German and Austrian Culture and Words ( to run away but also having fun with it before )

[Deleted member 16647]

Honestly I wasn't being too serious, just gently poking fun at the genre -- certain topics and settings are overrepresented in a genre, the same will be true for say country music, rap, etc. but it's going to be hard for a German and a French to get all nuances across while writing in English
(and I have no disrespect for the mountain people ... my grandfather on the maternal side came from a line of mountain guides
Another way to say it is, that any genre that can be applied to very everyday situations is probably still alive

Absolutely
I spoke at the second degree too

 

[Migoz2]

In that case, how is she considered as a great singer ?

She isn't. She is considered a terrible singer. Someone once compared the aesthetic quality of her performances (which were only to a relatively select few people) to that of Christians being thrown to lions. But she did have money and moved in 'high society', so she got away with it......

There was a recent film (starring Meryl Streep) about her

 

[Silent_Water]

Mhm, according to the German version of Wikipedia, even I did not use the term "Volksmusik" in a correct way, because "Volksmusik" is there explained as traditional music that belongs to the cultural heritage of a nation, also often used in "company" of tradtional dances.
What I am usually always complaining about it explained there as "volkstümliche Musik", which is made in modern times for commercial reasons with elements of traditional music, but not part (yet) of tradtional heritage.

Volksmusik – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

 

[Silent_Water]

She isn't. She is considered a terrible singer. Someone once compared the aesthetic quality of her performances (which were only to a relatively select few people) to that of Christians being thrown to lions. But she did have money and moved in 'high society', so she got away with it......

There was a recent film (starring Meryl Streep) about her

I have seen that movie in German language and it was a true "Tragikomödie" (tragical comedy) for the audience, because in that movie on the one hand, it was funny to see the faces and reactions of the persons who listened to such "singing" for the first time - ranging from disbelief up to uncontrollable hysterical laughing.
On the other hand, it was tragic to hear in this movie that she was in fact a "Wunderkind", a child prodigy when she was about 10 years old. She was so good in playing piano that she played in front of the US-president Hayes, but the movie made also the suggestion that she might have lost any feeling for timing and singing music because she was infected by her unfaithful first husband with syphilis.

Florence Foster Jenkins - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Although I have never heard before of such a side effect of syphilis, we cannot exclude this possibiliy, because this sexually transmitted disease was in her case different than in most other cases, for example she got relatively old with this illness, probably because of her wealth and richness, which prevented her from dying so early as others in those times.

 

[Silent_Water]

In my understanding, true and genuine "Volksmusik" are German "Volkslieder" which are sung for more than 100 years by the "normal people" and it is in some way funny, that some beautiful examples of them are to be found today sung by national icons from other countries.
In this case here, Mireille Mathieu sings some which she loved in a short medley and in really good German although you certainly hear that a French woman sings it but she really tried to hide her French accents as good as possible:

 

[Deleted member 16647]

...
In this case here, Mireille Mathieu sings some which she loved in a short medley and in really good German although you certainly hear that a French woman sings it but she really tried to hide her French accents as good as possible:

Interesting, thks

Mireille Mathieu - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Silent_Water]

In some way, it is almost a pity for the history of music that today so many Germans are understanding and speaking English or even French because during the 1960's and 1970's there were many singers from the USA, Great Britain and France singing songs in German. It was nice, they were very friendly and they really had great voices:

Elvis Presley with his version of the Swabian / Schwäbischen Volkslied "Muss i denn zum Städtele hinaus" in English and German:

Elvis Presley - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Connie Francis made several very successful songs in German around the time of my birth and she was almost regarded as an (US-)Italian-German singer in Germany during the 1960's. She probably was the best German singing artist from the USA ever:

Connie Francis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[phlebas]

"Tinfoil hat guy" in American English.

We also commonly refer to aluminum foil as "tinfoil," for reasons lost in the mists of time.

Apostate, you also commonly refer to "aluminium" as "aluminum"

I know, it's an old post but I'm catching up.

