Hive: Musings about Crothian

[Terath Ninir]

I always take what linguists say with a grain of salt. Like the thing about there being "dozens" or "hundreds" of terms for snow in Eskimo. If I remember correctly, most dialects of Inuit have from 3-5 base terms for types of snow. However, they can add prefixes and suffixes to words, kind of like in German but even more so, in practice. They can easily have sentance-long "words" describing a type of snow. In effect, they have an infinite number of "words" for snow, but in truth it's just the 3-5 base terms with sticky adjectives. (Eww!)

I also have run afoul of "truths" found in linguistics books. One said that the various dialects of Chinese are completely seperate languages, and that the Chinese can only communicate in writing. The Chinese girl I mentioned to that gave me a *very* funny look.

Same book -- one by Charles Berlitz -- said that "Herrgottkreuzverdammiterdonnerwetternachmal" was the longest cuss word in any language. So I memorized it. By the time I met the Bavarians, the Chinese incident had happened, so I sort of careful and casually asked about it. None of them had ever heard of it, of course.

Moral of the story: never trust a linguist. They're as crooked as a politician.

 

[Knight Otu]

Same book -- one by Charles Berlitz -- said that "Herrgottkreuzverdammiterdonnerwetternachmal" was the longest cuss word in any language. So I memorized it. By the time I met the Bavarians, the Chinese incident had happened, so I sort of careful and casually asked about it. None of them had ever heard of it, of course.

That's actually several cuss words written together. But sometimes, they are actually used together in about that sequence.

 

[Darkness]

Same book -- one by Charles Berlitz -- said that "Herrgottkreuzverdammiterdonnerwetternachmal" was the longest cuss word in any language. So I memorized it. By the time I met the Bavarians, the Chinese incident had happened, so I sort of careful and casually asked about it. None of them had ever heard of it, of course.

What Knight Otu said. Also, it's not really offensive or anything.

Well, unless you're very religious and object to taking the Lord's name in vain, I suppose.

And the Ulm thing is admittedly more simple silliness than an actual joke. It just sounds neat.

 

[Crothian]

I recognized a few words in the jumbled mess, my german is really bad these days

 

[Darkness]

I recognized a few words in the jumbled mess, my german is really bad these days

It's also somewhat old-fashioned German. I don't think many people speak like that these days. At least, not in regions I'm very familiar with.

 

[Jdvn1]

I also have run afoul of "truths" found in linguistics books. One said that the various dialects of Chinese are completely seperate languages, and that the Chinese can only communicate in writing. The Chinese girl I mentioned to that gave me a *very* funny look.

... Actually, I've never heard that the different Chinese dialects aren't separate languages. As far as I know, China has about 8 different languages and I know Chinese people that say the same thing.

But I've seen lots of linguists like the ones you talk about. They come up with all sorts of weird theories, held together very very loosely. The site I listed, though, I think has very good sources and I think they know what they're talking about.

YMMV.

 

[Crothian]

It's also somewhat old-fashioned German. I don't think many people speak like that these days. At least, not in regions I'm very familiar with.

It's been so long since I took german courses that I may have been taught that old fashioned language.....

 

[Knight Otu]

It's also somewhat old-fashioned German. I don't think many people speak like that these days. At least, not in regions I'm very familiar with.

The Herrgott piece is a bit old-fashioned, but the other pieces are frequently used when something goes wrong. Along with the ever-popular "Himmel, A**** und Zwirn!"

 

[Darkness]

*stands a little away from Crothian so his youthful kewlness isn't impacted by the fossilized elder*

 

[Jdvn1]

It's been so long since I took german courses that I may have been taught that old fashioned language.....

Ye Olde Germane?