25 August 2009

versteckter Imperativ/hidden imperative

The weekly newspaper 'Falter' is a hidden imperative in German for 'you, fold', translated approximately. And since it is Monday, I wondered if the word today could be a hidden imperative. This is a word, which has a hidden command in it. In German that is rather easy, due to the many compound nouns. There are quite some forums around with such words (see, e.g., here). However, I wondered if there are such words around in English, since I want all those many regular readers and all the people in the world to understand my blog! (Thank you, Boris!) *g*

I was surprised, that many of the direct translations work:
Korkenzieher - corkscrew, is an example with a similar meaning.
Fallobst - windfall, hey, maybe the fruits or the wind obeys, who knows?
Denkweise - mindset or mindset, in German wishful thinking, in English giving a command to the mind or a (often used?) mathematical command. I like the fact, that this is a twofold hidden imperative :) .

Well, these were pretty normal examples. It is funnier, when you command somebody with it:
Eilbote - express, yeah, i guess my ex should press some things sometimes.
Waschweib - fishwife, I really like this translation, I learned a new English word :) .

And then there are some words which cannot be translated, like:
Fliehkraft - schon wieder Physik! (Physics once again!)
Steckrübe - | hehehe ...
and of course the webpage from my last entry ...

21 August 2009

What you need, when you need it

I like this advertising slogan from the page
In German it is even funnier ;) !

18 August 2009

Well, it is Tuesday already.

So I will give some of the old "Wörter zum Montag". I recognized, that it is almost impossible to translate them to English. Of course there some English words around, like 'cocktail' or the mineral 'commingtonite' from last week. You probably don't know what a pleonasm is, so let me cite the "Oxford English Dictionary" (hey - they put all the stuff online, you know ?):

pleonasm

/pleeonaz’m/

noun the use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning (e.g. see with one’s eyes).

— DERIVATIVES pleonastic adjective.

— ORIGIN Greek pleonasmos, from pleonazein ‘be superfluous’.

So actually I am kind of surprised now, since we are back to physics, once again, with superfluidity. Anyway, I am sidetracking. Other pleonasms are 'round circle', 'aged old man', or 'white milk'. And 'cocktail', as a pleonasm, clearly qualifies as a "word to Monday". As do the German words 'Wurstzipfel' and 'Rohrspatz' (or 'Dreckspatz', if you like it a little dirty ... but unfortunately only for catholics it is a pleonasm). Actually, 'Wurstzipfel' may be understood as the pleonastic translation of 'cocktail'. (Gee - "pleonastic translation" - another term I invented ?)


14 August 2009

I like Chemistry, sometimes ...

So solid state physics can also be something else than boring: cummingtonite (thanks to Andis and FLO).

12 August 2009

Some times I wonder:

Who makes the names of products ? This piece of art below I found last year, when visiting good friends in Erfurt ( P&W c u soon :) ):

Well, I guess you have to know the German pronunciation and meaning of
"Muh-Muh", handmade, cut and wrapped ...

11 August 2009

Some old pictures ...

Here are some old and new pictures of ... hmmm ... well, let's say "somewhat ambiguous" or funny content, just to try out the possibilities of this blog ;)

"Vienna district journal, 23 times straight in" ... i bet so ...

I always knew I liked Castrol ....

And here a rather expensive soft-drink machine ...

So as you (and I) can now see, putting pictures online works fine. Of course I could have guessed so, after all I'm following Boris blog.

In the beginning was the word.

And the word was with me. Just to make a notion about the name of my blog: in a wide-spread Austrian newspaper there is on Sundays always a "Wort zum Sonntag", which translates as "Word to Sunday", by a catholic bishop. Since I think that "language is just a tool to confuse" (© by myself till proofed otherwise), I want to promote this idea. And one excellent method is to give every monday a phrase, word, or picture which shows this idea (one of many good ideas given birth in Johnny's, also c.f. to be updated). So the blog is actually called "Word to Monday".

So here I am, joining up to the youthful blogging part of the society. Postings will be irregularly and not always on Mondays, but life teaches you always to expect the unexpected ... yes, I studies physics, thanks for asking. Further I will also post in German, so be my guest to learn some German, oder auch Englisch, while reading "Wort zum Montag". Of course monday is also everyones favorite working day! ;)