 

[Silent_Water]

There is an "i" missing in the second "aluminium" or can we in fact also refer to "aluminium" as "alumin[ ]um"?

 

[poem21045]

There is an "i" missing in the second "aluminium" or can we in fact also refer to "aluminium" as "alumin[ ]um"?

Why There Are Two Names for Element 13?

Element 13 is unique in that it has two names. Depending on who you ask, it may be Aluminum or Aluminium. Discover the reason for this difference.

www.thoughtco.com

 

[Silent_Water]

I am learning here something new almost every day. I really never saw or heard before the spelling "Aluminum" and I once was on holiday in the USA.
OK, tourists usually do not talk about the spelling of some metals in foreign countries ...
By the way, "spelling of metals and plural": there was one German hit in 1965 with the title "Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht, aber unsere Liebe nicht" ("Marble, stone and iron breaks, but our love not") ...

... but as you can easily see, it should be plural "brechen", not the singular "bricht" and generations of Germans are discussing endlessly since 1965 if it is worth to destroy our language in such a terrible way just for making a simple rhyme.

Moreover, this German "volkstümliches Lied" with the title "Blau blüht der Enzian", sung by a "national icon" with the name "Heino" ...

... is obviously a song about a hidden sexual crime in the Swiss Alps, committed by "Heino" as this comedian "Wolfgang Trepper" in the following video is proving by deductive analysis of the song text, because Heino eats with a young Swiss girl in the second Alp hut, kisses her in the third hut and "no one knows what happened then". Deductive conclusion: "Heino" hunted this poor girl from hut to hut through the Swiss Alps until she was too tired to fight against Heino!

This German comedian is always in a really bad mood, angry about every mistake in the German language and has a lot of fantasy about crimes in his performance, but you must admit, he could be right, especially about these two songs!

 

[poem21045]

I am learning here something new almost every day. I really never saw or heard before the spelling "Aluminum" and I once was on holiday in the USA.
OK, tourists usually do not talk about the spelling of some metals in foreign countries ...
By the way, "spelling of metals and plural": there was one German hit in 1965 with the title "Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht, aber unsere Liebe nicht" ("Marble, stone and iron breaks, but our love not") ...

... but as you can easily see, it should be plural "brechen", not the singular "bricht" and generations of Germans are discussing endlessly since 1965 if it is worth to destroy our language in such a terrible way just for making a simple rhyme.

Moreover, this German "volkstümliches Lied" with the title "Blau blüht der Enzian", sung by a "national icon" with the name "Heino" ...

... is obviously a song about a hidden sexual crime in the Swiss Alps, committed by "Heino" as this comedian "Wolfgang Trepper" in the following video is proving by deductive analysis of the song text, because Heino eats with a young Swiss girl in the second Alp hut, kisses her in the third hut and "no one knows what happened then". Deductive conclusion: "Heino" hunted this poor girl from hut to hut through the Swiss Alps until she was too tired to fight against Heino!

This German comedian is always in a really bad mood, angry about every mistake in the German language and has a lot of fantasy about crimes in his performance, but you must admit, he could be right, especially about these two songs!

Sounds like some Germans might be as anal about language evolution as the French (see: Académie française). People change, social norms change, things grow old and die while other things are born, and language changes with all of this. Language is dynamic and organic, not static and controlled.

As an example, look at all the nouns that have evolved into use as verbs in English.

("Hey, honey, want to party?")

 

[Silent_Water]

Sounds like some Germans might be as anal about language evolution as the French (see: Académie française).

Is there a special sign, identification mark or a special smilie or a special "safe word" in English in order to show explicitly that something in a descriptional text is not really meant serious but rather used as an entertaining satire from a comedian like in the last of my video quotations here?

If something like that exists in English, I would like to use this here much more often ...

 

[poem21045]

Is there a special sign, identification mark or a special smilie or a special "safe word" in English in order to show explicitly that something in a descriptional text is not really meant serious but rather used as an entertaining satire from a comedian like in the last of my video quotations here?

