Although noticing such things today is largely impossible, as recently as the 1950s, Tübingen was a very socioeconomically divided city, with poor local farmers and tradesmen living along the "Stadtgraben" (City Canal) and students and academics residing around the "Alte Aula" and the "Burse", the old university buildings. There, hanging on the "Cottahaus", a sign commemorates Goethe's stay of a few weeks while visiting his publisher. The German tendency to memorialize every minor presence of its historical greats (comparable to the statement "Washington slept here" in the United States) is parodied on the building next door. This simple building, once a dormitory, features a plain sign with the words ""Hier kotzte Goethe"" (lit.: "Goethe puked here").