Presidential elections ...

are coming up in Austria, and besides the present president the far right-wing Mrs. Barbara Rosenkranz runs for the election. I quote her for this w2m: "Aufgabe des Bundespräsidenten ist es, den Finger in die Wunde zu legen"

Have much fun!

too simple ...

Cilit Bang

somewhere between the b and g, between the big and the g...

Maybe one can spell the alphabet with bangs? Well, A ... too simple, B ... already there, C ... no problem, ... the rest follows by induction ;)

Finally b-day-partey

Salute!
Party on Sat 27th from 20:00 at WerkzeugH .
cu when u get there

BTW: Spritzbeton

Schritt halten

-o-

sick

I'm not well, so I spend some time celebrating my illness, and hence almost no news.

Today I accidentally watched ski jumping and therefore I give a name (no offense meant) as a 'Wort zum Montag', which is also an almost 'hidden imperative':

Ski jumper Andreas Wank (GER)!

Congratulations!

Reality TV

Today I discussed the phenomenon of so called "reality TV" with some of my colleagues. I pointed out that there is an evolution in these series. The whole stuff started with "Big Brother" and derivates like "The Models Flat Share", "Taxi Orange", "I'm prominent, get me out of here", and a whole bunch of shows, where one could watch a whole bunch of people solving some problem, such as living together. Then there are the judges-shows, like "Barbara Salesch", and "Alexander Hold", and some head-hunter and lawyer shows, as well as bailiff and sheriff programs. But it is somewhat awkward to call them "reality" shows, since they had only real material for one season at most. And now very popular are shows, where advisors help people, like social workers, "The Super-Nanny", "Out of Debts" ("Raus aus den Schulden"), and so on.

Why do I talk of this? Well, first there was a show proposed on an Austrian private television channel, ATV, with the title "The Sexperts" ("Die Sexperten"). A first show was produced, but never published. The idea is, that a couple with problems in bed are filmed with infrared, and then advised by sexual therapists how to improve their sex-life.

Upon telling this a colleague said to me: "We call all of these shows social-porn (Sozialporno), since they are like porn: You watch it, while saying to most things 'I wouldn't do IT'. "

(Well, this statement may be not true for everyone, the cast is, e.g., out of the game. 'sides, the word itself is partly a pleonasm, since isn't every sex somewhat social, except masturbation?)

Tuesday already ...

and yesterday I was informed that I have to write the final report on my project till the 22nd of November to apply for the continuation of the project ... why do I have to think about the PhD-comics right now?

Anyway, yestereve I found two words, or better said one phrase and one word, of Monday, although in German: arschknapp (colloquial for hard-pressed, which goes actually pretty good as a pleonastic translation), and the slogan of the Egger beer: Gebraut aus Leidenschaft (brewed out of passion, really too much information!)

Shot in the back ...

was a 14 yo teenager by a cop. The boy broke into a shop one night in August. The expertise now says that the teens (another 17 yo guy was with him) weren't attacking, like the policeman and the policewoman said. The investigation goes under the title "involuntary manslaughter under dangerous conditions". So these two teens are considered very dangerous, armed with a rake and a screwdriver, as they were. Or maybe dangerous because it was dark, and the police didn't turn on the lights. Many facts about this case make many people wonder, I wondered mainly about the severe reactions of so many people. Very many said: "He got what he deserved.", even the most spread Austrian newspaper told so. I don't think that any mere thief deserves the death penalty.

Only one circumstance made me rather angry, and that was that the two police officers were allowed to arrange their testimony. I think that was a very bad idea and it doesn't speak for the "very professional training" the police gets "to deal with such situations".

Ha, this time really on Monday!

Ok, so I am back in Vienna ... for three days ... well, I'll be back on Friday night - some parties to attend...

Anyway, on the trip to Podersdorf last weekend (I got there from Graz), one w2m turned up, which many colleagues know for quite some time: Dreiervorschlag (proposition of three...). One definitely should use such propositions, may they be regular, irregular, or propositions for four, more frequently! Have much fun sitting in commissions, where these proposals for new professors are assembled, thinking about the suggestions! ;)

Kreisverkehr

(roundabout in British English) 4 U. & me.

Erfurt was great fun, we were gambling a lot (only once for money). And even the trip back over Dresden had some surprises :). Anyway, I am back in Vienna since 6.30 and off to the ÖMG/DMV meeting in Graz at 17:03.

Sommerloch

I got this w2m while thinking about Austrian politics. Anyway, the Italian railway sucks, but at least I'm back in Vienna to be on my way to Erfurt (vacation uh yeah!).

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 ...

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 ?)

I like Chemistry, sometimes ...

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