If something like that exists in English, I would like to use this here much more often ...

Interesting question!
There is no "identification mark or a special smilie or a special 'safe word'" that I can think of. English is largely a language of context. One can use italics (note that their use here shows that I'm doubtful of the suggestion) or other typographical indicators (bold, underlined, etc.). But mostly, diction and syntax communicate the subtleties of such tones as satire.
This is one of the aspects of Shakespeare's plays that made him such a genius. He could write so that his actors knew what tone to set their lines to.

 

[Silent_Water]

That is a pity because such an "identification mark" would help a lot of nations right now very much.

In any case, most problems with languages and borrowed words in Europe began during the French Revolution in 1789. Before that revolution, nations and nationalities were not so "important", because the European kings and emperors often governed countries with many different languages in it and the people were not really bothered because of them as long as they were regarded to be loyal subjects to the king or emperor. After the French king was decapitated, the people all over Europe suddenly remarked that this kind of order can be changed and what do people have in common, when the ruling king can disappear? It is the language.
Although Napoleon was first regarded as liberator from the suppression of the ancient noble regimes by many Europeans, most of them did not understand only 15 years later, why France had to conquer all other European nations in order to preserve the new order, especially after Napoleon made himself an emperor.

So, many Europeans from many nations suddenly tried to exclude "French" and many other foreign words from their languages in an "outburst" of nationalisms between 1815 and 1850, which looked sometimes ridiculous in many ways until today.
For example, there are usually borrowed words which are used in different forms by any nation, e.g. "theater" / "theatre" etc., but there are even languages, which excluded these words because they looked too "French" or too "German" (!) for them. In Czech, "theater" is "divadlo", because "theater" was too "German" for them after Napoleon (!!!).
Even in German, there were absolutely ridiculous attempts around 1820 to change words, e.g. "pistole" should be "Meuchelpuffer", because "pistole" was "French" and "Meuchelpuffer" so "beautiful German"! (Ahahaha!)

Today, it is rather the opposite in Germany. Even native English speakers are sometimes surprised and make satires about how many English words are now to be found in German especially spoken by the youth concerning music, fashion etc.
So this way of speaking is called in German "Denglish".

Example:
Excerpt from the satirical book “Zwei Amerikaner im deutschen Exil” (= "Two Americans in German Exile"), by Adam Blauhut & Kevin McAleer, [ISBN 3-462-02684-4], Köln 1998.


Die Cyberpunkhousemusicraveparty

The other day, I went to McDonald's at the Zoo station in Berlin, where I always stay when I'm waiting for the night bus. Around this time, there are almost only young people and I am mostly one of the oldest. But I do not mind. I eat my "savings menu" at a corner table and listen to the young boys, always keen to improve my German since I'm American ...

»Was macht dein neuer Hightechcomputerjob?«

»Abgefuckt. Mein Boß ist so ein harter Selfmademantyp, ziemlich oldfashioned und wahnsinnig aufgepeppt. Nie kann ich relaxen.«

»Shit. Du bist doch gar kein Troublemaker. Und das Knowhow hast du doch sowieso. Schließlich sind Computer auch dein Hobby.«

»Stimmt. Aber der hat Stress. Er ist Single und ziemlich down, weil er nicht genug Sex kriegt. Er hat keine happy Loveaffairs. Außerdem hat er Angst vor Aids und will sich auf keine Onenightstands mit den Ladies einlassen.«

»No glove - no love.«

»Genau.«

»Arbeitest du jetzt in der City?«

»Ja, ich fahre morgens mit dem Mountainbike nach meinem Bodystylingtraining im Fitneßcenter zum Job.«

