Wow, looks liked I missed an entire CC ... thanks for this shiny new one, at any rate :)

Danke, Gibson! Was eine Erleichterung.. ein frisches Schneckenhaus tut gut :o)

Hello again,

thanks for the "Hochlichter", I somehow missed that Lara is learning Spanish. Have you just started? In this case: Are you searching for someone to learn with you? :D

Next door my boyfriend is singing with his singing group. Every Monday I get my own concert :)

Get well soon for all ill snails and have fun with your niece or nephew Lara.

Thanks for the new premises! I think I missed at least half of the preceding CC:

Siehe auch: Crossover Chat *284*


Sending the white c*** to Wachtelkoenig. *wave* [me1, January 26]

On January 26 I actually returned from a trip to the Andes, where the high peaks in the background had snow on them. The small ponds of a mire once had a thin surface of ice in the morning. Impressive landscape there between 4000 and 5000 m, although party pretty desertlike. Lots of interesting birds at the various lagoons and creeks though, like the diademed sandpiper-plover and other shorebirds, three species of flamingos, and a bunch of Andean condors. And small herds of vicuñas all over the place.

Thanks for the new home, Gibson.

You had some interesting topics on the last days of CC 284, but I was too busy to 6g/ handle me in \6g. Wednesday evening I will (hopefully) arrive in Nairobi. If the Internet is ok, I will at least say hello :-)

too busy for correcturitos, althought there were quite a few in the last dozen or so postings of CC 284.

Thanks, Gibson, for the new house!

Sorry, hm, I didn't know you couldn't open links to Spiegel online articles. Is that generally so?
The article is about new research findings on viruses and that they might be at least partly responsible for many more illnesses than was known so far, for example slipped disks, obesity, schizophrenia and depression, arthritis and others.

'türchen für mich selbst: CC 284 was graced...
...absence of
(why don't I ever see this when I proofread?)

Lara, you're not supposed to fill this thread... then it'll be slow again soon. It was just for looking at.

You can do a Wolfman, harambee ;)

Thank you Gibson for the new house!
Speaking of ironing and watching movies - I can offer a few movies if you are willing to do my ironing?
Edith: quick question for Hm-: did you ever buy an ereader or did you decide in the end to go the "conservative" route: printed book and PC? (If you don't mind sharing)

Great, completely non-pathetic new thread, Gibson, thank you very much!

Thanks, hm--us, much better in fact. Went to work today, no problem there except a bit of coughing every now and again (and that I overslept today, but it's hardly the cold's fault if I am too stupid to set my alarm-clock right).

Great news, Lara! All the best to your sister, you and your family.

Thanks for the new house, Gibson.

What do you think, snails, does #7 mean that Gibson wants to be the one who's building CC286 too ? ;-)

@ hm's remark that translations of the intermission interviews would be good: I don't think so. I myself am absolutely happy that they are not translated. It's always interesting to have the chance of hearing the folks you usually only hear singing once speaking too. And whenever there are interviews with translations they're translated so bad that it really isn't very helpful. I know that also from live conversations with singers. I think the problem is that the translators are not familiar with the subject (one really thinks it should be the least thing to expect, that someone who translates an interview with an singer knows at least basics about opera), so they often do not find the correct words to translate.

@ Emil:
Not everything that sounds Italian is opera - sometimes it's just soup opera ...

Hallo! Sehr schön, Gibson. Danke.

Wenn wir von Jools Job sprechen, sollten wir den vielleicht unter Tieflichter einordnen.

@Carullus: Ich weiß nicht, ob die Regel in Kraft tritt, wenn man selbst korrigiert. Vielleicht sollte die Frage von der Schneckengemeinschaft aufgegriffen werden.

Re #10: Ich bin immer enttäuscht, dass allles immer ausgeblendet und übersetzt wird, wenn jemand in einer Fremdsprache spricht. Manchmal würde ich so gerne versuchen etwas mitzubekommen. Ich meine generell, denn ich höre keine Opersendungen.

@Goldammer: for example slipped disks, obesity, schizophrenia and depression, arthritis and others. Na "slipped disks" finde ich echt überraschend.

@Dixie: Ich möchte einen Film anschauen, leider bin ich aber momentan besonders beschäftigt. Allerdings geht es mir viel besser als der neuen Spanischlehrerin. Sie scheint momentan total überfordert. Zum Glück konnte ich ihr behilflich sein und für sie einige Lehrbücher bestellen.

Als Lektüre habe ich gerade Jane genommen. "What if Jane Eyre fell in love with a rock star?" Da ich Jane Eyre mag, konnte ich das Buch nicht widerstehen. Nachdem ich es gelesen habe, kommt es auf das Regal in der Klasse, und meine Schüler dürfen es lesen. Auch auf der Bücherstapel sind Chain Reaction und My Antonía. Letzteres habe ich mal angefangen und dann mit dem Lesen aufgehört.

Meiner Meinung nach unterliegt #7 der CC-OP-Korrektur-Regel nicht. Sich selbst verbessern sollte man immer dürfen, ohne Drohung einer "Strafe" :o)

Ich bin gespannt, was du uns so von "Jane" berichten wirst, Amy. Das Buch habe ich auch schon angeguckt, aber noch nicht gekauft.

*ganz schnell reinschau*

Vielen Dank, Gibson, für das schöne, neue Haus.

Morgen beginnen die Ende-des-Semesters-Examen an meiner/unsrer/der Schule. :-)

Wow, a new thread already. Thank you Gibson. :)

I am really interested in what would happen if Jane Eyre fell in love with a rock star.
Did you know that there are also horror/zombie re-writes of Jane Eyre and other novels?
Unfortunately I haven't had the time yet to read one. But they sounded funny. :)

small correction: Ich konnte dem Buch nicht widerstehen.

The Siberian cold named "Cooper" has now arrived and it's almost -10degrees today during the day. BUT I love it, because it's such a very very dry cold and the sky is crystal clear and blue which means sun sun sun. :)

I have a question for the English speakers here. I was asked to have a look at hubby's nephew's English homework. I do this occasionally and at the moment he's sending me short essays or statement about environmental topics. Over and over again it feels odd to me when he writes about "plastic rubbish", "nucelar rubbish", because he apparently learned in school that "rubbish" is "Muell", hence "Plastikmuell", "Atommuell" etc...
I was now wondering, if someone could enlighten me what the exact difference between "waste" and "rubbish" is. "Rubbish" for me is only what accumulates in the kitchen, innit? (or what some people talk)

Thanks for the comfy new shell.

Wow, the threads now open so quick and the keys need not to be hitted twice. In other words: I have a new computer.

Oh, and my niece is just 15 month old.

re. #10 & #11: I'm with Sachs and Amy; I really wish any kind of interview were subtitled, not dubbed. Even if it's in a language I don't know at all, I would like to hear intonation and emphasis and simply the speaker's voice. I find it very annoying.

@Sachs: I propose a new rule: The first person to be mean to the thread-maker has to make the next one. Ha!

@Jools: [as our natives have kept quiet so far]: 'plastic rubbish' is pretty standard in my experience, but I would say 'nuclear waste'. 'rubbish' sounds odd to me in that context.

@Dixie: That would have to be an amazingly good film, though, to make me do other people's ironing. I'm actually waiting for them to invent Virtual Reality Body Suits, so I can, say, explore the Amazon in my head and the suit translates my swish-swoosh motion into rowing a boat. Or something. I'm not entirely clear on the details.

The difference for me is that waste is an unwanted by-product of some process/event. So plastic trash would be more along the lines of recyclables, whereas plastic waste would be whatever is thrown away after the plastic manufacturing process, or plastic that is unwanted or unrecyclabe.

Ich musste gestern Spanisch ausfallen lassen. Ich leide seit ein paar Tagen unter eine Allergie -- anscheinend gegen Leinsamen -- und meine Augen und die Haut um meine Augen herum sind irritiert und geschwollen. Das Lesen ist mittlerweile echt anstrengend und nach einem Arbetstag, kann ich einfach nicht mehr und ich musste gestern Abend meine Augen ruhen lassen. Keine Sorge, aber! Meine Ärztin hat das jetzt unter Kontrolle und ich muss einfach aufhören, die neue leckere Erdnussbutter mit Leinsamen zu essen :o(

@ Gibson:

I'm really sad to hear that this will be our last thread. Because nice as we all are to each other I'm afraid there won't be anyone for the next one to build ...;-)

Subtitles are a bit difficult on radio, I'm afraid. Nevertheless it's annoying to hear some German speaker instead of the person one would like to hear. Shouldn't it be technically possible, in times of stereo, dolby digital etc., to give the choice to the listener whether they'd prefer to hear the original language and voice or a translation?

Good through-sight (6g) soon again, Lara.

Shouldn't it be technically possible, in times of stereo, dolby digital etc., to give the choice to the listener whether they'd prefer to hear the original language and voice or a translation?

It is, Sachs, it is. You may have a look on the remote of your TV. If there's a symbol similar like this: http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:SPDT-Switch.svg&filetimestamp=20... you can switch between the two languages - if only the broadcasters would provide it.

Mit unserem Digitalreceiver in Deutschland könnten wir zwischen 2 Sprachen wählen. Ging aber meistens nur bei der Spezialkabelsendern, zum Beispiel North American Sports Network während Live-Übertragungen von Footballspiele. Ab und zu könnte man die Sendungen auf DMAX im O-Ton gucken (Der gefährlichste Job Alaskas, z.B.). Die Option gefällt mir, keine Ahnung wieso es nicht weiter verbreitet ist.

Yes, I remember this function, too. There were a few broadcasts, mainly on third programs, where you could switch between "normal" audio and an "enhanced" audio for blind, as it were, viewers, describing what was happening on screen, too. And Arte, a French-German TV station, used to have this on some of their program so that you could switch between German and French. Don't know if they still have this, haven't watched Arte for a while.

Natürlich wäre es im Idealfall besser, die Wahl zwischen zwei Sprachen zu haben, aber im Radio und für den Durchschnittszuhörer, wäre es nicht wenigstens besser, das Interview überhaupt mitzubekommen, als es durch Hintergrundmusik zu ersetzen? Und wenn ersteres Übersetzen bedeutet, ist es nicht tragisch -- obwohl ich zustimme, dass die Übersetzer eine Ahnung vom Thema, auch und gerade Oper, haben sollten.

Für mich klingt 'waste' in beiden Fällen besser, obwohl 'plastic trash' umgangssprachlich auch geht.

Glückwunsch zum neuen Computer, bluesky. Jetzt brauchst du nur ein paar babyfreundliche Apps für die kleine Nichte.

Goldammer, den Link könnte ich wahrscheinlich öffnen, wenn ich wollte, aber zuerst wüsste ich gerne, was drin steht und warum du es empfiehlst. Für mich ist das Zweck, einen Link mitzuteilen, hier darüber sprechen zu können; daher ist es interessant zu wissen, warum du es interessant gefunden hast und was du davon hältst. So stelle ich mir Gespräche vor -- man versucht, auf die Kommentare von anderen einzugehen, daran anzuknüpfen (?), den Ball zurückzuwerfen.

Danke auf jeden Fall für die Erklärung. Jetzt bin ich genauso wie Lara überrascht, dass Viren einen Bandscheibenschaden im Rücken verursachen könnten. Die andere Frage, die mir einfällt, ist ob oder wie die Viren selbst wohl auf genetischen Stoff wie DNA (ein?)wirken.

Dixie, ich nicht, aber meine Mutter schon, den Kindle Touch. Bisher ist sie weitgehend zufrieden, auch wenn es nicht ganz wie ein echtes Buch ist.

Jepito, was denn für Musik singt dein Freund mit seiner Gruppe? A cappella etwa?

Hoffentlich ist harambee gut in Kenya angekommen.

Schön, dass Wachtelkönig eine gute Reise in die Anden hatte. Mit Schnee und allem.

Die sibirische Kaltfront hat einen Namen, und zwar 'Cooper'? Fas-zi-nie-rend ...

@Sachs zu 'soup opera': *groan* Der war gut. (-:

Sorry, I didn't realise that you were takling about radio interviews (should have checked the old thread). That would indeed make subtitles a bit tricky. But still: maybe the dj could give a short summary every two or three sentences? Or am I mistunderstanding the situation again? I really do like to hear original voices - although not so much with regard to feature films, then I tend to find subtitles distracting. I'm sure it's simply a question of what you're used to, the Dutch manage just fine, after all, but my non-English films I prefer dubbed.

It's minus 9 degrees!! I thought spring had sprung (or was about to spring at least, it had been so mild lately). Although, admittedly, it was a beautiful day, blue skies, air like freshly washed, frost glistening on the grass... but I had to wear everything I own.

Ok, hm, accepted. At that moment, I simply didn't have the thought in mind "how do I enhance a conversation in the CC", I was just sharing this link with some friends.

Yes, the slippy disks surprised me most, too.
Obviously, the mechanism works like that: In childhood the disks are supplied with blood (but not later in life), and that's when they are infected with the viruses. When some kind of stress in later life causes minimal damage in the disks, that's when the so far "sleeping" viruses hit and cause the disks to slip.

Minus 8 degrees here. When I complained about the cold to my sister yesterday, she said: the positive thing is that some of the countless slugs that massed in our gardens last summer might die. I fully agree.

@ The people who took up the plastic waste question: Jools originally asked whether "plastic rubbish was ok, and you answered with "plastic trash.
My question now: is rubbish and trash interchangeable, or is it AE / BE or what?

@bluesky
Congrats on your new computer!

(Someone - not hm this time - had an umlaut spelling mistake, but I can't find it any more....)

Good morning, dear snails!

Thank you for the new house, Gibson! I missed the last one completely...

The sun is shining but it's freezing... 18° below zero here! So please don't complain about -8 or 9... ;-)

Sorry, Goldammer. "Rubbish" ist nicht in meinem aktiven Wortschatz. Das Wort stufe ich als 100%-ig britisch ein. Ich dachte, "rubbish" und "trash" sind Synonymen.

