Incoherent Scribblings

German Products with Funny Names

After reading Neil’s post about Denglish, I couldn’t help think about some of the German products that I have encountered here that a.) when I literally translate them back into English they are amusing or b.) are just plain amusing.

Schwarzkopf
– This line of hair care products translates to “Black head”… eww!

BiFi Balls
Pronouced “beefy balls,” (I think)
– I have yet to try these little sausages wrapped up in a bread-like substance, but everytime I see their ad, I can’t help but snicker.

P.S. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Pledge Battle

I knew that there had been a big commotion about the Pledge of Allegiance in the American classroom and the phrase “under God,” but didn’t know the details until now. I guess the case is on its way to the Supreme Court.

For those of you who do not know, or need a refresher, the Pledge of Allegiance is as follows:

“I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The Pledge has undergone quite a few changes since its 1892 introduction, with one of the most significant changes in 1954 when the words “under God” were added. It is these words that are at the center of the case that is going to the Supreme Court.

As a kid, I recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school from kindergarten until about 4th grade, but I must say, I never really thought about it. It was merely something that we recited in class every day and I never thought about it as patriotic or religious or anything else for that matter.

The only thing I do remember about saying the Pledge of Allegiance was that there was this kid in my class who always put his hand over the middle of his stomach when we said it, as opposed to on top of his heart, where your hand is supposed to go.

Desensitized?

I am not totally clueless or oblivious to what’s going on you know. But sometimes the news gets on my nerves and I boycott it for a few days or I’m just not sure what to say about things.

For example; the terror attack in Spain. I happened to be news-wise that day and so I knew what had happened. I wasn’t sure the ETA was to blame, as was first thought, it just seemed too eerie when I read that it was March 11, 911 days after 9/11, but otherwise I thought that it was sad and horrible. People died, and I express my sympathy to the people whose lives were affected, but I wonder if I am becoming desensitized to these things. A few months ago, there were attacks in Turkey, before that Bali, and before that September 11 (just to name a few) and so when I see (or read) news about another attack, that is what it is becoming for me… just another attack.

My dream job

The other day, a friend of mine sent me an email asking me to answer the following two questions for a project she is working on:

What is your current job?

What is your dream job?

Currently, I am a housewife (p.c. homemaker) and student of the German language and culture, though a librarian by education and training.

My dream job, however, is to be a world-renowned exotic cat (lions, tigers, ocelots, etc.) veterinarian.

Why? First of all, I like animals, but cats are my favorite. Second of all, when I was a little girl I didn’t dream of being a ballerina or actress or anything girly like that, but a veterinarian. I could never stand to see an animal suffer. (Yes, I was the girl that tried to save the baby bird that fell out of its nest.) Third of all, I always loved the zoo and wanted to work there. Why didn’t I accomplish this dream? Well, I can go into all sorts of ravings about how society discouraged me as a girl away from math and science, which is partly true, but in actuality I was also in love with literature and the library and that is the path I took when I went to college. I guess if I was determined I could still be an exotic cat veterinarian, but it sure seems like a lot of work.

So, dear readers, what is your dream job?

Hobbies

I have three main hobbies: computers, reading, and cross-stitching and I go through phases with each hobby where I let it consume my time until I am bored with it.

Lately, my all-consuming hobby has been computers, but that is because I just burned out of my cross-stitching hobby again. For five months, cross-stitching is all I did and I produced some really nice pieces of work (see them here), but then I started messing around with the computer again and my cross-stitching has sort of fallen off.

The thing that aggravates me though is that I am in the middle of a fairly large piece and now every time I sit down to work on it my attention span wavers in about 30 minutes and I am back at the computer. I know eventually I will get it done, but last time I took a break from cross-stitch it lasted about 3 1/2 years!