»Hey, wie heißt noch mal der Film, den wir morgen abend sehen?«

»Sex and Violence Minus the Dialogue.«

»Ein Thriller? Ein Horrorfilm?«

»Ein Comedyactionfilm. Es geht um einen Killerteenagebabysitter, der die Kids von einem Talkshowmaster killt. Keine richtige Story, du weißt schon, so was just for

fun mit Jokes und Slapstick. Er hat viel Publicity gekriegt.«

»Wer spielt mit?«

»Troy Gold. Das ist der Star, der gerade sein großes Comeback nach einer Overdose hatte. Ich bin ein Fan von Gold, weil der immer das richtige Feeling rüberbringt.«

»Hey, hast du das neue Debütalbum von Kiss My Ass gehört? Der Sound ist total super!«

»Kiss My Ass macht gerade einen Deal mit Sony. Sie machen keine Takes mehr im Studio, sondern gehen jetzt auf Tour mit Performances in Europe.«

»>Europa< meinst du.«

»Hm?! Egal! Kiss My Ass muß ich unbedingt live sehen. Ich finde Blackmusic aus dem Ghetto geil! Blackpower forever!«

»Das sind aber keine Blacks.«

»Was?«

»Das sind weiße Deutsche. «

»Egal.«

»Sie sind eine Crossoverband, aber Gott sei Dank nicht mainstream, und mixen Hiphop, Freestylerap, Partygroove, und Hightechsouthernsoul.«

»Richtig, das ist der neue Trend. Viele Soundtricks und Hooliganarrangements und ein Superbeat mit Funkyrhythms.«

»Gut, ich checke das mal aus. Ich kaufe uns die CD morgen beim Shopping mit den Girls.«

»Cool.«

»Hey, hast du von der Cyberpunkhousemusicraveparty am Weekend gehört? Die Scene soll da ziemlich abgefuckt sein. Pure Noise. Pure Show. Ein echtes Highlight. Wollen wir mal vorbeischauen?«

»Wow! Okay!«

I went over to their table with my cigarette and asked:

»Excuse me, anybody got a light? «

»Was hat er gesagt? « one asked the other.

»Er will eine Taschenlampe von Dir haben. «

 

[Silent_Water]

Concerning Shakespeare.

Usually, I hate conspiracy theories but there is one about Shakespeare which I once heard and which I really love because it has something of a James-Bond-movie:

The earliest stage plays of Shakespeare are sometimes very similar in story and style to some plays of Christopher Marlowe ...

Christopher Marlowe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

... and the circumstances of the death of Christopher Marlowe remain "strange" until today. Marlowe was already almost a star in the literary circles of his time, but he as well as his killer were also members of an early "secret service" circle of the family of the Walsinghams. The killer of Marlowe was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth I. herself and remained in this secret service circle of the Walsinghams as if nothing happened.

The conspiracy theory is now as follows:

1. Marlowe and Shakespeare knew each other well and because there was no copyright in those days, the plays of both were at least influenced by each other if not written together.
2. Marlowe, who was said to be always an adventurer in his "short" life, was possibly not really dead but only killed for show and used as a very talented spy in foreign countries, sending reports and descriptions from there, which were then used by his friend Shakespeare to write his plays.

Possible hints and indications for this theory:

There are so detailed descriptions in some of Shakespeare's plays that you would have to say, this was written by someone with the detailed knowledge of the landscapes of the countries of France and Italy in 1595-1600 and being able to speak French and Italian. For example, in one or two of Shakespeare's plays, there are mentioned ports and harbours of Italian cities, which are not at the Italian coast, so even Italians said around 1950, that this is proof of English fantasy. But they were wrong because Italian historians and archaeologists can today prove that these Italian cities really had harbours in 1595, because there were big channels between those cities, which were shut down and buried again 200 years later.

A female English historian for art and literature tried to prove in her universitarian doctor's degree thesis, how much work was done by contemporary playwriters by finding the bills of the merchants who delivered ink, pencils and paper for them in London around 1600, because these were rather special items in those times and not everyone was writing regularly and not everyone could read at all.
She found paid bills for really every known person of the literary circles and scenes in those times all over England - except for Shakespeare! Shakespeare seems to have not existed at all for merchants who were selling ink, pencils and papers - nowhere in England!
She has no real explanation to offer for this fact.

