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#171476 - 11/20/07 12:04 PM OFFESKEITEN
R. Eastcourt Offline
journeyman

Registered: 11/01/07
Posts: 99
Loc: Hungarian Gypsy
My dear, dead, neighbor used this word(adjective) to describe an ultra-conservative, boorish, gluttonous, self-centered, lazy, neighbor, of certain European descent.
Is this a real word or did Jack just spit out pidgion German sounds?

Phonetically it sounded: off'-ish-kiten......(add a country here)

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#171494 - 11/20/07 03:29 PM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: R. Eastcourt]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 5249
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
You doubled the original post, maybe you did not notice.
Aufschiessen, opschieten, means :" move on or hurry up". Could be sort of German or Dutch you heard. It's usually written in small fonts or characters.

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#171536 - 11/23/07 12:35 AM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: BranShea]
R. Eastcourt Offline
journeyman

Registered: 11/01/07
Posts: 99
Loc: Hungarian Gypsy
Originally Posted By: BranShea
You doubled the original post, maybe you did not notice.
Aufschiessen, opschieten, means :" move on or hurry up". Could be sort of German or Dutch you heard. It's usually written in small fonts or characters.


Hmmmm. I'm pretty sure it was an adjective, probably Dutch.

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#171849 - 12/03/07 06:59 AM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: R. Eastcourt]
Scriveyn Offline
stranger

Registered: 02/22/07
Posts: 5
Loc: Here Be Dragons
Sounds more Dutch than German to me. BranShea's post gave me the idea that it might mean "upstart". Just a guess though.

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#171850 - 12/03/07 07:23 AM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: Scriveyn]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 5249
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
The word is too far off any real Dutch or German word to make anything out of it, Scriveyn. It comes closest to 'opschieten '
which means, as said to move on or to hurry up.

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#174743 - 03/14/08 09:39 PM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: BranShea]
twosleepy Offline
old hand

Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 876
Loc: western NY
I always thought "scheisse" was a "bad" word in German; one of those scatological ones... The online translator came up with "up-sh*t" for "aufscheissen". Not sure what that means, but it looks "bad" to me! If this was an insult, that would make sense...

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#174753 - 03/15/08 10:22 AM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: twosleepy]
zmjezhd Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/13/05
Posts: 3269
Loc: R'lyeh
a "bad" word

German schießen 'to shoot', aufschießen 'to coil up (a rope)', and scheißen 'to shit'.
_________________________
Ceci n'est pas un seing.

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#174757 - 03/15/08 12:05 PM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: zmjezhd]
tsuwm Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10463
Loc: this too shall pass
i.e., what a difference an 'ei' makes.

-ron o.

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#174759 - 03/15/08 02:23 PM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: tsuwm]
twosleepy Offline
old hand

Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 876
Loc: western NY
Okay, German isn't my strong suit, so please set me straight! Isn't "schiessen" pronounced (give a break here; more or less:) "shee-sen", and "scheissen" as "shy-sen"? That's a big difference, and from R. Eastcourt's phonetic description "-kiten" as opposed to "-keeten", it "sounds" like a long i to me. That would necessitate a "ei" combination, as in "scheissen". Okay, have at me!!! ;0)


Edited by twosleepy (03/15/08 02:24 PM)
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#174767 - 03/15/08 05:51 PM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: twosleepy]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13654
Offeskeiten isn't German. It might could be some Germanic language; not sure I'd bet on it considering who it came from but I don't think we can draw any conclusions about what the vowel sequence would be in any German cognate even if it is a legitimate word in some Germanic language

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#174770 - 03/15/08 07:16 PM Re: no way [Re: Faldage]
zmjezhd Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/13/05
Posts: 3269
Loc: R'lyeh
Offeskeiten isn't German.

What he said. I can't figure out what the putative word could be in German or any of the other usual suspects. the ending -keiten looks German, but yours is as good as anybody's what the offes represents. The -keiten to me looks like the standard German -keit, which forms abstract nouns out of adjectives, e.g., Niedrigkeit 'baseness' < niedrig 'base, lowly'. It's kind of like our -hood (cf. German -heit as in Gesundheit 'health') or -ness. Now it's possible, through strange transcription methods to posit a verb skeiten, which seems more Dutch than German, but that leaves the impossible offes (sounding to mine inner ear a lot like English office). The only place on the Web with offeskeiten is this thread (link). The single example of Offeskeit is a typical Google Books, old words in strange language confuses my OCR.

I also thought for a second it could be Äffischkeit 'apishness', but I got over that. Maybe a nonce word, Auskeit 'outness'. No. Häufigkeit 'frequency, commonness'?
_________________________
Ceci n'est pas un seing.

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#174776 - 03/16/08 12:42 AM Re: OFFESKEITEN [Re: R. Eastcourt]
The Pook Offline
old hand

Registered: 02/20/08
Posts: 1067
Loc: Tasmania
 Originally Posted By: R. Eastcourt
My dear, dead, neighbor used this word(adjective) to describe an ultra-conservative, boorish, gluttonous, self-centered, lazy, neighbor, of certain European descent.
Is this a real word or did Jack just spit out pidgion German sounds?

Phonetically it sounded: off'-ish-kiten......(add a country here)


Perhaps it was Yiddish?

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