Incoherent Scribblings

The Cat’s Meow

In keeping with my May goals, I decided that today it was time to start on my EMS RR. I have had the border done for a couple of weeks, but couldn’t decide which patterns from my Stoney Creek Book, Cat’s Meow to choose.

I decided when I did the border that I wanted to stitch either “Kitten and Hummingbirds” (second row, second from the right) or “Kitten and Pansies” (bottom row, first from the left) and so both of those patterns made it to the final cut. However, I had to decide if I wanted all short-haired kittens or a mixture of long and short-hairs and also whether or not I wanted them all to face the same direction. In the end, I ended up with all short-hairs, but the direction in which the kittens face was actually the decisive factor.

The four square bell pull will include the left-facing “Kitten and Hummingbirds” (I am stitching it) on the top and underneath it, in the following order, will be the right-facing “Kitten and Daisies,” the right-facing “Kitten and Pansies”, and the left-facing “Kitten and Yarn.”

I will allow the participants to stitch whichever kitten they choose as long as they place them in the proper order. (I will be including a placement diagram along with the patterns). I am borrowing the idea Susie had for the RR we are doing and am going to have everyone sign their square with their name and country using a miniature backstitch alphabet. Even before it is properly started I am looking forward to getting it back!
Anyway, after I made all those decisions, I started working on “Kitten and Hummingbirds.” It is going relatively quickly. I worked on it for about 3.5 hours today and am about 25% done with it. I anticipate that it probably won’t take me much more than 15 hours to stitch, so I will most likely do it all before posting a picture or go back to working on “Passing Admirers” or my Mirabila “2001 Guardian Cherub.”

The Curse of Denglish

Last year, I wrote a very brief post about “Denglish” and had always thought I would come back to the topic and write something more substantial at a later time. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I finally wrote it and posted it over on my expatica.com blog. However, I thought I would also post it here so that everyone who comes to “Culture Shock and the blondelibrarian” might have a chance to read it. Enjoy!

Two of the most common definitions of Denglish (sometimes called Germish) are: 1.) a language based on German grammar that includes a jumble of English and pseudo-English idioms, or vice versa and 2.) speech or text that uses a mixture of German and English words.

As a native English speaker in Germany I have found it interesting to see and hear all of the English that permeates the German language. What I find most unsettling though, is that while many English words introduced into German have the same meaning as they do in English, many do not. Behold the “Curse of Denglish.”

For me, there are three Denglish words that come to mind as the greatest offenders and they are das Handy, das Mobbing, and der Smoking.

Das Handy translates to cell phone and is probably the first and foremost example of Denglish in German. Because cell phones are so prevalent in Germany, I can honestly say that one of the first “German” words I learned was “Handy.” I have always thought that “Handy” was an odd choice for the translation of “cell phone,” and I remember trying to convert my in-laws to “Mobiltelefon,” but it was too late.

Everyone here calls a cell phone a “Handy,” and when I finally bought my first cell phone about 6 months ago I had no trouble calling it that either. Truthfully, I suppose the term “Handy” does have its logic. After all, a cell phone can be damn “handy” at times!

However, in my opinion das Mobbing and der Smoking have no basis in logic and their German translations are so far from their English meanings that until faced with them I never would have had any idea what they meant in German.

For example, one day last spring I was sitting in my Business German class and we were doing a listening exercise. On the tape there was a woman who was complaining about how her colleagues were treating her. My teacher asked if we knew the word for this. At that time, she looked directly at me and asked what this was called in English. I tried to look like I was thinking it over, but honestly I was clueless.

Suddenly, one of the ladies in my class whispered to me “Mobbing.” Then it was clear. I had heard the term “das Mobbing” before, but thought the translation of it was so bizarre that it must be something that wasn’t used all that often.

Imagine my surprise to find out that it is a common business term! In German, “das Mobbing” translates to “workplace bullying,” which is exactly what the woman on the tape was describing.

Der Smoking is similarly strange. As we all know, in English smoking refers to the process of inhaling or exhaling the fumes of burning tobacco (or other substances). Perhaps at one time the idea of smoking spoke of elegance and refinement, but now in America it is seen as a public nuisance and health threat.

In German, der Smoking has absolutely nothing to do with the act of smoking. I was informed that der Smoking is an article of clothing. Therefore, at first I thought perhaps der Smoking referred to a smoking jacket. However, that is false. When I looked it up in my German-English dictionary I found out that it translates to a tuxedo of all things!

And so, fellow English speakers (native or otherwise), please remember that even if they understand your English here in Germany, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will understand theirs!