 

[Silent_Water]

I know that I have posted this already in another thread, but nevertheless, it is still the current state of things and I can add two more historical photos.

I and many of us Germans must admit - gnashing our teeth, because many of us do not really like her - that our chancellor Angela Merkel was correct in her almost scientific predictions about the coronavirus and she is doing her job really acceptable and with efficiency, if not to say "good".

In a time, when most nations do no more judge or measure their politicians whether they do something good for their nations, but whether they do as few damage as possible to their nations, she has really almost done a phantastic job.

Probably the best you can tell about her being a politician is that she is not vain - moreover, you only have to look into her face and you will think, she does not even seem to know what vanity is!

She also warned us on March, 18 2020 very convincing in the most expressive manner, she is able to show.

Explanation: If you are not German, you will have to know that Queen Elizabeth II and Mrs Merkel have something in common: Both are probably the cold-bloodest and most self-controlled two women on this planet.
For example, Angela Merkel has ever had one standard position with her hands, the so-called "Merkel-Raute" to calm down every sign of emotions in her and even in her adversaries:



There have already been lots of psychological and satirical articles about this way to hold her hands all times, even the "Economist" interpreted how she is always holding her hands as a magical and dangerous ring: "One ring to rule them all ... !"

Merkel-Raute - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Merkel-Raute – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Even her political enemies try to warn of this magic ("Mutti" is the German word for a rather superior "mum") and when you catch a "psycho" - moment in a photo with her in her government's car on the way to talk with persons like Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump or Vladimir Xyulo - wanted by criminal international court in The Hague, you sometimes begin to shiver, thinking about her "magical power" and her sometimes "evil look":



Only once during the whole German history, Angela Merkel lost her magic ring and the resulting evil look for some minutes and therefore her famous self-control was gone for some moments:

It was the world championship in 2014: Germany wins the famous soccer game against Brazil 7 : 1.


Now, you can possibly imagine how extremely shocked we Germans must have been, when Angela Merkel held her very first "unprepared" TV speech to the German nation, talking on 18th of March about the future of Germany and the coronavirus, opening her hands like this right at the beginning of her speech, which is said to have been one of the best of her life:

Ansprache der Kanzlerin zu Corona: Merkel wendet sich an Nation

Besondere Situationen erfordern besondere Maßnahmen: Zum ersten Mal in ihrer Amtszeit wendet sich Kanzlerin Merkel in einer Ansprache an die Menschen im Land.

www.zdf.de

Some Germans got into a status of shock which they did not leave until today because they saw for the first time in their lifetimes, that Angela Merkel opened her hands relatively wide as if she would like to hug all Germans, which was an unthinkable and very frightening imagination for most of us Germans.

This was the moment, when we Germans knew that really hard times are ahead of us and we will have to prepare for a new kind of "war", although this word was not mentioned at all like in the surrounding neighbour countries.

Additionally, not so long ago, Mrs. Merkel was in the center of some pictures, which were really acquired by some museums of contemporary art because - according to the directors of these museums, such photos were of a quality like a Baroque painting by Rembrandt or Rubens:

Ein Foto wie ein barockes Gemälde

Der Direktor des Museums “Kunstpalast Düsseldorf“ zeigt uns sein Bild der Stunde und erklärt, warum Kunst nichts mit dem Preis zu tun hat.

www.spiegel.de

In any case, you should not be surprised if the German national flag will one day soon look like this and you will now know why:

 

[Hugin&Munin]

I know that I have posted this already in another thread, but nevertheless, it is still the current state of things and I can add two more historical photos.

I and many of us Germans must admit - gnashing our teeth, because many of us do not really like her - that our chancellor Angela Merkel was correct in her almost scientific predictions about the coronavirus and she is doing her job really acceptable and with efficiency, if not to say "good".

In a time, when most nations do no more judge or measure their politicians whether they do something good for their nations, but whether they do as few damage as possible to their nations, she has really almost done a phantastic job.

