Spotlessly German? Think Again

Britons are known to poke fun at their cleanly German neighbors, who have even invented a word to describe their obsession: Putzteufel literally means cleaning devil.

But a survey published in the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday might actually have Germans breathe a sigh of relief: Compared to people in Britain, France and Spain, Germans are least likely to clean their house.

According to the poll, conducted by a British research firm that interviewed 25,000 Britons as well as 10,000 people in Germany, Spain and France, as many as 20 percent of Germans don't clean their own homes -- compared to only 3 percent in Britain, 6 percent in France and 16 percent in Spain.

German men are also the worst when it comes to the European cleanliness comparison: More than a third of those interviewed said they did no cleaning at all and about 40 percent said they only spent very little time dusting or helping with the dishes.

On the other hand, Germans are most likely to employ help around the house: One in 10 households said they would pay for a maid to take on the work.