That would indeed make subtitles a bit tricky. *gg*

-18 C = 0 F = kalt, aber ob das die Nacktschnecken tötet, weiß ich nicht. Sind sie besonders empfindlich gegen Kälte? Hier in Michigan ist dieser Winter ziemlich warm und wir haben viel weniger Schnee als im letzten Jahr. Ich hätte nichts gegen etwas mehr Schnee.

@Goldammer: slippyed disks

rubbish ist eher BE, trash/garbage sagen wir AEler

rubbish ist aber BE2 auf der Skala: BE1 = wir sagen das nicht und nur AEler mit BE-Kenntnissen verstehen es (boot = trunk of the car, spanner = wrench); BE2 = das Wort ist nicht besonders geläufig, aber die meisten AEler würden das verstehen.

Korrekturito für Gibson: air as if freshly washed, sonst stellt sich die Frage: like freshly washed what? Sheets? Dishes?

@Jools: "Rubbish" for me is only what accumulates in the kitchen, innit? (or what some people talk) *gg* Und das heißt "trash talking" auf AE. A foul was called on the center for trash talking. Wenn man aber Misgefallen ausdrücken will, geht nur "Rubbish!" Man kann nicht "Trash!" sagen. (In den US würde "rubbish" ziemlich gehoben klingen.)

*dragonfly wink* Ob Libellen die Kälte ertragen können?

*Wolldecken im CC aufstapel*

I agree that "rubbish" is a very british expression. But since in most European schools kids are taught BE, "rubbish" for "Muell" is ok. (Although I regularly remind this nephew not to mix AE and BE in his school papers, when he begins a paragraph talking about "pupils" and then switches to "students" in the the next sentence, because he doesn't want to repeat "pupil", because he learned that repetition is bad style.)

I was actually wondering if there is something like "plastic rubbish/trash", or if one could actually use this when talking about the threat plastic poses to the environment, because there is now "clean" way to get rid of it, or transform it into something environmently friendly.
As with nucelar waste, I would use the term "plastic waste" in this context.

Because plastic rubbish for me is either what I put into the yellow binbag here in DE, or something useless and cheap made of plastic (like a toy I would find on a Chinese fake market) - not to be confused with a plastic rubber ;) *speaking of AE/BE differences*

I think "waste" is fine in this context¹. In some instances it's hard to imagine another word being used ("Industrial rubbish" or "nuclear garbage" sound distinctly strange to my ear, e.g.)

But since in most European schools kids are taught BE ...

Aren't they given a choice? I know I chose AE at some point in school.

¹ Both the UN and the EU define waste as an "object or substance the holder disposes off, intents to dispose of or is required to dispose of".

@Jools: Meiner Meinung nach klingt "environmental threat posed by plastic waste" richtig, aber man könnte auch einfach "plastic/plastics" sagen.

Oh, Laras Beitrag hatte ich nicht gelesen, da ich so lange mit dem Tippen gebraucht habe.

*F5* Inzwischen ist Emil....äh...Carullus auch da. Tippfehler: intends to...

Thanks Carullus and Amy. I agee, garbage would be another word which would sound odd to me as well in this context.

Aren't they given a choice? I know I chose AE at some point in school.
Really? I couldn't choose. For me it was BE all the way. Only from grade 9 or 10 on we were told that some expressions in AE are different and depending on the context the vocabulary lists were in dual language, i.e. BE and AE. Then in 11th grade some kids went to the US for a year and upon their return they were allowed to use AE. The rest of us had to deal with the "dual language" situation. In exams and essays however we were only allowed to use either BE or AE. Whatever we chose first, we had to stick to, which makes sense in a way - or it did when I was still in school.

Maybe today the fine line is even more blurred and maybe some pupils/students don't realize anymore when they're using a particular British or American expression, such as rubbish or student.

(I was also taught that BE is the proper language, something which was always a welcome topic for friendly bickering between the English and American teachers I taught with in Shanghai ;) )

Late, but ... yes, you got it right this time, Gibson ;-)

Just checked the temperature: - 12 °C. It was - 13 this morning but it seems to go deeper tonight - brrrr!

Back to the tune in different languages on TV: I'm aware of that. NatGeo, History Channel and NatGeo Wild are always available in both language and my standard setting for those is already English. Movies or series unfortunately are not very often in English too. What reminds me: Did anyone watch the new Wallander films in English? I didn't watch the first films they made of these books since I didn't like the actor of Wallander (didn't meet the expectation I had from the book). The actor in the new films seems to be more likeable, but after watching the first film for about 20 minutes in German I had to turn off. Parts of the texts were spoken as if you would give the book to a group of people who hardly can read the words. It sounded so faked that every amateur actor could do it better. I wonder now if the English version is spoken so badly too, but it was not available here. Does anyone know?

Sachs, I'd be surprised if there was an English version. According to Wiki,

Mankells Wallander ist eine Kriminalserie, die in schwedisch-deutscher Co-Produktion entsteht und überwiegend in Ystad (Südschweden) spielt.

These things are not usually dubbed; they either get subtitles and are shown in very arty cinemas (but this is not even a cinema production, is it?) or, if they are very successful, like the Stig Larssons, they get redone completely. But in this case, I don't think they're even known much outside Germany/Scandinavia.

Oder meintest du etwa die britische Serie von vor ein paar Jahren, mit Kenneth Branagh? Das hat mich auch nicht gerade umgehauen, aber ich hatte den Eindruck, es war absichtlich kalt, sowohl klimatisch als auch gefühlsmäßig. Stereotypisch skandinavisch halt.

Von den Büchern hatte ich aber davor in der Tat nie gehört, und würde sie jetzt nicht unbedingt lesen wollen. (wouldn't exactly rush out and buy one)

Amy will Nachtschnecken töten? Vielleicht ist es deswegen abends hier so still ...

Really? I couldn't choose. For me it was BE all the way.

Well, perhaps "choice" is too strong a word. Let me put it this way: proper AE can't be considered wrong, and even though our teachers taught mainly BE they only insisted that we didn't mix the variants too freely (fair enough). This was all before the internet, of course (really dating myself here, aren't I?), but even than AE was much more significant to me, what with TV series and movies and books (and comics) and so forth.

hm, as snails we should be safe, shouldn't we? (Am I glad that English has two words, phew. *SchweißvonderStirnwisch*)

Carullus, I'm not sure I was too aware of which films were British and which were American or Australian or whatever as a teenager (apart from Dallas, of course). I don't mean that I couldn't have worked it out if there'd been a reward, there were clues enough, I guess, but it just didn't matter. Everything was dubbed anyway, DVDs with multiple languages not even dreamed of... did TV really influence your vocab/accent? How? Same with books - it was only after I'd finished school that I voluntarily tackled books in English.

Everything was dubbed anyway ...

I never watched much regular TV (still don't: these days I don't even own a TV set), but when I did I often saw shows with "two channel sound" (Zweikanalton) that allowed you to switch to the OV. Quite a number of American sitcoms were broadcast that way. (Golden Girls, Married with Children, Trapper John, M.D., Nurses and Mad About You are the ones I remember off the top of my head. I'm sure there were others.)

The same is true for movies, even though you had to make a bit of an effort back then, going to one of the smaller cinemas instead of the local multiplex. There also was an English-language video rental store in Vienna. It had to close a few years back, being driven out of business by DVDs where multiple languages are a native feature.

Then there was Blue Danube Radio, with a large staff of Americans (also a few Brits and Aussies, of course).

it was only after I'd finished school that I voluntarily tackled books in English.

I was (am) a voracious reader. I started with comics, then the usual children's / YA literature, also some crime novels and things like that. My father had the NYT and the WSJ at the office and he often brought that home, too.

He was strongly in favor of BE, though, so perhaps it was all just an act of rebellion :)

He, gibt es hier eine *nachschlag* Sause?

He was strongly in favor of BE, though, so perhaps it was all just an act of rebellion :)

Carullus, unser Rebell. *gg*

Sause? Wie veraltend ist denn das? Nie zuvor gehört. Das AE Gegenstück wingding ist aber schön. *fett grins*

Thank you for the new home, Gibson ...

Italian or not, I could do with a hot soup opus these days, Sachs.
Here's a little piece of heart-warming frost pride: -16 °C.
(dragonfly has the advantage of altitude)

Ob Libellen die Kälte ertragen können?
Some species hibernate as adults, the winter damselfly, for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympecma_fusca

Gibt es nicht irgendwo einen Faden für tolle Tippfehler? Gerade auf einer deutschen Website gesehen: Pondon. *gg* So spricht man es aus, ge?

Diese sibirischen Minusgrade klingen so schrecklich, aber sind sie es wirklich? Vielleicht entpuppen sie sich in F als nicht mal unter 20. Ich hätte gerne eine Tabelle. Hier haben wir auf jeden Fall immer noch um die 70.

Und befindet sich Emil eigentlich höher oder tiefer als dragonfly? Ist es bei Kälte eher von Vorteil, in den Alpen zu sein oder im flachen Norden näher an Sibirien?

@hm-us: Tonight we're expecting -19degrees C which is, according to this website -2.2degrees Fahrenheit.

Today's tempearture was not too cold actually. Roughly -10 (14F) and it snowed quite a bit - even with the sun shining! (I took pictures, because it was too weird to be true). Actually this cold is not too bad, because it's very sunny and generally very very dry, so you can dress warm to keep warm.
The last time I was in Berlin when it was also -18C at night it was grey and wet, which made it feel much much worse.

Here, at dusk a quarter past eight, there are still 28.7°C (83.6°F) on the balcony. Nothing interesting to report.

*Wachtelkönig wink* Balkonwetter. Wie schön. Aber it is 28.7, nicht there are.

@hm: Auch wer den Winter kennt, findet 0 Grad F kalt. Wir haben selten 0 Grad F hier in Michigan. In Iowa kommt das schon vor, aber es ist trotzdem kalt.

Good evening, Amy-MiMi. Thanks for the correcturito. I think in Ontario we had once zero degrees Fahrenheit. Still comfortably warm in my premises, 28.6°C.

I can offer 17 C - at 5 pm. I just went for a coffee and was wearing too many layers (as it was cold in the morning).
On other news I just found a notice from my landlord/apartment manager that from Jan 2012 one is legally not anymore allowed to smoke in one's own apartment.
I don't smoke and people don't smoke in my place, I still find it an odd law. If the State of California is so concerned about my health then they should ban cigarettes, end of story. But restricting me to smoke in my rented premises I find odd.

Edith wonders if Lara would share where she gets her peanut butter with flax seeds (or the brand). It sounds rather delicious but I've never seen it.

Dixie, Is that just for your area/city? That's a new one to me that you can't smoke in your apartment in CA.

Landlords in California have the right to ban smoking in appartment buildings according to a new law that took effect January 1, 2012:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2011/09/smoking-in-apartment...

Smoking in appartment buildings was already prohibited in certain CA municipalities prior to that, pursuant to local ordinances. For an example, see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/world/americas/27iht-smoking.1.19706667.html

I know that landlords can prohibit it. I re-read the paper - and it is actually the city. Basically it says: We want smokers to leave the city ... Fine with me. Still odd.

Hello,

that smoking law is strange. I think when they earn so much money with the taxes on cigarettes they should leave it to the smokers to do it whereever they want (when they are not endangerousing non-smokers). I mean, my boyfriend (yes hm - its acapella) smells it now in our flat that the people living there before were really hard smokers - after paperhanging, painting and living there for over one year with no "new" smoke in the rooms. But I pity the smokers. They have decided to ruin their health, so why don't we let them do this?

Very short hello from Nairobi to all of you. Temperature at tzhe moment around 29 degrees centigrade, but it will probably go up thirty later this day. I had two nice and busy days so far. Will go for breakfast now. Have a good time!

Hmmm ... danke Euch. War nicht auf dem laufenden. Habe lange Zeit in LA gelebt. Die Kalifornier spinnen da zum Teil in der Hinsicht. But, you have to hand it to them for trying. Smoke can spoil the apartment (one "P", Norbert, smiley) in a rental arrangement. Overall, to each his/her own, but I always found it ironic how you think of California as "progressive" and/or tolerant, but they are pretty militant against smokers. In konservativem Texas gucken sie da wahrscheinlich weg.

Thanks for pointing that out, it seems I am orthographically challenged today. I guess too much time in front of a computer will do that to you (still at work at 9:20pm, but heading home now after kicking off a regression script to run over the weekend).

Yes, I know California is seen by some as the state of "fruits and nuts", but in many instances our crazy ideas have been replicated throughout the US with a lag of several years.

I am non-smoker and don't like to be bothered by second-hand smoke, but it seems to me that some of California's more recent anti-smoking laws are carrying things a bit too far.

It is great to have you here awaken. I woke up at 5 because I have so much to do today. I want to go back in my bed.

that smoking law is strange.

I'm not sure I agree wholeheartedly. Granted, unless we ban smoking outright (and I don't think that's a good idea) smokers will need a place to light up, but there are certain problems with a rented apartment or condo; it's affecting neighbors and subsequent and other tenants as well.

I think when they earn so much money with the taxes on cigarettes they should leave it to the smokers to do it whereever they want

Heck, no. Pardon my French, but I do have rather strong opinions on the subject. This culture of entitlement ("I should be able to smoke wherever and whenever I want") has been going on for far too long. It's been that way for most of the last century: Are you bothered by my smoke? Feel free to leave. This was particularly true for bars, restaurants, coffeehouses and other public places and is only now changing (very) slowly, even in Austria, which traditionally has been a bit of an island of the blessed for smokers. (In a recent ranking only Cyprus and Greece were more smoker-friendly, if I recall correctly.)

But I pity the smokers. They have decided to ruin their health, so why don't we let them do this?

Because I don't want them to ruin mine, or that of my family.