Probably the best you can tell about her being a politician is that she is not vain - moreover, you only have to look into her face and you will think, she does not even seem to know what vanity is!

She also warned us on March, 18 2020 very convincing in the most expressive manner, she is able to show.

Explanation: If you are not German, you will have to know that Queen Elizabeth II and Mrs Merkel have something in common: Both are probably the cold-bloodest and most self-controlled two women on this planet.
For example, Angela Merkel has ever had one standard position with her hands, the so-called "Merkel-Raute" to calm down every sign of emotions in her and even in her adversaries:



There have already been lots of psychological and satirical articles about this way to hold her hands all times, even the "Economist" interpreted how she is always holding her hands as a magical and dangerous ring: "One ring to rule them all ... !"

Merkel-Raute - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Merkel-Raute – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Even her political enemies try to warn of this magic ("Mutti" is the German word for a rather superior "mum") and when you catch a "psycho" - moment in a photo with her in her government's car on the way to talk with persons like Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump or Vladimir Xyulo - wanted by criminal international court in The Hague, you sometimes begin to shiver, thinking about her "magical power" and her sometimes "evil look":

View attachment 871191

Only once during the whole German history, Angela Merkel lost her magic ring and the resulting evil look for some minutes and therefore her famous self-control was gone for some moments:

It was the world championship in 2014: Germany wins the famous soccer game against Brazil 7 : 1.


Now, you can possibly imagine how extremely shocked we Germans must have been, when Angela Merkel held her very first "unprepared" TV speech to the German nation, talking on 18th of March about the future of Germany and the coronavirus, opening her hands like this right at the beginning of her speech, which is said to have been one of the best of her life:

Ansprache der Kanzlerin zu Corona: Merkel wendet sich an Nation

Besondere Situationen erfordern besondere Maßnahmen: Zum ersten Mal in ihrer Amtszeit wendet sich Kanzlerin Merkel in einer Ansprache an die Menschen im Land.

www.zdf.de

Some Germans got into a status of shock which they did not leave until today because they saw for the first time in their lifetimes, that Angela Merkel opened her hands relatively wide as if she would like to hug all Germans, which was an unthinkable and very frightening imagination for most of us Germans.

This was the moment, when we Germans knew that really hard times are ahead of us and we will have to prepare for a new kind of "war", although this word was not mentioned at all like in the surrounding neighbour countries.

Additionally, not so long ago, Mrs. Merkel was in the center of some pictures, which were really acquired by some museums of contemporary art because - according to the directors of these museums, such photos were of a quality like a Baroque painting by Rembrandt or Rubens:

View attachment 871189 View attachment 871190

Ein Foto wie ein barockes Gemälde

Der Direktor des Museums “Kunstpalast Düsseldorf“ zeigt uns sein Bild der Stunde und erklärt, warum Kunst nichts mit dem Preis zu tun hat.

www.spiegel.de

In any case, you should not be surprised if the German national flag will one day soon look like this and you will now know why:

LOL

 

[Silent_Water]

In my understanding, true and genuine "Volksmusik" are German "Volkslieder" which are sung for more than 100 years by the "normal people" and it is in some way funny, that some beautiful examples of them are to be found today sung by national icons from other countries.
In this case here, Mireille Mathieu sings some which she loved in a short medley and in really good German although you certainly hear that a French woman sings it but she really tried to hide her French accents as good as possible:

Another example:

The King's Singers from Cambridge are often singing old German "klassische Volkslieder" in a very beautiful way. Sometimes, they have a British accent, sometimes not and it sounds very good:

"Kein Feuer, keine Kohle kann brennen so heiß, als heimliche Liebe, von der niemand nichts weiß ... "= "No fire, no coals can burn as hot, as a secret love of which no one knows naught ..."

 

[Silent_Water]

One of the oldest and very beautiful German love songs I know - from the times of the European "Renaissance" ca. 1520:

---https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FZ9dQcHbuA---