Another interesting variation is that when you greet someone in the South during lunchtime, you can say Mahlzeit ("mahl-tzite'", which just means "mealtime" but is an appropriate greeting for that time of day! Another word which is said differently depending on where you are located (and even said differently just from family to family within the same town!) is how to refer to the "heel" of the bread, or the end piece that has the most crust on it. Throughout Germany you will find people who refer to it variously as Kanten, Anschnitt, Kipf, Ranft/ Ränftchen, Knorze, Knust, Rankl, Krust, or Kirshte and in the South, such as in Bavaria, they also call it Houdi or Scherzerl. This sometimes means that even a native German speaker might not understand another German speaker from another region in the country! Another fun fact that I discovered is that the traditional clothing that Americans mostly associate with Germany is actually traditional clothing from Bavaria, which other regions in Germany have adopted! It is called Tracht and includes Liederhosen and Dirndls! So, even though it is traditional clothing from the South, it's common to see it worn by people in other regions during traditonal celebrations. A final fun fact is that the world famous festival of Oktoberfest, which celebrates the harvest with lots of oompa music, is celebrated only in the state of Bavaria, and not throughout the rest of the country!
These are only some of the regional differences which exist within Germany today, but they help to show just how diverse the country is.