Curious these Americans in the land of unlimited freedom. The socialist - as the Republicans say - Germans would start a revolution if they weren't allowed to smoke in their own rooms.

Just a quick link I'd like to share with you concerning the eternal topic of "Du" vs. "Sie". It's not that clear-cut for native speakers, either, as this article in "Die Presse" shows.

I've found some kind of sales letter from Google in the post today (to 'Leitung Marketing', which I liked a lot, considering there is only me), and in it was the most complicated way of telling you (or rather not telling you) what advertising with Google would cost. It goes like this:

I get a voucher for 75 euros and then it says

Mit einem Tagesbudget von z.B. 5,- Euros können Sie zwei Wochen kostenlos mit dem Gutschein werben, den wir Ihnen schenken.

Er... what? If it's free for two weeks, it shouldn't matter what my Tagesbudget is. And if they mean that I can choose how much of the voucher I want to spend on the ad per day (maybe there are different options), 5 Euros by 7 days by 2 is not 75, is it? I really don't understand this. Good thing it wasn't addressed to 'Leitung Finanzen'.

Does this make any sense to you? I'm not going to do it, I have no intention to advertise on the Internet, but I would still like to understand it.

@cryme: In some case (not so few, actually) "tolerant" and "progressive" do not go well together. To have an effect with progressive things somethings a certain amount of intolerance is necessary.
"From now on it is absolutely forbidden to kill your wife just because her ankle was visible*. But as we are so tolerant we will just look the other way and regard it as your own personal freedom." (*insert any old tradition or habit or law)

Und: I_m_ konservative_n_ Texas

@Gibson: That's really strange. 5x14 is 70, so it'd be 15days advertisement for 75€, if you spend €5 a day. Of course if you decide in favour of a more prominent ad, it'll cost you more than 5€, so it'll be less than 15 days.

However, I don't understand why they say it's for free, if you have to pay the 75€ for the voucher. Or will they give you the voucher worth 75€ (for free) and you can spend it as you like, while they hope you will need more than that and then come back or conitnue paying more for your ads?

Or will they give you the voucher worth 75€ (for free) and you can spend it as you like, while they hope you will need more than that and then come back or conitnue paying more for your ads?

Yes, exactly. They provide you with a free voucher to see if you like their services.

*Norbert zuwink*

@Dixie: Die Erdnußbutter mit Leinsamen habe ich bei Target gekauft. Ist von der Target Bio-Marke (Archer Farms). Die ist total lecker... ist halt nur schade, dass ich wohl allergisch bin :o(

Thank you, Lara! When I was writing my question I was wondering if it was a daft question but I have to say I never buy Peanut Butter in Target so I would have never looked there. On my next Target trip it will be on my list!

I am sorry Carullus, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm a non-smoker, too, but I know many smokers and so I tried to think like they do.
I still haven't finished the report which I told myself to take in hand today... But tomorrow I will finish it!

Hi all,
I found myself lucky today, when, after that cold weekend, the heating in my office worked in the morning.
Two weeks ago it didn't work and we had about 15 degrees inside. And that on a much warmer day.
If that had happend today we would really have been freezing.

Ow, Sarah, that's unpleasant. We had a few heating problems at our company, too, recently. On day two, everyone (who had them) came with long, fingerless gloves (Armstulpen?) to wear while typing ... And all the sweaters we could reasonably fit over one another.

So, keeping my fingers crossed that your heating system will continue to be "in good health", as it were. If not, you are welcome to borrow my gloves ...

I think, Stulpen are just the sleeves, not gloves.
Unfortunately I don't own any thin gloves and I don't have any spare sweaters at work (but I think, I should change that soon).

I work in an old building, somewhat 18th century, and the heating system is just post-war, so I suppose, that can happen again sooner or later.

Mine are both, sleeves with integrated gloves, rather like these: http://www.osttop.de/foto/5840_9.jpg, only without the plaid pattern. Got them rather cheap, maybe even in one of the "1-Euro-shop"s that are so common these days, I don't remember. You might want to think about it.

A friend just told wi-chan-Mann, quite recently, that it is actually "normal" to modernize, that is, renew, the heating system every fifteen years. While that certainly sounds good (safe and energy-saving and all that), I've yet to meet a house-owner, save him, who actually does that. "Something around post-war" is, I'm afraid, more the rule than the exception ...

Meine Mutter musste eben im Sommer ihre Heizungsanlage austauschen. Ihr wurde auch gesagt, dass so ein Ding eine ungefähr 15-16 jährige Lebensdauer hat. Ihre war wohl schon (*kurz im Kopf rechnen*) 22 Jahre alt. Ich kann mir überhaupt nicht vorstellen, dass die Heizungsanlage in unserer Altbauwohnung in DE in den letzen 50 Jahren erneuert wurde. Manchmal war es dort unerträglich kalt. Vor allem auf der WC, wo es überhaupt keine Heizkörper gab. *fröstel*

In my apartment house they changed the heating system two years ago and I can tell, that my expenses for the heating really are less now.
But I only use the heaters in my living- and dining room. I never needed to heat my bathing room or my sleeping room.

I think the whole deal with changing the heating system is due to the modern heating systems which have a lot of technology inside. I think my father had to change it in his house, too, after something like 20 years.
Although, thinking of it, the heating system in the house I grew up in was exchanged during the time we lived there, so it must have lasted about 15 years.
And with heating system I mean the stuff in the basement (or wherever it is stored) not the radiators and the pipes (and I cannot believe I had to look-up pipes, I knew I know the word but i could not remember)

Hello again, from me, haven't been in hear this year, I am afraid, so: Happy New Year! :)
Re heating: you can save a LOT of energy by renewing the (let me look up that word - ah, actually I should have known that) circulation pump, as there has been a lot of technology change and energy saving potential. I'm not sure if/when this was done in our appartment block (I don't think it has), but we usually don't have any problems with the heating. We are connected to the district heating system. However, in a neighbourhood a bit away, the district heating station didn't work properly and they had serious problems. Has been solved now, I'm just happy it didn't happen here. But although there are no problems with the heating, the windows are (c)oooold: we have ice on them, and the frame joints(?) are frozen over and there's also ice on the frames. Even after I started the heating in the morning. But oh well, strangely enough it's still warm here! :)#add-it: Just checked, we have -12.6°C right now, cooooool :) I really enjoy this weather!

Hi, estrellita, schön, dass du mal wieder vorbeikommst. Und vor ein paar Tagen war sogar Norbert da -- welch ein blast from the past.

Hoffentlich seid ihr heute nicht allen eingefroren.

Sprachnotiz: Wenn man die Heizung nicht nur verändert, sondern auswechselt, heißt das eigentlich replace the heating system, put in a new heating system, modernize the heating system, so in der Richtung.

—> And [with] by heating system I mean the stuff in the basement (or wherever

Das sind auf Englisch wohl der boiler oder der furnace, aber wie diese wiederum auf Deutsch heißen, weiß ich selbst leider nicht.


Noch was Kurzes: Falls jemand einen Augenblick hat, mal im New Entry und Wrong Entry mitzumachen, wäre ich für AE-Meinungen hier dankbar,

Siehe auch: to tattle (Amer.) - petzen
Siehe auch: tattletale - Klatschbase, Quasselstrippe, Schwätzer/in, Trats...

sowie BE hier

Siehe auch: to sneak (sneaked/snuck) - *

und D hier:

Siehe auch: to come out of the woodwork - aus der Versenkung auftauchen /...

Danke schön im Voraus. (-:

Tut mir leid, hm. Ich hatte (ungebeten) viel zum Thema snuck zu sagen, obwohl ich kein BE spreche, und nichts zum Thema tattle/tattletale beizutragen. Ich finde starke Verben und Sprachwandel überhaupt sehr interessant, und seit vielen Jahren beschäftige ich mich mit dem Konflikt zwischen Sprachwissenschaftler, die Deskriptivismus vorziehen, und Sprachliebhaber, die oft präskriptiv denken und agieren. Auf jeden Fall bin ich froh, dass du mich auf die Meinungen zu snuck aufmerksam machtest. Ich hatte keine Ahnung, dass so viele so heftig darauf reagieren.

*estrellita wink. Sternchen weiterhin kaltes Wetter schick*

Zurück zum Thema Raucher in Wohnungen: Ich kann schon verstehen, dass ein Vermieter das Rauchen verbieten möchte. In den USA sind die Mieter wanderlustiger als in DE. Das heißt, wenn ich eine Wohnung hätte, würde ich ungern alles (Teppichboden usw.) nach 6 Monaten oder einem Jahr herausreißen und erneuern lassen müssen. Die letzten zwei Wohnungen, in der ich wohnte, wurden vorher von Kettenraucher bewohnt. In der jetzigen Wohnung wurde vor meinem Einzug nicht zureichend sauber gemacht, d.h. viele Flächen waren noch mit Nikotinablagerungen beschichtet. Auch wenn die vorige Wohnung neu gestrichen und der Teppich gereinigt wurde, konnte ich immernoch den Geruch der Zigaretten wahrnehmen. Also kann ich mir schon vorstellen, dass eine Nichtraucherwohnung weniger Geld kostet, wieder instand zu setzen, und auch schneller zu vermieten ist.

Doch, Amy, gar nichts zu entschuldigen; ich schätze immer deine Kommentare und bin immer dankbar, wenn irgendjemand im New Entry oder Wrong Entry überhaupt etwas beizutragen hat. Natürlich ist uns schon bewusst, dass du und ich besonders bei solchen Themen wohl immer geteilter Meinungen sein werden, aber das ist auch nicht tragisch und hindert hoffentlich auch nicht, dass andere sich dazu äußern. Ich bin auf jeden Fall gespannt, was die anderen dazu wohl beizutragen haben. Und 'Sprachliebhaber' ist eine Bezeichnung, die ich gerne annehme -- das sind wir sowieso hoffentlich alle, trotz gelegentlicher Meinungsunterschiede. (-:

Was Raucher betrifft: Ich (Nichtraucher[in?]) kann auch verstehen, dass sie eine erhöhte Miete bezahlen sollten, um die Reinigungs- und Versicherungskosten zu decken; aber sie vollkommen auszuschließen, finde ich auch übertrieben und nicht zielführend. Wer Raucher ist, dem ist wohl schon bewusst, dass es weder gesund noch gesellschaftsfreundlich (?) ist; aber Schuldgefühle reichen bekanntlich nicht als Motivation/Motivierung (?), eher im Gegenteil. Die Frage sollte eher sein: Wie können wir Raucher dazu ermutigen, weniger (in der Öffentlichkeit) zu rauchen, und sie dabei stützen? Der Ton, die Musik, usw. ...

nicht zielführend

Welche Ziele hat der Vermieter? Er will keine Schuldgefühle in seinen Mietern hervorrufen, aber trotzdem schreibt er manchmal vor, dass man in der Wohnung keine Hunde hält. Es wäre möglich, die Summe möglicher Schäden oder Versicherungskosten durch erhöhte Miete wettzumachen, also geht es vermutlich auch darum, die Wohnungen Nichthundehaltern attraktiver zu machen. Vermieter suchen ihre Kundschaft aus: entweder "pet friendly" oder eben nicht. Ähnlich geht es wohl mit dem Rauchen, entweder "smoker friendly" oder nicht. Wären Wohnungen in den USA dichter, wäre das vielleicht kein so großes Thema. Ich kenne aber durchaus Wohnungen, in denen ich als Nichtraucherin mit meinen Nachbarn mitgeraucht habe.

Re: sneak/snuck - mir war bis vor 2 Minuten überhaupt nicht bewusst, dass "snuck" nonstandard sein soll.. "sneaked" klingt so komisch.. LEO bildet :o)

I learn something new every day, too. TOday A student told me wholeheartedly, that "Es hat seit 3 Tagen nicht mehr geregnet" is wrong, because "seit" only goes with "Praeteritum". Therefore it must be: "Seit 3 Tagen regnete es nicht mehr". If someone could explain to me why both are perfectly fine, but the second one not so common (if the rule says so!), I would be very happy. Because I ran out of arguments today.
I also learned that "etwas mit jemandem teilen" and "jemandem etwas mitteilen" is basically the same.


And I also learned (and this one for real now) that apparently job hunting in DE is very different from UK, because I was invited to do a test, instead of an interview, and after the test I will be informed if I will have to go through an assessment centre as well, all before the interview.
I wonder what this assessment centre will be and how many people actually applied for this job, if they go through so many stages...

Nanu? Kein Edit mehr?

Ich hab naemlich noch eine Frage. In der S-Bahn hier heisst es immer:

This is the last stop on the line - all passengers are requested to leave the train!

Is "requested" really ok here? To me it feels odd. I request information. But can I request people to do something? I can ask them....

Das hört sich verdächtig nach einer wörtlichen Übersetzung von 'werden gebeten' an. Auf Englisch ist 'are requested' zwar nicht falsch, aber besonders gebräuchlich ist es auch nicht. Warum nicht einfach 'Please'?

Zu Nichtraucherwohnungen: Stimmt, ich hatte nicht an Undichtheit (-keit? Undichte? Undichtsein? ???) gedacht.

Das hört sich verdächtig nach einer wörtlichen Übersetzung von 'werden gebeten' an.

Yes... I was thinking the same thing, when I heard it today.

I consider "passengers are requested to ..." perfectly fine. Slightly formal, perhaps, but certainly not a false friend as such.

I'm afraid I won't be able to contribute much to the praeteritum / perfect debate. Austrian German has a large bias towards the latter.

Moin!

