Hence comments by Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrat leader, that may sound strange to foreign ears.
The centrepiece of their Turner show is Sex, a jokey, gothic fantasy of the most ghastly scene imaginable: mutilated bodies, nailed to a tree first seen in the landmark Sensation show, eaten away by flies, mice and maggots to leave nothing but bare bones and the strange mutant ears that also pop up in the Goya etchings that the brothers have deliberately "vandalised".
Some sported feet with seven toes, for example, and strange inner ears.
He cites the combination "lbstv" in "selbstverständlich" – the German word for "obvious" – as an example of how strange phonetics can grate on a foreign ear.
Such queer, quaint names they were, most of them strang strange sounds to my youn ears... Waists, petticoats, nightdresses, combinations, drawers, updervests, corset-covers, wrappers, aprons.
"Look at his long fingers, his strange eyes, his pointed ears, and you will realise what forces he represents," he said.
Thus the constant controversies over headscarves that cut to the core of European sensibilities seemed strange to American ears.
Jambinai are an enthralling post-rock group; imagine Godspeed You! Black Emperor melded with, to these ears, strange and wonderful traditional instruments.
The spoken sections sound strange to modern ears: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is cut in pieces, shuffled around, and otherwise manhandled by Purcell's literary collaborator, whose identity is not known for certain.
