013 traffic light man<\/p>\n

das Ampelm\u00e4nnchen \u2013 traffic light man (endearing term; \u2018little traffic light man\u2018)<\/p>\n

die Ampelfrau \u2013 traffic light woman<\/p>\n

das Ampelp\u00e4rchen \u2013 traffic light couple<\/p>\n

die schwule Ampelm\u00e4nnchen \u2013 gay traffic light men<\/p>\n

die lesbische Ampelfrauen \u2013 lesbian traffic light women<\/p>\n

LSBT (Lesben, Schwule, Bisexuelle, Transgender) \u2013 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Who knew a pedestrian crossing could have such an impact? Yet that\u2019s exactly what the Ampelmann (also sometimes called by its more endearing term, Ampelm\u00e4nnchen) has been doing in Germany and Austria over the years! A LITTLE BACKGROUND The fascination with pedestrian crossings in Germany started with the famous Ost-Ampelm\u00e4nnchen, which was born in Berlin…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":7485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[376020,376017,10499,336316,376022,376028,10382,3181,953,358428,376018,337701,337702,551758,551762,376019,95150,12082,95149],"class_list":["post-6505","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-ampelfrau","tag-ampelmann","tag-berlin","tag-conchita-wurst","tag-culture","tag-current-events","tag-east-germany","tag-eurovision-song-contest","tag-german-news","tag-german-politics","tag-lgbt-in-germany","tag-munchen","tag-munich","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-traffic-lights","tag-vienna","tag-west-germany","tag-wien"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6505"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9264,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6505\/revisions\/9264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}