@ the seit/Präteritum issue:
I don't agree with that student.
However, my approach to German usage is practical, not theoretical.
Let's look at a few more variants:
(1) "Es hat seit 3 Tagen nicht mehr geregnet." - Fine with me. "Wie lange hat es nicht mehr geregnet?" Da capo.
(2) "Es hatte seit 3 Tagen nicht mehr geregnet." - Perfect. "Deshalb ließen die Tulpen die Köpfe hängen."
(3) "Seit 3 Tagen regnete es nicht mehr." - Depends on context, I think. I can imagine reading this sentence in a novel. "Ihr Flugzeug war im Regen gelandet, zwei Wochen lang hatten sie versucht einen Regenschirm zu kaufen, aber seit 3 Tagen ..."
(4) "Seit 3 Tagen regnet es nicht mehr." Again, depends on context. "... Jetzt können die Rettungsmannschaften wieder schweres Gerät einsetzen."

Intuitively, I would think that versions (1) and (2) convey some expectation of rain or need thereof in the near future, whereas versions (3) and (4) are just another way of saying that the rain stopped 3 days ago.
Edith would like to add that versions (1) and (2) emphasize that the last rain event (maybe just an hour or so) occurred 3 days ago, while in versions (3) and (4), the 3 days without rain were preceded by a longer period of rain.

@ "I also learned that "etwas mit jemandem teilen" and "jemandem etwas mitteilen" is basically the same."
"Ich teile Dir meine Pizza mit, und Du teilst dann Deine Telephonnummer mit mir."
"No, thank you."

Moin! Emil, du bist aber spät auf. Oder bist du früh aufgestanden?

Falls was von der Pizza noch übrig ist, würde ich sie dir gerne mitteilen...ähm...nein, eigentlich möchte ich sie mit dir teilen. Seit ein paar Tagen habe ich einen Heißhunger auf Pizza.

Ich gehe gleich ins Bett. Vor dem Einschlafen versuche ich etwas aus 47 zu lesen. Das ist Jugendliteratur. Einige Schüler lesen das Buch, und ich möchte wissen, worum es geht. Ich lese auch My Antonia, das habe ich in der Schule mal angefangen aber ziemlich schnell damit aufgehört, WIMRE. Ja, und dann lese ich auch Romeo und Juliet und zwei weitere Bücher.

@Jools: Was heißt das: go through an assessment centre?

Falls wer kein Silber findet und nichts polieren kann, habe ich zwei kurze Lückentexte, die ich Korrektur lesen lassen möchte. Morgen früh würde ich sie jemandem gerne schicken.

Gerade im Radio gehört: Schwertwale in SeaWorld sind keine Sklaven. Who'd a thunk it? *zu mir* Das mag hm--us bestimmt nicht. *zu mir aus* *schnell wegduck*
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16920866

@Amy: I am not sure if "through" is the correct preposition.
Basically, I applied for a job and instead of being invited for an interview, I was invited to do a test and then maybe I will be asked to also participate (?) in what they called an assessment centre in their invitation, although this will just be a series of more tests (and interviews, I assume - at least that's what Wikipedia tells me about assessment centres). Not sure why it's called "centre" though...

Do you still need help with your gap-fills?

@Jools: Aha, assessment centre. Ist mir neu. Ob through richtig ist? Das weiß ich nicht. Keine Ahnung, wie das die Personaler (in den USA) nennen. Re Lückentext: danke, einer hat mir damit schon geholfen. Vielleicht das nächste Mal. :-)

I'm listening to a radio interview with Sean Paul right now, and to my complete surprise I understand him without any problems - surprise because his songs are almost total gibberish to me, I can work out about every fifth word, if that. Like here, for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRok8IOnZe8

Strange. In my experience accents and things are normally stronger when people speak and less pronounced when they sing.

(What really annoys me, though, is that they just let him talk whereas a few weeks back they had Snow Patrol's singer, whose voice and accent I love, and the *?§+&*% interviewer kept voice-overing the original interview (which obviously had been done earlier), translating simultaneously, so I could hardly hear him. Nothing against Sean Paul, but why is he allowed to speak undubbed?? *sulk*)

Hey,
I had no internet since the beginning of this month, so I didn't read all of the posts I missed.
Jools: I participated in something which was called an accessment center. It was for an internship abroad. I had to make an interview in English where I should try to sell a pen to another participant and then the teacher talked to me what a role I take in a team. Than I had to do an intelligence test and a test about general knowledge. I had to to do (?) a presentation about a theme they gave me before and I had to find room for optimization in a team of three people.

Next week on friday the internship will end completely. We will give them the report and explain how they can work with it. Than I have some free time in which I planned to improve my spanish and my general knowledge.

@Jepito: I read a few things about assessment centres. I found some "logic" tests on the internet and found them a real pain.
I wasn't able to solve any of those "which number is next?" exercises - only the veeeery obvious ones, such as 7-14-21-?. I couldn't do those exercises in grade 2, I still can't and never will. I've accepted that my brain simply does not work with numbers. To prove it, I found a test where they did the same kind of exercise with letters and I scored 100%.
I also failed miserably in the "here are 5 dominos (random abstract pictures, semi-filled squares etc pp), which of these three options is the missing 6th?" and in most written math problems, which were not a joke (although I considered all of them a joke, a strategy which already didn't work in school and would have cost me my Abi if I hadn't been fortunate enough to drop maths after grade 11).

I passed a few of the "trick" math questions though. One that I remember in particular is:
If 1 1/2 chicken lay 1 1/2 eggs in 1 1/2 days, how many chicken lie 1 egg in 1 day?

I will not give you the "correct" answer yet.

Or this one, which I also remember:
Suzi is very disorganised and messy. She cannot keep her room tidy. So when she wakes up one morning and her lightblub is broken, she needs to get dressed in the dark. Unfortunately she has a huge sock-drawer in which are 678 white socks and 97 black socks. How many times does Suzi have to pull socks from the drawer until she finds a matching pair?

However, apart from exercises that involved letters and words, I scored very high in spatial recognition exercises (?), such as folding a dice and giving the direction of the 3rd toothed-wheel in an imaginary machine full of toothed-wheels etc.

As for the rest, I was given the info I will have to do an interview and a role-play and a work sample. So I'll just see. Maybe I don't even make it to the assessment centre, because I'll fail so miserably in the logic pre-test. ;)

Wer macht was zu Valentinstag? Hier ist ein Interview mit einem - tja- interessanten Mann über den Tag.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfcGEQRyaqI

Me!
I had a text from older Goldammerson late last night, saying he was coming home today but not before 7 pm, and could I be so kind as to buy roses for his girlfriend?

#90: Mein Mann und ich feiern den Tag erst am Wochenende, da wir unter der Woche in verschiedenen Städten wohnen. Im Radio hörte ein Vorschlag, wie man Geld sparen könnte: Valentinstag erst am Wochenende feiern. *gg* Man könnte meinen, dass alles billiger ist, aber aus Erfahrung weiß ich, dass am 15. die Regale hier ziemlich leer sind. Die Blumen sind entweder schwer zu finden oder gar nicht schön und nur die nicht leckeren Pralinen sind noch erhältlich.

Thank you, Robert!

Hilarious, Robert :). The poor girl, she didn't even try to get in there. Beware of men with hats, they tend to have strong opinions.

--
I just wrote the word 'placatingly' in Word and got a squiggle for my efforts. I then googled it and only got about 3,500 hits, many of them from dictionaries. Is 'placate' not used as an adverb?

"placatingly" finde ich ganz in Ordnung. War der/das/die Squiggle rot oder grün? Bei mir gibt Google 218,000 Treffer. Das Wort ist bestimmt nicht "high frequency", aber man kann es einwandfrei benutzen.

@Amy: Well .. pralines are a quite subtle way to keep yourself in a relationship.
The increased amount of calories makes running away much much harder .. sinister strategies.

*pulling up the thread, too tired to actually write anything...*
I am exhausted. My head's going to explode. I taught 8 hours non-stop and had a useless discussion with a student about whether "dauber" is a word or not.

But now I am home, having a quick break and watching the most amazing sunset ever.... I love the view from my flat :)

I think 'dauber' (which I've never heard in either language) should be the insult of the week: Du blöder Dauber!
It's almost onomatopoeic, it sounds like an insult, at least in German.

What's with you all, dear snails? This thread is really not doing too well...

I don't remember the exact sentence the student was referring to (because it was wrong in many levels), but it was pretty obvious that he meant "darüber" (~streiten sich die Experten or something similar). At first I thought he had just misspelled "darüber" in his text, but he insisted it's "dauber" and did not believe me that there is no word such as "dauber", especially not in his context.
*sigh* anywho....
I agree... "Dauber" sounds like a perfect insult.

Hmm, I'm also not feeling to well, so am not very talkative....
But one thing I can tell you: ice skating on the Havel and Wannsee is just great!! Jools, have you done that, too? I was there at (on?) the weekend, and it was just perfect: sunshine, not too many people (on the Havel part, not the Wannsee though) and a thin layer of snow on the ice whgich was really good, at least for me, because it kept me from going too fast. I'm not the best ice skater, I have to admit.

It actually sounds like a southern insult to my ears *g*

@estrellita: Nooooo! I haven't done it yet. I was so busy on the weekend :( But a friend went iceskating somewhere near Goerlitzer Park on Saturday and also said it was great. Bummer....I also didn't get to slide down Teufelsberg. Now it's too late I guess. Hmpf.

It also sounds southern to me, btw.

I notice that this job is curing my LEOnitis quite effectively. Leaves me no time all day, and gets me tired towards the evening. Plus, I have to squeeze all my housekeeping (washing, vacuuming and so forth) into the evening hours.

Still, today I decided to relapse, as it were ...

Now that you mention it, I missed out on the so-called "Alster-Eisvergnügen", too. It was really busy on the Alster last weekend, I heard, but I spend the time at my Granny's. And it was time well spent.

Roses bought by my boyfriend's mother for Valentine's day? I would consider that strange (still, I assume the girl is never to know, and at least he thought of her, in a way).

Hello,

I don't celebrate Valentines Day, but neither my boyfriend nor me are very romantic. I will never get flowers from him, no matter which day it would be... :)

Today I signed a job-contract for a Hiwi-Job, 8 hours per week simulating something. That means from next week on I don't need my parents to pay my rent any more...

Hey la.ktho, what a rare guest indeed!!
It's at least centuries since you've been here. I have been wondering occasionally where you might be!

re Dauber:
My nephew and niece created an invented phantastic world when they were little and populated it with all kinds of bizarre peoples.
One people were called the "Daubier", and they were characterized by being extremely stupid and silly.

In Swabian, "daub" can be used as an insult - "Daube Henn!" means a stupid, silly woman.
It is a special meaning of "taub", I guess, not "deaf" but "hollow", as in "eine taube Nuss"

(Grimm DWD sees a common root of "taub", "deaf" and "dumm")

There might well be, Goldammer. I believe "doof" is related, too. At least where I grew up you can be "doof auf'n Ohren", meaning (temporarily) deaf (like when you have water in your ears, or have just heard a very loud noise).

Jepito, will you be simulating somebody working? ;)

Das Wort "dauber" gibt's auch auf Englisch. "Mud dauber" ist eine Bezeichnung für bestimmte Wespenarten.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber

but he insisted it's "dauber" and did not believe me that there is no word such as "dauber", especially not in his context.
Liest er vielleicht Asterix und Obelix? Der eine Seeräuber kann kein 'r' aussprechen: "Wi' sp'echen da'ube'." Oder spricht er das aus wie einen Zwielaut und nicht zwei Silben?

*schubs*

"Today I signed a job-contract for a Hiwi-Job, 8 hours per week simulating something. That means from next week on I don't need my parents to pay my rent any more..."

So viel verdienst du in 8 Stunden, Jepito? Muss ein toller Job sein! Oder ist die Miete niedrig?

@Goldammer: My nephew and niece created an invented phantastic world when they were little...Besser wäre created a fantasy world...oder invented a fantastic world... Ist das der Neffe, der nachher Germanist wurde und tolle Gedichte geschrieben hat?

Vielleicht war das eine Verschlimmbesserung.

@Jools: Umgangsprachlicher wäre: I didn't get to slide down...either.

@la.ktho: Die Strategie hat funktioniert.

Good morning :)

No, I will not simulate to be working. (Un)fortunately I like my new boss, he studied with me and finished two years before me (Well, he still got a "Diplom" and I'm in the new Bachelor/Master System). Actually the rent is low and the payment good. I earn more than some salesmen in a supermarket. But the earnings will just long for the rent. For the rest I will use what is left from my internship and from April on I will get Bafög (hopefully already in April...).

@Amy-MiMi
Yes, that's him.
I was trying to avoid "fantasy" because I thought everybody would associate that with dragons, magicians and fae and the like, and that was not what it was about. I didn't think of "fantastic world".

Greetings from Misiones!
I am in an internet cafe in Puerto Iguazú at a machine where half of the keyboard is unreadable. Surpising how fast I can write despite of that. Will be absent until early March.
All the best!

Huhu Reyesito !

Best wishes for your trip !

Wow, las cataratas del Iguazú! I'm going green with envy. Have fun!

German (Austrian, Swiss) snails, could you please comment on the meaning of 'Stubenarrest'?

Siehe auch: to ground - Stubenarrest erteilen

As I said in the thread, I've only ever known it to mean 'not allowed to go out(side)', but when I googled it it seemed to mean literally 'not allowed to leave the room' for quite a few people.

What's your experience? When you got stubenarrested, what did that mean? And did you use 'Hausarrest' at all? I only came across that word when I was old enough to watch the news and heard about political house arrests; for us children, it was only ever 'Stubenarrest'.

Ach so, der Herr Arpschnarp will von einem guión de codornices oder rey codorniz in ein (zu einem?) codornizão oder rei codorna mutieren.

Ich dachte zuerst, du könntest dir auch Karneval anschauen, aber ich sehe gerade auf der Karte, Iguaçu ist eigentlich näher an Paraguay als an Rio. Vielleicht Curitiba oder Florianópolis? Nicht dass ich wüsste, was genau Sehenswertes es dort geben soll, aber immerhin.

