by LemonCurry » Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:12 pm
Relevant why he wanted the alias included on his passport?
Relevant what the alias was? Is it a nickname of his real name? Something entirely different?
Relevant that it's kind of common for people from Brazil (e.g. football players) to go by their nickname instead of their official name? Was the guy in fact a football player?
ETA/WAG: The guy is a well-known football player and the clerk recognizes him. He wants his nickname (under which he is known as a football player) included on his passport. The clerk tells him that aliases are only for artists, not for athletes, but lets him "prove" his artist status by sending him to the kids' corner to draw and sign a picture.
YES to all (or close enough), well done! But what does ETA mean?
SPOILER
A Brazilian football pro, who has played some time in Germany, applies for German citizenship.
As with many Brazilian football players, he is primarily known by his nickname, so he wants his nickname to be officialy recognized in his documents, so he can further use it for contracts, on his jersey etc. The clerk says no, in German legislation, football player is not an accepted reason to have an alias included in one's document. But since his interest in getting his nickname in the documents is obviously legitimate judging with common sense, she suggests that she register him as an "artist". All she would need will be a reference "artwork" signed with his nickname, which he happily creates on the spot in the kids' corner.
This story was once included in the Wikipedia article for Brazilian-German striker Cacau (well, it didn't say kids' corner, but where else do you have the means to create a spontaneous artwork in an office?). It's no longer there, and there are reasons to dismiss it as an urban legend. It is, or at least was at one point, however, true that playing football is not considered a legitimate interest to get an alias into a German ID. There is another (true) story of a football player with no Brazilian roots, who created a whole exhibition of oil paintings just to be allowed his nickname on his jersey. Maybe that story would have been an even better choice for a lateral puzzle...
Congratulations Doriana for the solve, and also GalFisk for a ot of work on this!