Cindi wrote a short editorial for tomorrow about the latest way that our state has found to waste "Competitive Grant" money. In case you haven’t read about it, Rep. Liston Barfield got 100 Gs to entertain German visitors to the Grand Strand, even though some local tourism officials said the money would have been better spent on advertising to promote tourism.
Wanting to jazz up the headline a bit, I sent her an instant message asking, "How do you say ‘So Gay’ in German?"
So far, she hasn’t replied. Maybe Herb can help us with that.
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Goodntight. The double o’s are pronounced like u.
Hasselhoff?
Close, but no cigar, Doug. “Hasselhoff” is German for “So Botox’ed”.
You could start with “so sultry” in English to get “so schwül” auf Deutsch, then subtract an umlaut (the two dots over the “u”). For example:
“So schwül” = “So sultry.”
“So schwul” = “So gay.”
You can type it here (select “English-German translation” at the top) and then click on the loudspeaker at the bottom for the pronunciation.
Humorous related anecdote here. It’s the umlaut that determines whether you’re humid or gay.
Mike is right, but I’m not sure that the word “so” is right here. I’d be tempted to use “wirklich schwul” instead of “so schwul,” but since very few people are going to pick up on it anyway, you’ll be fine.
A lot depends on what the whole headline is going to be. Only these two words? Pardon my obtuseness, but I’m a little confused because I didn’t read any reference in the article (admittedly flown over) to the recent advertising about SC “gay beaches.”
Everyone ought to have to learn at least one foreign language, if for nothing more to learn humility. My first day in Germany, I noticed that even the dog understood more than I did! A few weeks later, I told someone “ich habe ein Kalt.” The right way to say “I have a cold” is “ich bin erkaeltet.” When you think about it, “I have a cold” doesn’t make any sense anyway.
Herb –
I also considered “also schwul” as a parallel to the frequently heard “also gut,” but translating idiom, slang, obscenities, or popular usage is difficult. For example, common Russian obscenities don’t make sense when translated word-for-word, but there’s usually an equivalent phrase that captures the vehemence and description of the same action. And there’s no way to explain in simple fashion to a non-Slavic speaker all of ways that Russians use references to “mother” while swearing.
While serving on active duty as a Russian translator in Berlin I was at an outdoor firing range when some Germans came up and asked if they could also shoot there. None of the other Americans spoke German, so I asked the OIC who replied that the range was for allied active duty military only. I promptly informed the Germans that only Americans could defecate there. Unlauts are important, but so are conjugations and “ie” and “ei” rules, no?
I’m all in favor of learning foreign languages, but local schools districts can’t be too serious about it because of the block schedule under which the kids get 90-minute classes for one semester per year in place of 50-minute classes for two semesters. Mastery of a foreign language requires daily doses over an extended period of time and you can’t take a break for a semester or two. (The alternative, immersion, requires near-absolute and exclusive attention to the language for several months, better a year, and is not realistic for most folks.)
Complicating factors include facility with and understanding of one’s native language, and I’m not sure how that’s going in schools today, but if you want to get weird looks, mention “diagramming sentences” to younger folks.
Heck, I got an email earlier today from an attorney; he wrote “For further information, contact Brenda or I.” Would he regard as accusatory or objectionable my mention of the accusative or objective case? Go one step further: would you like to explain “du liegst mir im Herzen” to him? Dative? What the heck?
To top things off, if you’re going to learn a foreign language, you’re got to include the metric system. Are we really ready for that in our own backmeter? I wouldn’t touch that with a three-meter Pole or two-meter Hungarian!
Diese Frage ist unglaublich schwul, aber unser Staat ist gleichzeitig schwül und kühl, dennoch faltig und grauhaarig.
Wählen für mich. Anklagen bud.
Sein oder nicht sein, das is die Frage.
P.M., your first sentence almost makes sense, except you can’t translate “cool” into “kühl.” Leave it as “cool,” every German understands that. Kühl is one thing that Columbia is not, at least not in August. I’m not sure what “faltig” is supposed to mean.
Second sentence, I think you mean “mich wählen–Bud verklagen,” since it isn’t said what you would accuse Bud of, and I think you would rather sue him anyway. But what are going to sue him for?
Mike, don’t be so pessimistic. A resourceful teacher (there are still a few around–frustrated, but they are still there)–can get across a lot. What would help is to mix foreign language students with local foreigners, so school kids can figure out that there are people in the world who actually speak and think differently than themselves. And the best modern language learning techniques do not start with grammatical rules–they start with speaking, mouthing sounds, the same way a child learns a language.
Mike, forgot to say, the mistake at the shooting range was a hoot. I’ll have to think of some more of mine.
Oops! I meant to start the day with a little bit of joviality, but I left out the joke.
When Hermann Goering’s wife had a child, a comedian at a Berlin cabaret opened his monologue by saying, “Do you know what they’re going to name the baby? Hamlet. Why Hamlet. Then he solemnly intoned, “Sein oder nicht sein, das is die Frage.” This can be translated into English as either the most famous line from Hamlet’s soliloquoy or “His or not his, that is the question.”
Well, Herb, I was efforting to say “This question is so gay, but our state is sultry and cool all at the same time, if wrinkled and grey-haired. Vote for me. Impeach bud.”
I was doing my German imitation of Paris Hilton taking advantage of that new moment in the sun John McCain’s ad gave her. If I didn’t quite say what I meant, well, forgive me and blame the Germans.
Blaming the Germans has been safe for sixty years. Now that 200,000 of them have cheered Obama like they used to cheer Hitler, I think it’s still good policy.
You don’t say anything;you move your foot under the adjacent stall.
Not my foot, bill.
Not no way; not no how.
Ah, I guess “impeach” can be translated as anklagen. But I almost never remember seeing the verb in that context. I don’t remember a prominent German politicians being impeached, and certainly not thrown out, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been any. German voters are pretty patient. And if things get really bad, then the politician sometimes commits suicide, or waits out the storm
By the way, it needs to be said that schwul is not really a nice term, and certainly not pc. I don’t know that there is any other term that is not in some way demeaning but homosexuell.
Schlangenbeschwörer