Na, viel Spaß auf jeden Fall und hoffentlich nicht zu viele Moskitos, sondern nur Arten von wissenschaftlicher oder sonstiger Interesse.

Gibson, das mit dem Stuben- und Haus- war nur eine Frage meinerseits, bitte nicht denken, dass ich etwa eine Ahnung hätte. Ich habe nur Hausarrest im WB gefunden und bei Stubenarrest an die 'gute Stube' gedacht.

Darf ich hier erwähnen, dass ich den Halbsatz When you got stubenarrested sehhhhr toll finde?

Vorhin hat die Sonne geschienen. Wenn ich länger in der Stube hocke, dann genieße ich sie nicht. Laut den Wetterfritzen sollte es heute regnen. Bis jetzt ist der Tag sehr schön.

What's your experience? Bin Amerikanerin und nicht gefragt worden, aber hier nix Stubenarrest. Ich war ein braves Mädel, ja, so hauptsächlich, und wenn nicht, bin ich irgendwie nicht aufgeflogen.

*mich auf die Fotos, die Quail King machen wird, freu*

@Goldammer: "Fantastic world' klingt dann besser. "Fantasy world" smacks of elves, fairies, dragons and the like, wie du schon gemerkt hast.

Neither Haus- nor Stubenarrest ever belonged to the educational measures of my family, so I can't say anything about either of them.

Bei uns auch nicht, d.h., ich war auch langweilig brav. Und wurde auch meist nicht wohin eingeladen, also drinnen bleiben machte ich sowieso, das war an sich nichts Neues. Aber ich hatte Freunde und Bekannte, die immer wieder stubenarrested wurden. Das Mischwort finde ich auch schön.

Vielleicht 'imaginary'? Ich habe schon den Zusammenhang vergessen ...

die immer wieder stubenarrested wurden

Loveley ! When will we find this in the Oxford and MW dictionaries ?

*no me bré aus dem anderen Faden zitier* Auch bei Stubenarrest war das Aufsuchen des Badezimmers möglich

Oh, my! I would have thought that was a given. I wouldn't have pictured stubenarrested German children chained to their beds and provided with chamber pots.

Sagt man denn eigentlich laut den Wetterfritzen? Ich wollte gerade eine Selbstkorrektur erteilen, aber der Löwe sagt mir, dass laut mit Gen. oder Dat. stehen kann. Stimmt das? Ich wollte eigentlich laut der Wetterfritzen schreiben. Aber vielleicht passt "den" besser, weil Wetterfritz umgangsprachlich ist.

When will we find this in the Oxford and MW dictionaries?

Tja, da müssen wir uns halt anstrengen, wenn wir mal önchen sind, und das Wort verwenden. Sonst wird das Wort bloß für einen dangerösen Anglizismus gehalten werden und es schafft nie den Weg ins Wörterbuch.

I never got stubenarrested, but I remember the face of a class mate who wasn't allowed to come out and sadly looked out of the window.
I would call this "Stubenarrest", with "Hausarrest" being restricted to cases of confinement for political reasons. But usage in other families may have been different back then.
I wondered, where "Stubenarrest" may have derived from, and it occurred to me that the rooms shared by a couple of lower ranks in barracks are called "Stuben", too. So, could they have become stubenarrested for minor offences?
A little google research, however, produced evidence to the contrary:
http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Verordnung,_die_Einf%C3%BChrung_des_Preu%C3%9Fisch...
"Der Stubenarrest findet nur gegen Offiziere statt."
So, children may feel privileged by being stubenarrested.

OT: This source is full of interesting details, for example: "Die geringste Zahl der Stockschläge ist zehn, und die höchste vierzig, welche in keinem Fall überschritten werden darf. Die Vertheilung der Stockschläge auf mehrere Tage ist unzulässig."

On this note - Good night!

P.S.:

@ laut
I think that "Laut den Wetterfritzen sollte es heute regnen." is correct.
Maybe, I would prefer "Den Wetterfritzen zufolge sollte ..."

There are lots of cases when you can use "laut" without an article:
"Laut Paragraph soundso ist ..."
"Laut Wetterbericht sollte ..."
"Laut Bürgermeisteramt ist ..."
"Laut Dr. Heinrich ist ..."
"Laut Bürgermeister Heinrich ist ..." sounds OK to me,
while "Laut Bürgermeister ist ..." does not (or it is at least on the verge of being not correct).

"Laut seiner Aussage ..." and
"Laut seines Schreibens ..."
are OK with me.
I think, I would avoid "Laut seines Briefes ..." –
"Laut seinem Brief ..." seems OK, but, overall, I would prefer constructions with "zufolge" in the last three examples.

Needless to say, all this is gut feeling – I don't think I own a grammar book.

A short hello from me, I'm back in Germany!

I wondered, where "Stubenarrest" may have derived from, and it occurred to me that the rooms shared by a couple of lower ranks in barracks are called "Stuben", too. So, could they have become stubenarrested for minor offences?

Yes. Nennt sich heute "verschärfte Ausgangssperre".

Hello!
Since yesterday the field station has WiFi! So I might actually creep along once in a while. The station is in the national park on the Argentinian side. The Brazilians with their noisy helicopter flights are quite annoying during the day. And it is exceedingly dry compared to last year. At least very few mosquitoes.

I can't offer much opinion on Stubenarrest (although I do like the English verb) as it never happened to me (not a means of raising children in my family).
However, I've got a question for the Americans in this forum:
When I was groceries shopping yesterday I wanted to buy some bread for breakfast today and realised that I've never seen any bread/baguette/rolls that you can crisp (=aufbacken. I found it in Leo, I have a suspicion that it is not the correct term). Is this really unknown in the US?
And I am aware of the stuff you can get from Pillsbury or similar companies, but I was looking for the frozen or packed bread you just have to drop in the oven for 10 minutes and it turns into a nice, fresh roll.

@Dixie: Das gibt es, ist aber nicht unbedingt in jedem Supermarkt erhältlich. Ich habe gestern ein Laib Vollkornbrot von La Brea. Auf dieser Website kannst du vielleicht ein Geschäft, das dieses Brot verkauft, in deiner Nähe finden.

http://www.labreabakery.com/storelocator.aspx

Bestimmt gibt es auch andere Marken. La Brea kenne ich einfach.

hm. Don't they sell just ready made bread? Not something I can take home and finish baking at home whenever I feel like it (or it turns green in the fridge)?
I know the brand, but I never saw them selling something you could take home and that would last longer than "normal" bread.
(I was looking for a link, but all the stores I used to shop require sign-up before you can actually use their store)

@Dixie: Ich kenne Bridgford Foods.
"Bridgford Foods manufactures frozen bread dough, biscuits, cinnamon roll doughs, sandwiches, beef jerky, snack, deli foods."

http://www.bridgford.com/
Where to buy - http://bridgford.com/consumers/wtb.asp

Nice! Now I only have to find it in Safeway or Lucky ... Thank you

Just a quick hello to let you know I'm still alive. - Unfortunately my computer at home isn't. So if some of you have free fingers it would be nice if you could keep them cross that it's just a minor problem and no important data is lost.

Stimmt, Dixie. La Brea Brot findet man nicht in der Tiefkühltruhe. Es gibt auch andere Marken, die Namen davon fallen mir aber nicht ein, da wir das nicht kaufen. Herr MiMis Vater bäckt sein Brot *6-Gang* vom Kratzer. Wir kaufen Brot vom Bäcker oder vom Supermarkt. Und ja, grünes Brot kann ein Problem werden, wenn man das Brot langsam aufisst. Wir stecken das Brot in den Kühlschrank und seitdem wir das machen, kommt grünes Brot selten vor. Ist nicht ideal, aber besser als mit dem Brot verschwenderisch umzugehen.

*Finger für Sachs kreuz. Pressing my thumbs, too*

Since Mr Goldammer and I started being a 2-person-household most of the time, we cut the loaves in halves, put them in the freezer (we usually buy several loaves) and defreeze half loafs only. This helps against green bread, too.
I somehow have this notion that one shouldn't keep bread in the fridge - no idea why, though. Mr Goldammer doesn't know the reason either (although he is a baker). Maybe it can be found somewhere, but I don't have the time right now to search.

*keeping fingers crossed for Sachs*
Do let us know what was the matter!

It is said that bread gets "altbacken", i.e. dry and "old", in the fridge faster. Since I am a *6g* straw widow *6g* right now, I also freeze and defrost my bread in daily portions, it works quite well.

Sachs, I press my thumbs and cross my fingers for you. And I can only emphasize the importance of keeping your backups up-to-date ... I learned that the hard way, losing all my work for an important research paper to a computer virus when I was a student. Hope you get away with a warning!

I always keep my bread in the fridge and I never noticed any negative consequences. It tastes the same as if kept outside the fridge and I'm still alive ... :-)

Another brand of refrigerated bread is Pillsbury' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>http://www.pillsbury.com/Products/Breads/Dinner-Rolls#">Pillsbury .

I buy only quarters of a loaf, so it's always fresh.

I also keep bread in the fridge but usually in a freezer plastic bag not paper, because it gets dry quite quickly when wrapped in paper.

I mainly eat Toastbrot, so it's always freshly baked...

We buy 'proper' German rye bread occasionally, but I only really like it the first day when it's totally fresh, so whatever doesn't get eaten immediately goes to the horses (which is why I don't feel too guilty as it's not really throwing food away: the stable where I drop it off is not very rich and the horses are always hungry and happy to have a variation in their diet).

As I have a one-person-household I always freeze my bread and rolls immediatly and thaw a few slices on my toaster. I always buy sliced bread, which makes freezing it easier.
This way I don't have to feed ducks (or horses) with my bread.

When I will be back I have to search for my mother's e-mail with the weckknoedel recipe, to start recycling the accumulated baguette remains.

Earlier this evening I saw two armadillos. Finally had a good look on them through binoculars. Really strange animals, with the funny little head peering out of the big armor.

*picture googling armadillo*

Ah, that's them guys!
How nice to have seen them in the wild!

I recycle leftover rolls and bread in Fleischküchle, too.
(not too much bread though - nothing worse than Fleischküchle which consist of more bread than mince meat!)

Huuhuu.. habe nur kurz Zeit, wollte aber Dixie auf diesen Produkten hinweisen

"Pepperidge Farm Frozen Breads"

Mir wurde aber gesagt, dass Peppridge Farm eine Marke ist, die nur im Nordosten zu kaufen gibt.. stimmt das, Linksteichler?

I just learned that a hard disk is defective and caused the problem - even if it is not the one where the computer should be started from. But that problem caused a failure at the boot routine so the computer tried to boot from the defective disk instead of the one with Windows.

At one hand I'm relieved because my emails and some videos I downloaded and hadn't saved so far elsewhere (but I really would hate to lose) are not affected, at the other hand it's the HD with most other data. But they sounded very positive about being able to restore at least most of it.

What I certainly learned from this: Save your important data time and again before it is too late.

About your bread discussion:
Always have some rolls in my freezer - I'm not such a big fan of dark bread, and it's easy to portion.

Pepperidge Farm haben wir auch in Kalifornien.

It's always funny how you only learn to appreciate things, once they're gone.
I will never take electricity for granted again, after I had to spend 3 days without any electric spark.
I never actually realised how uncomfortable getting dressed in the dark is. Or how dangerous taking a shower can be whan you can't see anything.
And I never missed my morning coffee so much.
Of course we had candles, but now we have wax staines all over the place.

Anyhow... today we're back on and running. The fridge is currently getting cold again so I can put the things that haven't gone bad yet back in. The internet is back... and I am no longer damned to boredom after sunset, because now I've got proper light again to read and work etc.

I also learned, that it apparently takes a few years of unpaid bills for the electricity company to come out and shut you down and seal your fuse box.
Because that's how long this flat has no longer been in the possession of the previous owner, who had never given notice of departure to the electricity company, who therefore didn't really know what to do when they received our registration. So instead of contacting us and asking who we are and what is going on with this flat, they simply shut us down, without a single word of warning. Noice.

Anyhow.. I've got my electricity back now - and I missed it so so very much. *stroking fuse box*

What? That's incredible, actually. Is there any possibility you can change the supplier? I would want to do so as soon as possible, after such an incident! Good thing your heating isn't electrical, at least (though that would have solved the fridge-not-working problem, but at too high a cost).

Du meine Güte, Jools, ihr Armen. Scrabble und Karten spielen bei Kerzenlicht sind wohl nach drei Tagen und Nächten nicht mehr so spannend. Hoffentlich hattet ihr wenigstens noch Gas für Heizung und Heißwasser -- das wäre vielleicht noch schlimmer gewesen. Und wie konntest du denn deine Sachen für den Unterricht ausdrucken, oder bist du schon mit diesem Kurs fertig? Ai ai ai. Vielleicht fürs nächste Mal eine Öllaterne? Sie geben mehr Licht und tropfen nicht so sehr ...

Schön aber, dass das Sicherungskästchen sich wieder lieb verhält. Hoffentlich geht es Sachs auch jetzt endlich wieder besser, was die Elektronik betrifft.

#146 —> no longer [damned] condemned to boredom
#144 —> [at] on the other hand
#142 —> Ah, [that's them] those guys!
#141 —> When I [will be] get back ... a good look [on] at them through binoculars
#139 —> happy to have a variation / some variety in their diet

Armadillos gibt es übrigens auch hier im Südnorden, wo die Temperaturen jetzt schon sehr angenehm sind, um nicht warm zu sagen. Den Winter haben wir wohl schon verpasst. Schade eigentlich.

Pepperidge Farm kriegen wir auch hier, oder Goldfische und Kekse wenigstens, aber gefrorenes Brot, keine Ahnung. Man kann ja 08/15 Brot selber einfrieren, nicht wahr?

Und schön in Cellophan innerhalb der Plastiktüte gepackt, mit der Luft herausgedruckt und der Tüte fest geschlossen, hält sich Weiß- oder Sauerteigbrot im Kühlschrank schon mehrere Wochen, und Vollkornweizenbrot sogar außerhalb des Kühlschranks. Meins wenigstens wird nur sehr selten grün, und ich bin auch nicht so ein Brotfan.

