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#87889
11/26/2002 11:05 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I never heard how in happened, but Mark Twain was apparently quite fluent in German.
Here's a tidbit from "engines" episode 1064;
When Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's
Court uttered a bogus magic spell, he used a long German
word:
Konstantinopelitanischerdudelsachspfeifenmachersgesellschaft.
It means an "organization of bagpipe makers from
Constantinople." Should we regard that as six words or just
one?
I like the sound of "dudelsach" much better than "bagpipes".
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#87890
11/27/2002 6:07 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I like "dudelsach" too. Meanwhile, Twain is the author of one of my favorite rants: "The Awful German Language" (from A Tramp Abroad): http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html
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#87891
11/27/2002 10:26 AM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
is "doodle sack" really the German word for bag pipe? and do sack and bag really mean the same thing? 
formerly known as etaoin...
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#87892
11/27/2002 11:38 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
the German word for bag pipe?
I bleeve it is. Sache means thing. Whether Sach means sack I'll have to report back later. Nothing on Dudelsach in my Stilwörterbuch. Whether sack and bag are the same thing you're going to run into lots of regional variation.
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#87893
11/27/2002 11:03 PM
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 387
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 387 |
"The Awful German Language"
I like the bit about swearing. I asked a foreign exchange student what verdampt meant, working on Twains premise that German swearwords are weak. I don't recall what she said.
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