Komische Leute & wie man an Geld kommt

[latin_doll]

Heute bei H&M: ich versuche dezent, die Länge von irgendwelchen billigen Hosen einzuschätzen. Auf einmal kommt ein Jungmann (Typ "asymmetrische Haarfrisur und Trainingsjacke, besitzt bestimmt mindestens eine CD von Tocotronic") mit Entscheidungsfindungsproblemen angesurft. Ich nehme meine Kopfhörer raus; manchmal sagen andere Leute ja interessante

Comments

[amazon_syren]

So... If you wear your headphones you can avoid being talked to by random strangers who ask you really stupid questions? :-)

Also: What does 'doch' mean? I got 'this is not a relevant category' (yay looks-like-English), but I don't know that word. :-)

Hey, random (yet technically related by the random-strangers bit): Do you ever get random strangers coming up to you and asking you about your height, and basically treating you like some sort of Friendly Theme Park Mascot (from the Land of Giants, apparently)? 'Cause that happens to me all the damn time. And not little kids. Actual adults (usually very short women) do this to me regularly. Some of them say things like "We should take a picture of us together!" <*quizical look*> When did I turn into Whinnie the Pooh? O.o

Also: Vampirism for charity? Or is the blood-donation thing that I think I caught (yay Babelfish!) something to do with your university? (Physchologie-Abteilungen?)
Um.

Re: Test Subjects vs Victims: Yes! :-) That much is very true. :-)

[latin_doll]

So... If you wear your headphones you can avoid being talked to by random strangers who ask you really stupid questions? :-)

I don't really know how many people have chosen not to talk to me on account of my wearing headphones, but when approached by someone I take them off, in the hope they turn out to be interesting.

doch: in that sentence, roughly 'but'. It can also be 'too', when saying things like, 'it's not! - it is, too!'.

Hey, random (yet technically related by the random-strangers bit): Do you ever get random strangers coming up to you and asking you about your height, and basically treating you like some sort of Friendly Theme Park Mascot (from the Land of Giants, apparently)?

Can't say that ever happened to me. Maybe it's cause you're still somewhat taller than me (on last measurement, I was 183 cm, but I measured that with a 30 cm ruler. I may be totally off). People I already know sometimes remark on my height, but well, they're allowed to.

Also: Vampirism for charity? Or is the blood-donation thing that I think I

[amazon_syren]

"Es ist nicht! - Es ist, doch!" Like that?

Re: Vampirism for Money: Hee! :-D <*giggles*>

Re: Height: With me it's mostly strangers (or repeat customers, but that still counts as 'strangers' in my books). People I know are used to it enough that they tend to stop noticing it. (Wierd? Maybe... But then I forget how short some people are -- right up until I see a reflection, or something, showing us standing together -- and then it all comes back. ;-)

[latin_doll]

More like "Ist es nicht!" - "Ist es doch!" I'm not going to try to explain that. It's a German thing.

[amazon_syren]

It's a sentence structure thing.
My friend, Glen, in first year? He took Spanish for his language credit and he was doing a written assignment and said "I'm writing in Spanish. By which I mean: I'm writing in English but using Spanish words."

Same sort of idea, yes?

Ist es nicht! = German
Es ist nicht! = English using German words.

Yes? :-)

(It's kinda funny. I babelfished some random English of mine -- some reply or other -- into German. I suspect that part of why I found it easier to follow was because I already knew what it said (duh), but the sentence structure made more sence to me, too. I could guess which words coresponded to what (sometimes) because they were in the "right" (from an Anglo perspective, at any rate) place in relation to the little tiny words that I did know). :-)

[latin_doll]

Y'know, Amazon, I *did* notice it was English grammar with German words :D

The thing is, while "Es ist" should be correct, sentence-structure-wise (verb in second place), it isn't, since 'ist' (is) demands an object (unless 'to be' is used in the sense of 'to exist', but by then we're getting philosophical). Switch 'em 'round and you've got a sentence fragment to answer things with.

[amazon_syren]

Oh, gods... Pardon me whilst I hide my face in shame... Sorry about that. <*headdesk*>

Re: Es ist: Really? That's... something I have never, ever thought about, actually.
That to say 'it is' is pretty much like saying 'I am' (therefore I think?). Nifty. :-)

So, to make sure I've got this vaguely right (or, more likely, to confirm I've got it wrong, so you can explain it again): To say 'es ist' basically promts the response "Yeah...? It is what?"
Maybe? :-\

Also, since I've got you here (mwahahahaha): Why does 'you' translate as both 'du' and 'sie'? Is it like 'thou' vs 'you' in English? (Tu/Vous in French)? As in 'du' is singular/specific/casual and 'sie' is plural/general/formal? Or is it something else?

'Cause... "Du bist bei mir" vs "Wie Gehen[1] sie?"... I don't what the difference in the 'you' is, other than, well, spelling. Geh?