Schön auf jeden Fall, dass so viele bei der Brotdiskussion gepostet haben, einschließlich harambee wieder heil zu Hause und WK in den Tropen mit Wi-Fi und noch ein paar aus der Versenkung. Ob das wohl das unschlagbare Thema ist, um Kommentare von Deutschsprechenden hervorzulocken?

Jetzt brauchen wir nur zu wissen, was für Brot sich am besten ohne Strom hält und wie man es bei Kerzenlicht toastet, nur für den Fall ... (-;

Did I comment on frozen bread? I don't think so ;-) But I was wondering all the time why you were talking about green bread. I can't recall that my bread ever got green, it moulds first, doesn't it?

Okay okay, während der Brotdiskussion wenn nicht unbedingt dabei ...

Mein Schimmel ist auch meist eher blau als grün. Oder irgendwie blau-grau-weiß. Vielleicht habe ich aber etwas missverstanden und wir reden doch nicht von Schimmel?

I really don't know, it didn't occurr to me that you were perhaps talking about green mold, but maybe you were?! My bread seems to have a taste similar to hm's bread, it mainly attracts greyish mold.

wie konntest du denn deine Sachen für den Unterricht ausdrucken, oder bist du schon mit diesem Kurs fertig?

I couldn't.
Luckily I was supposed to do exercises in listening comprehension with the students, so all I had to do was play them the CD from the textbook and have them talk about it.

I am not sure if we actually can change the electric supplier. However we made clear that this was not our fault and that they better not try to charge us for any of their "work". If at all, I was thinking of putting in a claim for damages and losses caused.
This address is also my official "office" address since I am a freelancer and I was unable to work properly for 2 1/2 days.
We'll see.

I thought everybody can change their electricity supplier nowadays?
I suggest you research the net a bit about that - I think I would also not want to remain with that supplier any longer!

And you should definitely try to get some compensation for it - do you by any chance have some kind of "Rechtsschutzversicherung"? If not, I'd consult the "Rechtsberatung" of the "Verbraucherschutz" which is certainly present in Berlin.

Hello snails,

it is time to save our crossover chat from disappearing on page two...
Look what I've found on USA erklärt:The indispensable election 2012 cheat sheet

Oh, again...
Hyperlinks don't work and I can't edit!
Is it just me or does anyone else have the same problem every now and then?

The links are:
USA erklärt: http://usaerklaert.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/zeugs-frisch-wie-ein-care-paket-vamp...

and the indispensable election 2012 cheat sheet: http://www.collegehumor.com/politics/cheat-sheet

@thing one: Ich weiß nicht, ob mir zum Lachen zumute ist. Die letzte Debatte habe ich angeschaut und sie macht mir nicht gerade froh, dass die Auswahl nicht besser aussieht. Aber danke, dass du versucht hast, uns von der zweiten Seite zu retten.

*erkältet sei*

*pouring Amy-MiMi a cup of hot tea* Get well soon!

...die Debatte macht mich nicht gerade froh...

*Tee trink* Danke, Goldammer!

*Goldammer zitier* Die Debatte macht mich nicht gerade froh...

*verwirrt sei. zu mir* Warum schaut sich denn die Goldammer die Debatte an? *zu mir aus*

Hier schneit es wieder. Ich muss ein paar Sachen erledigen, z.B. Hühnersuppe kaufen.

Hmm, was Amy joking or did the feverish delirium let her miss her own statement "und sie macht mir nicht gerade froh" in #156? I wish you a speedy recovery, Amy!

Was Amy joking? Nie und nimmer. Ich bin eine furchtbar ernste Frau.

Momentan arbeite ich am Lepptopp, der aber sehr langsam ist. Seitdem Herr MiMi die kaputte Festplatte durch eine alte aber noch brauchbare Festplatte ersetzt hatte, hinkt der Lepptopp sehr, z.B. kann ich keine Videos im Internet anschauen.

Heute geht's mir besser als gestern. Ein Glück.

Gestern schaute ich Den Schimmelreiter, die DDR-Verfilmung, an. Ich muss gestehen, dass weder die Geschichte noch der Film mir besonders gefallen.

Thank you for all the bread suggestions. I will search the local stores for them.

I always thought Amy was a smart and nice person, but her statement about not liking the story of Der Schimmelreiter requires revision of that evaluation. :)
On your laptop issue - I would say you've got a slower motherboard, then online videos will be a challenge.
I am going laptop shopping today (mine died around Xmas, and the IRS just sent me money to fund a new one) you can come along and get yourself a new one :)

Hi Amy, are you feeling better yet?
Get well soon!

I can't comment on the debates as I did not watch them (I'm still in Germany) but the South Carolina debate in January made it into the news here in Germany and, having read about that, I understand why you're not happy.
On the other hand, it might as well have been exaggerated in the German news - it probably was.
Still, I'm glad to find that Americans themselves don't take it all too seriously!

Are you feeling better yet?

Es geht so.

@thing one: Wir nehmen es doch ernst, denn das sind die Leute, die kandidieren. Dienstag sind die Michigander dran. Ich bin gespannt, was passiert.

*Dixie eine Himbeere schick* Gestern habe ich eine Fassung der Faust-Geschichte und die hat mir gefallen. Habe ich also einen besseren Ruf gewonnen?

@ Amy-MiMi (#252 previous thread)
Now that the NBA All Star Game is on, I am getting back to your question concerning my attitude towards the game: "Bist du ein Fan von bestimmte(r)n Mannschaften, oder findest du Basketball im Allgemeinen interessant?"

I have a broad interest in the game: I am regularly watching games (both live and on TV), but I also play myself, always trying to improve my game, my moves, haha (though not as a member of a league team).
I watch games at all levels (there was a video of a home game of VfL Hameln last season with me as a spectator, but, alas, I cannot find it on the web any more).
I think you can make a good game at almost all levels. The major difference between leagues results from differences in power, speed and shooting performance, but doing the right thing at the right time is a goal you can always try to achieve.

I don't think I am a fan of a particular team – rather, I think I have a preference for certain styles. I am less impressed by highly athletic players such as Dwight Howard or LeBron James, and, hence, I don't like teams which rely heavily on such dominant players (The early Shaquille O'Neal is another example).
I love watching skillful point guards such as Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Rajon Rondo or Ricky Rubio, good ball movement and hard defence. Small wonder, I am very pleased with the outcome of last season's NBA championship.

@163 - no, not really. My disappointment is in relation to Storm, no one else. I always liked his stories [ignoring the missing verb as I am sure you just forgot it]
I hope you are feeling better today.
Is anyone watching the Oscars?

*Fadenhochschieb*

Hallo, Schnecken! Ihr seid in letzter Zeit schön ruhig. Seid ihr alle genauso beschäftigt wie ich? Hier standen eine Menge großer, schwieriger Projekten an. Eigentlich steht immer noch ein ganz großes Projekt mit engem Termin an, aber irgendwann braucht man einen Moment Pause.

Es bleiben nur noch zwei Unterrichtsstunden Spanisch I, dann habe ich eine Woche frei und danach geht's mit Spanisch II weiter. Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, wie viel von der Sprache ich im Kopf behalte -- während des Unterrichts kann ich alles ganz gut nachvollziehen und ich bin bei der Übungsaufgaben ziemlich fit, nur später bin ich mir nicht mehr sicher, ob ich das alles kann. Zum Beispiel: Jetzt so auf Anhieb hier für euch was auf Spanisch zu schreiben kommt mir irgendwie zu schwierig vor. Beim Lesen erkenne ich und verstehe ich viele Wörter, aber die Wörter haben sich noch nicht in meinen aktiven Wortschatz eingearbeitet. Trotz Karteikärtchen.

Also suche ich seit ein paar Wochen nach einem geeigneten Podcast, damit ich vielleicht Vokabular passiv aufnehme. Meine Schwester hört zum Beispiel gern den Podcast "Slow German." Sie kann sich schon auf Deutsch verständigen, spricht aber bei weitem nicht fließend. In diesem Podcast wird schön langsam in einfachen Worten über einfachen Themen gesprochen. Musik, Filme, manchmal auch Nachrichten. So was würde ich auch gern auf Spanisch finden, aber es gibt wohl keinen "Slow Spanish" Podcast. Mir kam auch schon der Gedanke, einige Folgen Sesamstraße auf Spanisch zu gucken. Zeit dafür habe ich aber nicht. Einen Podcast könnte ich auch im Auto hören.

Seit ich Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel zu Ende gelesen habe, habe ich kein neues Buch anfangen können. Bestellt habe ich mir aber vor ein paar Tage die Mistborn-Trilogie (Sanderson) und auch die ersten zwei Bänder der Riftwar-Saga (Feist). Ich habe im Moment richtig Lust auf was aus dem Fantasy-Genre. Vielleicht weil das echte Leben zurzeit so stressig ist, ich mich zurückziehen möchte und gerne dem Alltag entfliehen würde. Ich muss nur die Zeit zum Lesen finden.

In anderen Neuigkeiten: ich habe mich vor zwei Wochen für eine neue Arbeitsstelle beworben und bekam Ende letzter Woche eine Bestätigung, dass der ganze Prozess noch ein paar Wochen dauern wird. Die Stelle klingt, als würde sie mir richtig gut gefallen. Ich warte also noch ein bisschen ab und sehe, was so passiert. Wenn ich in den nächsten Wochen nichts höre, werde ich einen kleinen Urlaub zusammen mit meiner Schwester planen, damit wir uns eine Auszeit gönnen können.

Ich muss mich jetzt wieder auf die Arbeit konzentrieren. Bitte nicht mit mir schimpfen, hm -- us, weil ich keine Themen zur Diskussion vorgestellt habe. :o(

Huhu Lara Chu (AmE) !

I just stubled upon : http://spanishpodcast.org/
I don't know if they are for free, but they also offer vocabulary and additional texts in written.
And the Spanish forum has : Siehe auch: (Video-) Podcast zum Spanischlernen

¡ Buena suerte !
:-)

Vielen Dank, no me bré :o) Heute habe ich die ersten lecciones von "Discover Spanish" auf meinen iPod geladen, hatte aber bisher keine Zeit mal reinzuhören. Ich komme dann in den nächsten Tagen auf diesen Links zurück, mal sehen ob was für mich dabei ist :o)

Hello,

technically I have free and holiday. But I don't know where my time is. I write reports and don't like it, so I travel through the internet. But my excuse for today is that I am ill again.
Next week I will be flying to London (Stansted) and I will go to Cambrige. There will be five hours or so where I have time for myself until I meet whith a friend of mine. So I have two questions for you: Is it hard to find the train from the airport to Cambrige? And what can you do once you are there?

Lara, es ist einfach schön, dass du dich wieder meldest, und mit so einem ausführlichen Bericht. Wer da kein Thema finden kann, muss sich mit Rasse (*gähn*), Frauenwörtern, Herumschrauben oder Erdbeereis zufrieden geben.

Und die Möglichkeit von einer neuen Arbeitsstelle klingt super. Ich will es nicht dadurch jinxen, zu früh nach Details zu fragen, also einfach nur: *daumendrück*

Den Link zur Fakultät von Spanisch und Portugiesisch an der UT-Austin habe ich früher mal im spanischen Forum gepostet und ich glaube, sie könnten so etwas wie Podcasts haben, aber den Link kann ich im Augenblick leider nicht wieder finden. (Huhu, no me bré, ¿tú no te acuerdas por acaso?) Wie wär's ansonsten mit einem Audio-Kurs vom Buchladen, Berlitz oder so was? Du könntest auch nach dem Instituto Cervantes guhgeln, was in etwa dem Goethe-Institut entspricht. Vielleicht hat auch Wachtelkönig oder jemand anders weitere Vorschläge.

thing one (hallo übrigens), ich nehme die Wahl durchaus sehr, sehr ernst und die republikanischen Kandidaten machen mir riesige Sorgen, aber ich allein kann sehr wenig dagegen tun, und besonders nicht in meinem Staat. Vielleicht geht Amy heute und stimmt für den unwahrscheinlichsten Republikaner, damit die Demokraten es leichter haben. Viel mehr können wir im Augenblick wohl nicht tun, leider.

Gute Besserung weiterhin auf jeden Fall, Amy. Hoffentlich konntest du dich am Wochenende ein bisschen ausruhen.

Emil, ich sage jetzt am besten wohl nicht, dass ich mich nicht mal erinnere, wer genau die letzte NBA-Meisterschaft gewonnen hat. Nicht etwa Dallas?

Hi, Jepito, hast du in Land und Leute nach London bzw. Stansted bzw. Cambridge gesucht? Ich glaube, das wurde schon ein paar Mal besprochen. Was man in Cambridge tun kann: Na, die King's College Chapel besuchen und Evensong hören! (-: Es gibt auch schöne Parks und gute Buchläden, und natürlich auch die ganzen Colleges, und eine Steckkahnfahrt auf dem Fluss ... Und danach kann man sich mit jeder Menge japanischen Sprachschülern über Tee treffen. (-;

Huhu, no me bré, ¿tú no te acuerdas por acaso?

¡ lo siento ! ... pero no me recuerdo y la tía G. no me sirve de ayuda ...


Edith adds that we have collected some English-Spanish dictionaries and glossaries in this thread : Siehe auch: biblioteca de traducción ... they might be handy ...

Vielen vielen Dank, hm und no me bré! Tolle Tipps sind das. Von der Instituto Cervantes hatte ich noch nicht gehört. Vielleicht haben die auch solche schöne telenovelas für Schüler, wie ich es vom Goethe Institut kenne.

Na, ich weiß nicht, ob sie so viel bieten wie das Goethe-Institut, aber es wäre wenigstens den Versuch wert.

