A member of the U.S. table tennis team known for visiting China in 1971 and fostering Ping-Pong Diplomacy starts a Ping-Pong league on Roosevelt Island.

I believe in this case, they are saying that ACTUAL Ping-Pong is bringing diplomacy. Not as a euphemism for competition or debate.

Ah sorry qwertz - it was meant to be a polite way to structure a question - I was wondering what the common German phrase is for the equivalent English phrase.

And yes, Ping-pong diplomacy is different - it refers to an actual ping-pong game, and so basically the euphemism nowadays means something like "To discuss or bring about diplomacy under the guise of something light-hearted".

And it's not about war itself - we anglophones aren't completely sheltered, and Australia isn't completely sheltered either (we are a nation full of "whiteys" in an area that's predominately Asian, which causes social problems as "we" (white Australians) can be seen as being the same as the colonial powers which ransacked Asia earlier in the Modern era). Remember, quite recently Australia has had trouble with the East Timorese conflict, and we were also involved in WW2.

The phrase "war" here refers to a fight, or a tournament. Another example is "this means war", which you'll probably see on American cartoons set in school.

I personally am 100% against war and most armies, unless they are pure defence forces (similar to the police in nature), but in English (I don't know about German), "war" is used quite often and doesn't always mean "lets have a bunch of armies shoot eachother". The word which'd be better suited for that meaning only would be "conflict", "insurgence" or "fighting" (when associated with a large geographical area, e.g. "The fighting in the Serbia").

The desensitisation of "war" (actually derived from an Anglo-Norman term of the time "werre") could be associated with the wars England and France in the middle ages, where on occasion the fighting was non-existence however England and France would have still regarded it as being "war". That's just my little theory though, and as the legal term during then would have been "war"'s ancestor "werre", it makes some sense. "conflict" has different connotations however, as it means that two opposing things can't be fulfilled. "Werre" simply means "If you see one of those guys, arrest them or attack them, either one will do".

ceigered:Ah sorry qwertz - it was meant to be a polite way to structure a question - I was wondering what the common German phrase is for the equivalent English phrase.

Okay, I see. Thanks ceigered, taking so much efforts to explain that.

ceigered:
And yes, Ping-pong diplomacy is different - it refers to an actual ping-pong game, and so basically the euphemism nowadays means something like "To discuss or bring about diplomacy under the guise of something light-hearted".

Yes, ping pong relates to an olympic kind of sport called table tennis.

ceigered:
And it's not about war itself - we anglophones aren't completely sheltered, and Australia isn't completely sheltered either (we are a nation full of "whiteys" in an area that's predominately Asian, which causes social problems as "we" (white Australians) can be seen as being the same as the colonial powers which ransacked Asia earlier in the Modern era). Remember, quite recently Australia has had trouble with the East Timorese conflict, and we were also involved in WW2.

Sorry about opening that "war" discussion. I forgot that Australia was envolved in many wars what is officaly commemorate at the Anzac Day.

ceigered:
The phrase "war" here refers to a fight, or a tournament. Another example is "this means war", which you'll probably see on American cartoons set in school. I personally am 100% against war and most armies, unless they are pure defence forces (similar to the police in nature), but in English (I don't know about German), "war" is used quite often and doesn't always mean "lets have a bunch of armies shoot eachother".

I see. It's different to german language use. "Das bedeutet Krieg" ("This means war") really means bomb threats etc. Maybe German language is more directly at their - ehm - "eldiro". If we say we will meet at 7 p.m. we will meet there at 7 p.m. and not at 7:30 p.m. Only the swiss folks are more accurate. That also concerns other topics.

ceigered:
"Werre" simply means "If you see one of those guys, arrest them or attack them, either one will do".

Okay, I got it. Sometimes, after hard debattes some german folks use the "Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen" (Peace, Enjoyment, Pancake) expression to cool down. So, "Peace, Enjoyment, Pancake"

Something historical to understand german antipathy against offence wars:

Willy Brandt: "Von deutschem Boden darf nie wieder Krieg ausgehen." (Never it must happen, that a war will start again straight off from german territory.(Two World Wars were triggered by german troops)). He was very popular in Germany.

Ah I see - so it's also minor cultural differences maybe? (E.g. many in the anglosphere are in very hot countries, so we're too busy trying to cool down to be precise, where as in the Germanosphere it's really cold and you need to keep busy ).

Much more serious though, I must say that Germany, and Europe as a whole, has had a much more troubling past than Australia (mostly luck and a lack of luck more than anything else). Hopefully in the future though war will be nothing but a word for competition as there will hopefully be no more war

Anyway, this is getting a bit off topic so I apologise for my slightly sentimental moment.

ceigered:Ah I see - so it's also minor cultural differences maybe? (E.g. many in the anglosphere are in very hot countries, so we're too busy trying to cool down to be precise, where as in the Germanosphere it's really cold and you need to keep busy ).

Hej, hej . You have never been in Germany in July. It's quite often between 30/35 degrees there at this time.

ceigered:
Anyway, this is getting a bit off topic so I apologise for my slightly sentimental moment.

0:25min No worries/ tute ne gravas

qwertz:In my opinion sports are a very proper replacements for wars.

Except when sports become violent! I have heard about a lot of stadium violence in Europe, with supporters beating up other supporters, police beating up supporters, people getting crushed to death, etc.

erinja:

qwertz:In my opinion sports are a very proper replacements for wars.

Except when sports become violent! I have heard about a lot of stadium violence in Europe, with supporters beating up other supporters, police beating up supporters, people getting crushed to death, etc.

Yes, stadium violence should not be accepted. But the police of the most european countries are well trained and still try to keep that hooligans controlled on their way to the stadium. There are a lot of possiblities by law to prevent stadium violence. The police have special task forces against these idiots. Mostly 7-10 policemans are at least 1.90 mtr tall and women, too. One of these has a camera and leaves the train everytime it stops and is ready to make recordings if the scence gets violent. Getting a job being previously convicted is quite difficult. Something what these hools have experience at least one time. That is in my opinion a very good tactic. Furthermore, to mask yourself in the public is forbidden by law. In Germany every citizen can be arrested 24hr without any reason. I assume that is similar in other european countries. Not to forget, only the european police is allowed to carry weapons in public. Furthermore, the "pacific" soccer fan-clubs also have strategies to distinct themselves of the "barmy hooligan army". Hooligans are no supporter. They meet each other to beat each other. So, there is no anarchy in Europe even if CNN etc would like such a anarchy show.
Sorry for that emotional reply.

erinja:I have heard about a lot of stadium violence in Europe, with supporters beating up other supporters, police beating up supporters, people getting crushed to death, etc.

Especially while football/soccer meetings between clubs.
You could add violences between players, fans against the public outside stadium, players or fans against referees...even in small clubs (reported in France). It's not general, but this phenomen is increasing.

Thank you all that replied I think this helped clarify it a lot for me

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