[1]Did I spell that wrong? Almost undoubtedly.

[latin_doll]

To say 'es ist' basically promts the response "Yeah...? It is what?"

Yes :D

Also, since I've got you here (mwahahahaha): Why does 'you' translate as both 'du' and 'sie'? Is it like 'thou' vs 'you' in English? (Tu/Vous in French)?

It's a bit like thou/you, only I had the impression that thou is only used when one is either Shakespeare or praying or being pretentious. It's better to compare du/Sie to tu/vous in terms of usage, however there's one important difference.

Uh. 'Du' is second person singular, right? 'Vous' would be second person plural in French and be translated to 'you' in English and 'ihr' in German. 'Sie' is actually third person plural (they / ils/elles), only, well, uppercase.

Because that's not complicated enough, you'll find 'ihr' (second person plural) as a formal pronoun in fairytales and historical movies and such :D I don't actually know where the usage of 'Sie' came from.

'Cause... "Du bist bei mir" vs "Wie Gehen[1] sie?"... I don't what the difference in the 'you' is, other than, well, spelling. Geh?I

[amazon_syren]

Re: Yes: Yay! :-D

Re: Wie gehen Sie: I was, in fact <*covers head in shame*>, aiming for "Where are you going/headed?" Gnrk. :-\ ... Wie = How? Wo = Where?

Re: Thou/You: Yes. It's archaic English (which people always get wrong when they're being pretentious. Which rather puts a hole in their credibility... ;-) But it's archaic English that works like French. :-)

So... 'Ihr' shows up sort of like 'thou' -- not the same meaning, but for the same reasons?

"Wie geht es Ihnen" is sort of like saying "Hey! How goes it?" :-) Yes?

Re: verb forms: So... "Sie bisen bei mir"? Er? (How hard are you laughing right now? Really?) :-\

Re: Bed Now: Sleep well, Sunshine. :-D

[latin_doll]

Re: Wie gehen Sie: I was, in fact <*covers head in shame*>, aiming for "Where are you going/headed?" Gnrk. :-\ ... Wie = How? Wo = Where?

Wohin gehen Sie? (there are two possible translations for 'where': 'wo' if you ask for a place - 'where is that?' - and 'wohin' if you ask for a direction)

So... 'Ihr' shows up sort of like 'thou' -- not the same meaning, but for the same reasons?

Uh, not really. It's fairly common in literature that predates, say, 1900, and is used to address the unknown and / or rich.

Re: verb forms: So... "Sie bisen bei mir"? Er? (How hard are you laughing right now? Really?) :-\

Bisen? I dunno. It's not a word.

[amazon_syren]

Re: Bisen: Okay. What does 'bist' become when it's tweaked to work for 'sie' instead of 'du'?

[latin_doll]

Sie sind!

(ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie sind. Easy :D And 'to be', of course, is 'sein')

[amazon_syren]

Ah.

So... how exactly does one get 'bin/bist' from 'sein'?

(Sort of like how does one get 'better/best' from 'good', I suppose... ;-)

I think the English word 'frolic' must have come from 'Fröhlichen' (and, thus, Amazon learns that she can copy-past umlauts...)... and that 'better' and 'best' must have come from the French 'Bien'.

Not that I have much of anythign to base this on, but there you have it. Linguistic ramblings by me. :-) (Surely this has improved your day to *no* end. ;-)

[latin_doll]

So... how exactly does one get 'bin/bist' from 'sein'?

So, Amazon, how exactly does one get 'am/are' from 'to be'? :D

I think the English word 'frolic' must have come from 'Fröhlichen' (and, thus, Amazon learns that she can copy-past umlauts...)... and that 'better' and 'best' must have come from the French 'Bien'.

I didn't know that about 'frolic'!

I think 'better' and 'best' may have germanic roots (they're 'besser' and 'am besten' in German, respectively). 'Bien' has more of a Latin feel to me - I'm not exactly fluent in any Romanic language if one doesn't count my French and I suggest that one doesn't, but there's 'buon giorno' and 'buena notte' in Italian (I think), and Spanish also comes into play at some point.

I dunno :D

[amazon_syren]

So, Amazon, how exactly does one get 'am/are' from 'to be'? :D

Or 'is', for that matter. :-D

I have no idea, so I'm going to blame it English being such a composit mess of other languages. :-)

(I assume, with no proof what so ever, that 'is' came from 'est' in French. But I clearly have no clue. :-)

Re: Frolic: Neither did I. I'm just guessing. :-)

Re: Besser/am besten: Oo! I think you're right! :-D

Bien totally has latin roots, definitely. :-) Buenes Notches (Natches?)? :-)
English is a mix of French and German, mostly, although there's bits and heaps of other stuff in there, too. :-)

There is a joke: English is a language that lurks in alley-ways, clubbing other languages over the head and going through their pockets for spare vocabulary. :-)

Which I think is a very accurate portrayal. :-)