Graz–Oct. 6, 2025

I saw a sub-headline in the local paper: „Umwege. Um den Lidl zu erreichen, müssen die Straßganger mit der Kirche ums Kreuz fahren.”

This says “Indirect path. In order to get to Lidl, people have to drive on Straßganger (Street) with the church around the cross.” Whatever does this mean?

• Lidl is the name of a supermarket chain.
• Straßganger Straße now has a couple of places where left turns are no longer allowed (this is from the article).
• If my mom hadn’t used this expression once and explained it to me, I would have been mystified by the “church around the cross”. There are certain church rituals where the priest/minister carries a cross around the church. “Carrying the church around the cross” means to do things in an overly complicated way, or in the most complicated way possible.

So, the subhead means that people have to take the long way around to get to the Lidl store on Straßganger Street.

The moral of the story: just knowing the words in German is sometimes not enough; you have to know something about the culture as well.