I lived and worked in Germany from 1960 to 1993, many of those years liaising in the German language on behalf of the British armed forces stationed in Germany with all German authorities. Nicholas Boyle’s sweeping article (“Either one thing or the other”, 1 February) crams in sound reasons for a German character trait my colleagues and I were up against on a daily basis. Actions, ideas, opinions are either “richtig” (right) or “falsch” (wrong). The German way is always right. The stock reply to the suggestion of an option was always “unmoeglich” (“impossible”) or “sowas gibts nicht” (“there’s no such thing”). A classic example was when a German friend saw me slicing carrots. She cried out, &ld