My Dear Germans: These are Called "Gloves." You Put Them On Your Hands.

Today's high was 23 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill that made it feel in the teens. It was a cold one indeed, and the weatherman says it's going to get colder. But I've observed that a good portion of the local citizenry-- at least one-third of all the adults I see on the streets-- don't wear gloves. Ever. I really don't get it. Maybe it's a Nuremberg thing (remember, we've been told it never snows in Nuremberg, all evidence and meteorological records to the contrary), or maybe it's my neighborhood, but this is some far-out behavior. Even the school kids don't always wear gloves-- like the grown-ups in my 'hood, they either jam their bare hands into pockets or retract them into their sleeves. I could make some snarky guesses as to why that is, from gloves' unusual translated name (Handschuhe, literally "hand-shoes") or that it impedes your cigarette habit, but I'm at a loss.