Telenovelas, hmm, da war vor mehreren Jahren eine solche für Spanischlernende (eher Erwachsene) auf PBS, die in Puerto Rico spielt. Ziemlich lang, mit wenigstens 36 Fortsetzungen oder so, eine gut entwickelte Handlung, aber nicht so blöd wie die nächtlichen kommerziellen Seifenopern auf Univisión und Telemundo. (Trotzdem sind letztere auch nicht unmöglich, wenn man nur die Sprache üben will und über den Rest lachen kann. Untertitel sind ja was Feines ...) Sie hat mir damals sehr gut gefallen; leider weiß ich den Titel nicht mehr, aber du könntest ihn vielleicht erguhgeln.

Ich habe vergessen, Jepito auch gute Besserung zu wünschen. Hoffentlich fühlst du dich bis Cambridge schon besser. (-:

http://cvc.cervantes.es/
http://www.cervantes.es/default.htm

... and, as I found out just this minute : they have their own TV station :
http://cervantestv.es/

Hallo, Jepito. Die Verbindung von Stansted nach Cambridge ist sehr gut. Der Zug fährt einmal pro Stunde direkt dahin, die Fahrt dauert etwa eine halbe Stunde. Ein zweiter Zug fährt auch einmal pro Stunde, aber dann muss man umsteigen und die Fahrt dauert eine ganze Stunde statt einer halben Stunde.
Von der Stansted Airport Website:
"Stansted Airport rail station is directly below the terminal building. Tickets can be bought in advance or at the station."
http://www.stanstedairport.com/transport-and-directions/trains

National Rail (Ich habe eine Nachfrage gestellt)
http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/SSD/CBG/tomorrow/1115/dep

Here ist ein Link für Cambridge.
http://www.visitcambridge.org/VisitCambridge/Home.aspx

Wenn Du Zeit hast, empfehle ich die Kathedrale von Ely. Vor zwei Jahren war ich da. Man kann mit einem Fremdenführer auf den Lanthorn Tower steigen. Wir waren kurze Zeit draußen auf dem Dach und konnten sehr weit sehen. Sie haben auch ein Glasfenstermuseum in der Kathedrale.
http://www.elycathedral.org/

I came across Ely cathedral in some historical novel - I don't recall which now - some time ago and decided to go there should I ever have the opportunity.

I visitied Cambridge only once for a day in the summer. It was nice. We went punting ( I didn't know it's called Steckkahnfahren in German!), which was the highlight of the day. You can either "rent" a student who punts (?) you around and tries to tell you sth about the historic buildings, or you can do it yourself, which - of course - is much more fun (even when you fall into the river on a hot summer's day like ours was). :)

We had a lovely meal and drinks in a student pub, and noticed too late that we had apparently been sitting on the very same table where Watson and Crick thought of the DNA model (probably over the same beer we were enjoying). We made fun of the oh-so-wannabe-clever-Oxbridge-snobby-rich-kids studying there who didn't want to talk to us unworthy humanities students from London and rather enjoyed our beers with the really nice arts and drama students me met. It was a great day out.

Cambridge itself reminded me a lot of Muenster, for those of you who know this German university town, i.e. small, conservative, old but lovely for a day.


Sorry I didn't write much either. I was kind of busy either doing a lot or doing nothing at all. I went home to see my grandma and parents for a few days (of course I had a nightmarish trainride back to Berlin with DB, which I don't want to go into detail, only to mention that there was a train suddenly being cancelled without any warning and me (and hundreds of others) being stuck literally in the middle of nowehere, almost not making it back to B on the same day, and the only "compensation" was one (!) cup of coffee per person...)

Did I tell you I underwent this assessment centre, which was a big fat joke. Though I am not sure which was the bigger joke, the assessment itself or the job they had set this whole spectacle up for.
In the end I found out that I would not only have to work under ridiculous conditions, but also earn much less than I do now - and lose all my current freedom.
("Sie arbeiten 40 Stunden und Ueberstunden werden von uns erwartet. Nicht so gern abends, sondern eher am Wochenende versteht sich." - Ja nee is' klar! Und das befristet auf genau die 3 Sommermonate fuer das bisschen Geld pro Stunde. Ja genau. "My a**" wuerde man in dazu England sagen.)
So the good thing that came out of this was that I now appreciate my current job so much more. Sometimes it's actually fun again.

My current students will finish their class in a few days, and I have had quite a productive talk with the school's director, telling him about my situation and difficulties etc. Bottom line is, I will be given a new class soon and I will be a teacher there right from the beginning, no more being thrown into a class in the middle of something. And I will also be giving another training course, which is less language but more cultural training related, which is a direction I exactly want to go into more.
So I guess all is cool for now and I am so so so looking forward to spring and summer. :)

PS: Can anyone recommend a cosy, not too expensive B&B in Amsterdam?

@Lara: crossing my fingers for the new job.
@Jepito: get well!

In Tübingen, where there's a very old tradition of punting, it is called "Stocherkahn fahren" .
I honestly don't know whether it is called Steckkahn fahren elsewhere.

Edith says, leo gives Stechkahn for punt, and that makes more sense, although I haven't heard it before.

I hardly know Münster (mainly by reputation) but Cambridge never struck me as particularly conservative. Why did you think that, Jools?

Nach Cambridge wollte ich schon immer. *neidischsei* Ich habe London Stansted als einen ziemlich übersichtlichen Flughafen in Erinnerung. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass Du Schwierigkeiten haben wirst, Deine Zugverbindung zu finden. Außer er wurde in den letzten 10 Jahren ausgebaut.

When I first went to Stansted in the early 90s, it was really beautiful (especially after horrible Heathrow): there was hardly anybody there, it was small(ish), everything was clean and empty, and the blue seats and light ceilings and clear lines looked the way Foster (?) had probably meant them to look. My favourite airport. Then we always drove to England for a long time, and the next time I flew to Stansted 15 or so years later, it was just an airport; crowded, loud, stressful, and all the nice blue seats covered by oversized bums and bulging bags :(.

I hardly know Münster (mainly by reputation) but Cambridge never struck me as particularly conservative. Why did you think that, Jools?

Probably because it reminded me so much of Muenster, and Muenster is very conservative.

Hi all,

Jools, I can't recommend a particular b&b in Amsterdam, but you might want to have a look at airbnbdotcom. My husband used this for the first time now when he had to go on a business trip and all hotels were booked out and was very happy with the service - not to mention the fantastic price!

And if I remember correctly, somebody asked for a book recommendation for the summer - I am currently reading A Game of Thrones and I love it! A bit hard at first to get into, because of the many persons and the unfamiliar setting, but it is very well-written and also very exciting. It is also very visual, and I cannot wait to see the dvd to compare it to the images in my head.

Kleine Türchen für Lara:
Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass du Schwierigkeiten haben wirst, deine Zugverbindung zu finden. Außer, er wurde in den letzten 10 Jahren ausgebaut.

In my knowledge only "Sie" and "Ihr(e)" is written with a capital letter if the speech is directed to the person you call "Sie" and not "du" etc. But that is just what I remember from school, so I cannot guarantee that it is right.

Thank you for the recommendations, I will tell you what I have seen. I am very excited to go there because friends of mine who stayed there were enthusiastic about it.

Jools: It sounds good that you will get your own course from the beginning on. Great.

Thanks Albertawe. I'll check out this website.

I'm having a day off today and have to admit, I spent the morning abandoning myself to a secret vice: trash TV. I watched the first episode of the new America's Top Model cycle and almost spilled my tea laughing. This time there are 7 models from the UK competing against 7 US girls, and among the UK girls is this cute Scottish girl. And when she first comes on, she looks into the camera, shakes her head and says: "I'm so getting subtitled." It's hilarious because then they DO subtitle her (although she's really not hard to understand). I didn't know the makers of this show actually had some humour (or maybe it just is the UK girls, who are so so funny) ;)

@ Jepito:

According to my Duden the "Du" in letters can be capitalized OR lowercased. As far as I can remember they tried to change it with the "rightwritereform" (6g) to only lowercase "Sie", "Du" etc. in letters, but re-changed it again a few years later and left the decission then to the writer him-/herself.


Final report on my computer at home: It's back, it's working, and - most important of all - I've lost no data!

"Sie" was always to be capitalized, if I remember correctly, but it looks as though they're allowing both forms for "Du" now.

Oh, so I'm sorry for my wrong correction :(

Hallo, ist ein DMS da? Ich habe hier einen Satz, den ich nicht ganz verstehe. Ich hätte gern die Meinung eines DMS, möchte aber den Satz nicht ins Sprachlabor stellen, weil das Projekt vertraulich behandlet werden muss. Ihr müsstet mir keine Übersetzung liefern, ich wäre aber dankbar, wenn ihr den Satz auf Deutsch umformulieren könnt.

Hello Lara,

I'm here, but as you see above I have just my feeling for the language and I am not good in rules. But I can try if you don't mind.

Danke danke :o) Was würde ich ohne euch nur tun?

So you're good? If you need a second (well, third, I suppose) set of eyes feel free to PM me.

Great that you are there Carullus, that sentence is strange and I'm not sure that I understood it correctly ^^

I might assist both of you !

Ich glaube, der Satz muss durch eine höhere Authorität geklärt werden!

Sorry to be a pain, Jools, but I still don't quite understand. Why did Cambridge remind you of Münster, then? From how you describe it, it is nothing like Cambridge, so where are the similarities?

(I really loved Cambridge and spent a lot of time there (my boyfriend lived there), so I feel quite protective of it. small, conservative, old but lovely for a day. is really quite outrageously offensive ;)) (and completely untrue, of course)

Lara, all these posts have made me quite curious about your sentence. Want to send it to me, too? Not necessarily to help (although I obviously will, if I can) but just to see what it's all about.

Aren't we the highest authority ever possible ? :-)
Let's give it a try !

LOL OK, Gibson und no me bré. Mitteilungen incoming...

Edit: Ach ja, Gibson. Du hast meine Interesse an "The Passage" geweckt. Leider hat mein Barnes & Noble das Buch nicht auf Lager, also wird es heute bestellt. Wir können dann demnächst eine kleine Buch-Club-Diskussionsrunde haben :o)

re #195 : correcturito : Autorität - no -h- in German ...

... just sent you a first PM regarding "The Sentence" ...

I'm also reading "A Game of Thrones" - wasn't it originally Lara who mentioned and recommended it in here? When vol 5 first came out?
And I agree that it is very well written, and I definitely won't watch the film because I want to keep my own images.
I only wish they had more detailed and better maps of Westeros. I do love maps, real and fantasy ones, and I enjoy getting a sort of feeling for the landscape and areas of a book (Lord of the Rings, for example)

...and can I have The Sentence, too, please? You made me really curious!

Yea! Game of Thrones! Es gibt im Internet eine SEHR detaillierte Karte, Goldammer. Du solltest aber so wenig wie möglich zum Thema Game of Thrones googlen, damit du keine Spoilers liest. Ich kann dir heute Abend einen Link zur Karte shicken. :o)

Der Satz kommt gleich, hehehe..

Second PM regarding "The Sentence" in the line ...

Wir können dann demnächst eine kleine Buch-Club-Diskussionsrunde haben

Yes please! (and bore everybody else into a coma...)

I've checked out the Darcy threads so often, but they never seem to be reading stuff I read, and they also don't seem to talk much about the books, apart from 'I liked it' (or at least I've never managed to find a real discussion). LEO is definitely missing a good book thread in my humble opinion.

Es wäre vielleicht eine Idee, eine Art "Book Club"-Faden zu eröffnen. Jeden Monat gäbe es vllt ein neues Buch mit anschliessender Diskussion. Ich habe auch oft niemand, mit dem ich über Bücher wirklich ins Gespräch kommen könnte. Die Diskussion und auch den vorgeschlagenen Lesestoff würde mich total freuen :o)

OK, ich tippe blind und habe auch keine Lust mehr zum Arbeiten. Vielen lieben Dank für eure Hilfe heute! Ich gönne mir jetzt ein Glass Wein und melde mich später bei dir, Goldammer, mit dem Link zur Westeros Karte ;o)

That's like a crossover chat spin-off, then. Snails 2.0.

We could start by collecting ideas.
What have you read recently, what are you planning to read, what would you like to talk about?

CC-Readers of the world, unite and make suggestions. (to steal from either Marx or Morrissey, depending on your preference)

I know a Westeros map from the internet - maybe the one you will link me to later - but that's by far not detailed enough for my taste. We'll see if it's the one you mean. Yes, I beware of spoilers. The thing with Game of Thrones is that you can never be sure the goodies survive...

Hier sind (mMn) die zwei besten Karten von Westeros/Essos

http://i.imgur.com/0oz95.jpg
http://gameofthrones.net/images/Westeros_Maps/map_of_westeros.jpg

Ich komme spaeter nochmal auf die Buch-Club-Idee zurueck...

The thing with Game of Thrones is that you can never be sure the goodies survive...

Yes, that's true. But what's really fascinating is that he sometimes makes you sympathize with someone you thought were evil to the core. ;-)
It's not all black and white like in some other stories.


TGIF! I wish you all a lovely weekend!

Great maps, Lara, better than anything I had so far! Thanks a lot, I printed them out already and sent the link to Goldammerson!

Do you by chance also have a kind of character inventory or know where to find one? When somebody hasn't been spoken of for a dozen or so chapters, I sometimes don't recall who he or she is and would like to have something to look that up.

Goldammer - In the latest print run there is an overview about all the houses and characters in the last few pages of the books.

Book Club: Would be nice to have but we are all reading very different books, aren't we?

I'm still "working off" the books I bought after being inspired by Siehe auch: Funny books/authors in English

I have already read "Three men in a boat" (Jerome K. Jerome), "The Big Over Easy" (Jasper Fforde) and many chapters of "The World of Jeeves: A Jeeves and Wooster Omnibus" (P.G. Wodehouse). I just started "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas" (Tom Robbins) and "The Sirens Sang of Murder" (Sarah Caudwell) is waiting for me. All very nice books but maybe not the kind of books for long and profound discussions?!

