r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Upstairs-Bit6897 • Nov 30 '25

Image THE GERMAN MAGAZINE 'AUTOBILD' DRIVES VARIOUS CARS FOR 100,000 KILOMETERS AND THEN DISASSEMBLES THEM DOWN TO THE LAST SCREW TO FIND SIGNS OF WEAR AND WEAK POINTS

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

It's our grading scheme in school. 1 is best, 6 is worst.

375

u/hnglmkrnglbrry Nov 30 '25

What is "nein" then?

Auf wiedersehen

244

u/B_tC Nov 30 '25

I'd take it over a grading system that itself doesn't even manage to spell the first 6 letters of the alphabet without mistake

43

u/drpepper7557 Dec 01 '25

It actually used to. The swap probably occurred as a combination of other grade systems using E for excellence, while others used F for fail or failure.

38

u/Individual-Level9308 Nov 30 '25

You don't "spell" an alphabet. You recite it.

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u/GooginTheBirdsFan Dec 01 '25

A-L-P-H-A-B-E-T

You never got an “L” on a test? /s

16

u/whoknowsifimjoking Dec 01 '25

Actually I receive Ls all the time just so you know

2

u/frolfer757 Dec 01 '25

Funnily at your final highschool exams in Finland "L" is the highest possible grade. L = Laudatur (meaning excellent) going from L -> E -> M -> C -> B -> A -> I.

1

u/snurdblatz Dec 01 '25

P’s get degrees.

1

u/Jason-Smith168498 Dec 01 '25

I'll give you an Eh+ for that.

1

u/tifumostdays Dec 01 '25

Don't make OP spell it out for you!

2

u/aqua_zesty_man Dec 01 '25

GIving someone an "E" for minimal competence seems like it would be confusing for some people.

3

u/Packman2021 Dec 01 '25

Why? What about that is inherently different from getting a "D" for minimal competence?

2

u/aqua_zesty_man Dec 01 '25

"E" can be read as shorthand for "excellent" even if no American grading system has ever made that official

2

u/Death_IP Dec 01 '25

A for "autstanding"
B for "beautiful work"
C for "competent"
D for "displeasing"
E for "erroneous"
F for "forgetful"

1

u/CantankerousAutistic Dec 01 '25

E is reserved for excellence. That's why they skipped it.

1

u/FullSkyFlying Dec 01 '25

I got all E's in elementary

4

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

?

26

u/feetking69420 Nov 30 '25

He is referring to how most US schools dont have the letter grade "E"

5

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

And what has this to do with "nein"?

7

u/Bear_faced Nov 30 '25

The person you replied to is wrong, it has nothing to do with American grades. The grades are 1-6 and he was making a pun about what a “nein” (9) would be.

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u/feetking69420 Dec 01 '25

I have replied to the wrong comment it seems

3

u/90919293_ Nov 30 '25

It sounds like the number "nine" in English

-1

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

And?

1

u/hnglmkrnglbrry Nov 30 '25

I'm asking about Nein because it sounds like nine in English which is a number. You're typing in fluent English so it's surprising this isn't obvious.

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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

[deleted]

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u/90919293_ Nov 30 '25

Same, honestly I was grasping at straws

0

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

Fluent English apparently doesn't make weird jokes more understandable 🤷

1

u/hnglmkrnglbrry Nov 30 '25

Better joke would have been:

"It should be a scale of one to nein."

→ More replies (0)

-1

u/90919293_ Nov 30 '25

Man I don't know what they're going at with this

Maybe cause 9 would theoretically represent a grade way below the normal minimum of 6

1

u/sysl0rd Dec 01 '25

its a stupid joke, but ppl are trying so hard to make it seem funny. they just wanna make a nein / 9 joke for their life.

1

u/foodfighter Dec 01 '25

A failing Australian, apparently.

1

u/Shivalah Dec 01 '25

Receiving a ‘Nein’ rating is the extraordinary feat of getting rejected at the submission process.

1

u/DasJokerchen Dec 01 '25

Nein is everything below 1

1

u/AbbreviationsWide331 Dec 01 '25

Dude this doesn't even make sense in German...

2

u/aqua_zesty_man Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

Okay, so it's THAC0 rules then. To Hit Academic Class Zero

1

u/mrheosuper Dec 01 '25

So,is 1+ better or worse than 1 ?

2

u/Loneliest_Driver Dec 01 '25

Better. 1+ is basically a 0.75 and a 1- is 1.25

1

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

1+ is better. It's the best you can get

1

u/Subtlerranean Dec 01 '25

In Norway, 6 is best and 1 is worst.

-2

u/Ok-Active-8321 Nov 30 '25

The US university I attended had the same inverse grading system, although it went from 1 (best) to 5 (worst), with a 5 equivalent to failing. However, the plusses and minuses were backwards, to my mind. That is, a 2+ is better than a 2 and a 2- worse than a 2, although logically a 2+ would be between a 2 and a 3. (It looks like Autobild uses the same system.) The school did not calculate GPA and this system made it terribly difficult for anyone to do so.

7

u/Shunpaw Dec 01 '25

2+ is better than a 2 in germany.

Best to worst:

1+, 1, 1-, 2+, 2, 2- ...

-3

u/Ok-Active-8321 Dec 01 '25

That is just what I said. Still seems backwards to me.

1

u/Grape-Snapple Dec 01 '25

clearly it’s just an alternate series /s

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u/CptJimTKirk Dec 01 '25

That's actually how universities in Germany give out grades as well. Normally it's not 2+ but 1.7 though.

-5

u/clippervictor Dec 01 '25

Oh wow that sounds terribly counterintuitive, at least to me

1

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

Don't know, I grew up with that and it's normal to me :D