Changing tack to the anecdotal, I can't remember where I read this but, apparently air traffic control at Frankfurt have a reputation of being curt (or Kurt) to the point of rudeness.
Following a few minutes of increasingly heated exchange between a British commercial pilot attempting a landing at FRA, and FRA ATC, the conversation went something like this:
FRA: You should know this. Have you never flown to Frankfurt before?
Pilot: Yes I have. But it was 1944, it was night time, and I didn't land.