Hey there! :)

Book Club: A few years back, when the Darcy thread was freshly opened, I joined them because of the prospects of reading and discussing books together. (It was a nice crowd back then, I don't know who is around there, today.) So at some point in the first few threads, someone suggested to read The Brothers Karamazov together. I thought "wow, big project" but I was game, so I bought the book and started reading. Two weeks later the others state that they either didn't manage to get the book or that they were bored of the first 20 pages and switched to something easier to read. I mean, hello, we're talking Dostojewski, who would have thought. ;) Anyway, I dropped out of Darcy's soon after that, finished the big Russian alone and haven't had anyone to talk about books since, either. Not that I have the time to read these days, but I often felt that it is pretty hard to get engaged in a discussion about the contents and intentions of a book that goes beyond "I liked/disliked". I'd be very interested in finding a forum for that at some point. By the way, for those interested in books and opinions on books, I'd like to humbly recommend the blog of a distant friend who - in my opinion - does brilliant and pretty up to date recensions: http://klappentexterin.wordpress.com/

Goldammer: http://towerofthehand.com/books/characters.html
Die Webseite ist echt cool, weil du am Ende eines Buches den Scope oben entsprechend einstellen kann und dadurch Spoilers vermeidest :o)

"The Sentence" - PM ...

Lara, thanks for the links! Especially the first map is fascinating - I guess there's still a lot to come! And have just read half of the first book... :-)

Es freut mich, dass so viele im Moment Game of Thrones lesen :o)

Vielen Dank euch allen, ich habe mittlerweile eine grobe Übersetzung "des Satzes" angefertigt und ich denke, bis heute Nachmittag bin ich vielleicht sogar mit meiner Lösung zufrieden.

Tja, ein Buch-Club würde viel Organisation erfordern. Wir müssten uns auf ein Buch einigen und vielleicht müsste es für jedes Buch einen "Moderator" geben, der sich sogar Fragen oder Diskussionsthemen ausdenkt.

@Gibson RE:MS-Cambridge

From my one-day impression of Cambridge it , like MS, seemed to me like a rather middle-sized town, surrounded by lots of green and not much else, populated almost entirely by students dressed in polo-shirts, who are stuyding at a rather upper-middle class but very old and renowned, traditional university (though Cambridge is probably more so), who ride a bike rather than a car or public transport and who think it is subversive to read Marx and wear your t-shirt not tucked into your trousers (ok, that might be a subjective exaggeration).
The town itself is neat and very tidy, old houses, allys, cobblestone, no graffitti, no loose dogs or rubbish on the lawns. With lots of old traditional pubs, cosy, old or modern cafes and (semi) antique bookshops.
And the only non-white people are foreign exchange students or run a corner-shop.
Those are the things that reminded me exactly of MS.


TGIF!
Though my day is not yet over. After a loooong day with totally unmotivated students, who didn't bother to come on time or stay until the end, although we were doing an important mock-exam, I now have to attend another meeting with an important but even more unpleasant agenda.

@Lara: I hope you found a good solution for your strange sentence.

Well, after so thorough an immersion into the city, its culture and population, what can I say? Obviously, I got it all wrong.

I must have sensed somehow that you have started to talk about books...
May I join you for a while? (Even if I have been absent for so long?)

Some time ago I was invited to join a reading group. I was quite excited about the idea, especially because most members of the group were native English speakers, and the books to be discussed were English books, too. For a while I really tried to make it work but they had their meetings in a town 30km away from my home, and I finally had to realize that it was too stressful. But I still see this as a missed opportunity and sometimes I regret my decision.

Have a wonderful weekend, all of you! :-)

The last book I read was Juilian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending - just in case anybody would like to talk about this one. Gave me some food for thought, and I'm not sure if I fully understood it, I have to admit...

I have to confess, I'm not able to join the Game of Thrones club yet. But you're starting to make me curious about it. However, it will take a while till I'll find the time for giving it a try. I just started Hohlbein's "Thor", not really thin and since my time for reading is much too limited it'll take a while to finish it. After that I'd like to read "Solaris" by Stanisław Lem. I got aware of that just a few days ago when I've been told that an opera basing on this book is in production and will have its premiere at this years Bregenzer Festspiele. So I read the plot and thought this could be a story for me. Let's see.

Welcome back, candice.

Hello,

I read quite a lot but I don't know that book. Maybe I should give it a try. My last book was (once again) the third book of the Millenium trilogy. I just like the part in the court room :)

Meine Güte, welche treue Gruppe ihr seid!! Irgendwie war ich verschwunden und heute entdeckte ich die Leo-App, durch die man auch ans Forum kommt. Es ist schön zu wissen, dass einiges sich nicht verändert.
Einige "sehen" mich öfters aber fühlt euch alle herzlichst gegrüßt :-)

Indeed you had disappeared, and although I sometimes get glimpses of your life through another channel, I really missed you in here.
Hope you will use this app a lot!!

suziq!!!! What a nice coincidence. Just thought of you a couple of hours ago when I looked something up on the map. It sprung to me: isn't that suziq's place and how might she doing?

:-) naja, heutzutage arbeite ich weniger am PC und mehr am Pad und da tippt sich nicht so bequem. Ich merke, wie kurz die Mails geworden sind. Die App ist tatsächlich für das Forum nicht so bequem, aber besser als garnichts ;-)
Eigentlich müsste ich mich langsam um Prüfer kümmern, um das Studium abzuschließen, aber ich merke, wie ich das vor mich herschiebe. Ansonsten quäle ich 10-14-jährige in Englisch und Kunst, habe ein Kinderbuch illustriert und die Autorin sucht jetzt einen Verlag und seit neuestem mache ich eine Designarbeit...so abwechslungsreich wie eh und je. Ich glaube insgeheim, dass mir die Beamtentür zu gemacht wird, damit ich eines Tages diese Entscheidung nicht treffen müsste!
Nun gut, die Arbeit ruft wieder :-)

Schön, dass du wieder mitschnackst suziq. Inzwischen sind neue Schnecke zu uns gestoßen.

Eine Frage, falls ein Muttersprachler noch wach ist.

Falls man einen Schnurrbart definieren wollte, könnte man "Haare an der Oberlippe" sagen? DWDS hat "Bart über der Oberlippe". Aha, jetzt blicke ich durch. *mir Haare an der Oberlippe vorstell* *gg*

*Jepito, Goldammer, candice und bluesky wink. vorsichtshalber keine Bussis verteil.* *gg*

Korrekturen für Sachs: find the time for givingto give it a try. I just started Hohlbein's "Thor", not really thin and since my time for reading is much too limited, it'll take awhile to finish it...I gotbecame aware of that just a few days ago when I've beenwas told that an opera based[ing] on this book is in production... Let'sWe'll see.

@candice: Leider kenne ich Barnes' Buch nicht.

Amy you can say "Haare auf der Oberlippe" if you are trying to avoid the word Bart. Just like one can say "Haare auf den Zähnen" :)
Bart über der Oberlippe sounds funny, but who am I do question DWDS

I am all for the book club, although all I could say about Games of Thrones is: I was bored and gave up halfway through the first book. I read fantasy (to a certain extend) but Game of Thrones could not hold my attention. But I would be curious to find out what makes people wait for his (enter the name of the author here) books with anticipation.
And I guess the more diverse the better for a book club. People just have to be as open-minded :) as the people in the CC.

Vor etwa zwei Stunden bin ich von unserem alljährlichen Deutschlager zurückgekehrt. Das Thema war "Märchen", und die Schüler haben verschiedene Märchen vorgeführt: Blaubart, Rumpelstilzchen, Aschenputtel, Rattenfänger von Hameln, Bremer Stadtmusikanten, usw. Sie haben alles wirklich gut gemacht. Es gab ein bisschen Schnee auf dem Boden, aber das Wetter war herrlich. Am Samstag Morgen hatten wir drei Stunden von Aktivitäten (Wandern, Backen, Basteln, Tanzen, Brettspiele, Advanced Placement-Vorbereitung, Fechten). Ich leitete, wie jedes Jahr, die Fechtgruppen. Wir hatten viel Spaß dabei.

Am Ende von letzter Woche war alles aber nicht so schön. Ich war im Unterricht und bekam einen Notanruf von meiner Kusine. Sie hatte meine Mutter zum Krankenhaus gebracht, weil sie Brustschmerzen hatte. Donnerstag war ich mit meiner Mutter. Freitag Morgen sah ich meine Schüler in den Bus steigen, dann ging ich wieder ins Krankenhaus. Alle Tests waren so weit negativ, aber der Arzt wollte einen Stresstest (oder ist dass ein Belastungstest?) machen lassen. Als sie meine Mutter zum Test brachten, gebot mir meine Mutter, zum Deutschlager zu gehen. Meine Kusine stand sowieso bereit zu helfen. Also fuhr ich zum Deutschlager. Später am Abend rief ich an, und meine Mutter war schon zu Hause - alles negativ, das Herz war es nicht. Das war ja eine Erleichterung. (Meine Mutter ist 90 Jahre alt, und wir wollen mit ihrer Gesundheit kein Risiko eingehen.)

Ich denke, ich muss Game of Thrones lesen. Danach kann ich die Sendung anschauen - nur aus sachlichen Gründen versteht sich, ich möchte die Dothraki-Sprache erforschen. :-) Aber wie schnell ich dazu komme ist eine andere Frage. Im Moment habe ich viel vor. Mein Ritterbuch soll nächste Woche ankommen, dann muss ich es zum Markt bringen. Mein Piratenbuch wird bald fertig. Übernächste Woche ist die California-Language-Teachers-Konferenz, und ich werde einen Vortrag machen, andere Vorträge anhören und Freunden helfen, ihre Sachen zu machen.

DWDS hat "Bart über der Oberlippe". Die Wörterbücher machen es oft so. "Bart" ist im Wort "Schnurrbart" enthalten, wenn man nicht weiß, was ein Bart ist, hilft die Definition nicht viel. Müsste das nicht "dichter Haarwuchs über der Oberlippe" heißen, um das Wort nicht vermittels sich selbst zu definieren?

Müsste das nicht "dichter Haarwuchs über der Oberlippe" heißen, um das Wort nicht vermittels sich selbst zu definieren?

You are quite right, Robert!

Sorry, I simply don't have the time to write the few correcturitos for you.
Please, somebody else!

*hastily sliming into my working day*

If Goldammer deems correcturitos appropriate I will try to suggest some:

Am Samstag Morgen hatten wir drei Stunden von Aktivitäten
Maybe better:
Am Samstag Morgen hatten wir drei Stunden lang Aktivitäten.
or
Am Samstag Morgen hatten wir drei Stunden mit Aktivitäten.

Am Ende von letzter Woche war alles aber nicht so schön.
Not wrong, but a bit stilted. Two of many possible alternatives:
Das Ende der letzten Woche war leider nicht so schön.
Die letzte Woche endete leider nicht so schön.

Notanruf
Interesting word! I wouldn't use it, but of course everybody will understand it.

Donnerstag war ich bei meiner Mutter.

Stresstest and Belastungstest are both fine in my opinion, but I'm not an expert in cardiology.

Danach kann ich die Sendung anschauen
Sendung could be the right word if it was on TV, otherwise:
Danach kann ich den Film anschauen

Aber wie schnell ich dazu komme, ist eine andere Frage. (missing comma)

Mein Ritterbuch soll nächste Woche ankommen, dann muss ich es zum Markt bringen.
You will bring the book to the market??

ich werde einen Vortrag halten

um das Wort nicht über sich selbst zu definieren

Robert, what is "Advanced Placement-Vorbereitung"?

Advanced Placement-Vorbereitung = Vorbereitung auf einer wichtigen Prüfung, die Advanced Placement Exam.

Bastelt wer? Bis Mittwoch kann ich das nicht machen.

No, I don't have time for bashteling.

Amy: Vorbereitung auf eine wichtige Prüfung, das Advanced Placement Exam.

Ich könnte baschteln, wenn sonst niemand möchte. Lara muss wohl schon eine halbe Stunde pro Buchstaben warten.

harambee, in verschiedenen Schulfächern werden in den besseren Schulen Leistungsseminare für 11.- und 12.-Klässler geboten: AP-Englisch, AP-Weltliteratur, AP-Calculus (erster Teil der Integral- und Differenzialrechnung), AP-US-Geschichte, AP-Weltgeschichte, AP-Biologie, AP-Chemie und so weiter und so fort; und natürlich auch Fremdsprachen, wenn genug Interesse besteht. Wer das Seminar besucht und dann im Examen im späten Frühling 4 oder 5 von 5 Punkten bekommt, belegt oft dadurch den Pflichtkurs für Erstsemester an der Uni, d.h., darf ihn überfliegen. (Jetzt darf jemand das alles nochmal richtig auf Deutsch beschreiben.)

3 minor correcturitos :
für 11.- und 12.-Klässler angeboten:
darf ihn überspringen.
Jetzt darf jemand das alles nochmal richtig auf Deutsch schreiben
:-)

Ich tippe blind, würde total gern ein neues Haus bauen, habe aber im Großen und Ganzen keine Zeit mitzuquasseln in den nächten Tagen. Ihr solltet also wegen mir kein virtuelles Papier verschwenden und den Faden weiter vollchatten :o)

Heute Abend bin ich zu einem All-You-Can-Eat, BYOB Sushi-Restaurant eingeladen. Ich freue mich!

How far did you get translating "The sentence" ?
:-)

Hoffentlich ist Der Satz jetzt endlich fertig, denn die Hochlichter sind leider wieder unerklärlich so lang geworden, dass es wohl kaum noch Platz für sonst was Langes gibt. Tut mir leid.

Aber trotzdem bitte schön:

Siehe auch: Crossover Chat 286