I don't like either Cat Power or Neko Case, and it's nice not having to remember which is which.

[sanspoof]

Well, it looks like you guys think I should take german. Have you no respect for my boring boring first half of the semester?? I'll be all 'I had tea with soymilk and boiled eggs for breakfast, GOD, I don't know what YOU guys had,' while the rest of the class is struggling to remember what 'pancakes' are in german (because, see, my greatest

Comments

[swinehund]

The cone is either kugel or that is the scoop. I never got that quite straight, I was just like 'ja, einzel waldmesiter eis bitte' and they're like 'stupid tourist'.

I'm saying, I would not think you're an asshole, but take that where it's coming from.

I just looked it up, Kugel is 'ball' so that must be the scoop. Ice cream cone is 'Eistüte' which is like a bag, so that makes no sense. I totally learned all the food words too, but that's okay because eating is important. We had to read an awful lot of labels with the vegetarianism. It was better once I didn't have to avoid buying things that had yeast in them.

[sanspoof]

Yeah, I knew Kugel, but oh! Now I remember, last time I wanted to get ice cream I wanted it in a cup, for my mom, and I was all, it can't be Tasse, what IS it? And I don't remember now.
An amusing thing is that my family says 'einmal [thing]' when ordering food, and I've had a teacher even go 'huh? That can't be right!' It may be regional, but I swear I, with my half-assed accent and all, get treated as if I can speak the language approximately as well as whomever I'm speaking to when I use it. Like, in this endless ice cream anecdote, I asked for my own einmal banane eis, bitte, first, and the dude went off to get it and the other guy at the counter made some wisecrack to me I had no hope of following. It was sort of flattering, but it's also a little sad that I had to disillusion the poor guy. No, sorry, I'm actually quite lame, sir!

[swinehund]

I got that treatment fairly often. I think it's part of the German sense of humour. Sometimes I would break down and throw in a desparate english word here or there, only to have them continue speaking German to me as if I hadn't missed a beat. Totally unlike Paris. In that sense, it's a much better country for immersion, as the locals will actually allow you to practice with them.

Also, people kept asking us if we were from London once they noticed how bad our German was. Never the US, never Canada. However, more random Germans seem to know Ontario geography than random Americans.

[swinehund]

Oh, and the einmal (zweimal etc.) thing sounds right to me. Where are they from? We were mostly in Koeln, but I swear I heard that in Frankfurt too.

[urbeatle]

Don't blame me, I voted for french.

No, wait, I saw the poll, thought "I should vote for french," then forgot.

[sanspoof]

THE NUMBERS ARE RUINED

[wasta]

The Chinese are going to rule us in about 10 years, so you may want to learn Mandrin so they don't just put you in a work camp with the rest of us.

PS: _I_ don't like Cat Power, but I _do_ like Neko Case. One is some fucked up chick with a guitar the other is a fine Country & Western singer.

[sanspoof]

I would like to learn Mandarin, believe me. I wish I'd been raised by some kind of insane multicultural collective so that I could be a native speaker of any number of languages.

My Big Mouth Barbara avatar is getting a lot of exercise of late.