Germans eat a lot of sauerkraut. A lot of Germans have GAS.

GAS is short for Glance Avoidance Syndrome. Don't bother looking it up -- it's not a recognized medical condition. Rather, it's a cultural quirk that many foreigners in Germany remark on with puzzlement. When a German encounters a passing acquaintance on the street, oddly often he or she will pretend not to notice. No polite word of greeting. No smile. No nod. Not even a look in the eye acknowledging the other person's presence.

More diffidence than disrespect appears to be behind this behavior. Or maybe it's part of the German penchant for compartmentalizing: A passing acquaintance who's, say, a co-worker is identified with the workplace and isn't acknowledged outside it. I still haven't quite figured things out. In any event, it's disconcerting. It's also all the odder -- or isn't it? -- considering that Germans will greet perfect strangers when entering an elevator or a doctor's waiting room.

Weggucken ("looking the other way") may be a national trait. It seems to me that Germans do it more than most other nationalities, for example when a fellow passenger is harassed on the subway. German Jews, no doubt, could say something on this subject.

Years ago I performed an unscientific experiment: I stared at individual strangers -- Americans, Russians, and Germans -- to see how they'd react. My findings? Americans typically said "hello." Russians stared back. Germans looked the other way. What lesson can we draw from this? Perhaps that Germans react the most sensibly when stared at by some wacko.

Pass the sauerkraut.