Good evening! It is I, Carullus, who wish to thank your very much for these lovely new premises. Very nice Hochlichter [tm], too :-)

Hi Carullus,
Nice to see you!
It was hightime to get rid of the old house!
Auto-correction: as scarce as

Dear kisan! Thanks a lot for the new shell. This time the thank you comes even deeper from my heart than usual, as I fully agree that it was about time to get rid of the old shell. :-)

And thanks for the strawberries, did you get them from Wimbledon?

Sorry, I have to criticize the OP. It's not about the highlights, so I hope I'll get away with a warning ;-)

I just don't believe that one can be too old to play house. I had to look up that expression and LEO suggests "Vater-Mutter-Kind spielen" as translation. I assume that game can easily be extended to grandparents and great-grandparents and even further. And in any case playing games of almost every kind is good for the psyche, even for people above 30 ;-)

Hi harambee,
In the meantime I'm back from our evening walk. We went to the neighbour town where the annual music festival along the town wall was in full swing.
Gaston behaved himself though there were lots of children running around. Usually he wants to join in the play.
Back at home, we dined and wined while watching TV. I hadn't heard of "Luna the Orca Who Loved the Humans" before. I had to switch it off before the heartbreaking end.
Anyway, building a new house didn't hurt at all. I didn't reread the whole thread, carefully avoiding the nasty bits ...
As someone on the wrong end of 30 I'll try to become a bit more playful then. I'd better leave now because I've spotted another mistake in my op.

Thanks a lot for the new home, kisan!

Made myself a bit rare here the past days since I assumed none of you would have liked to share my cold (if I'm mistaken - there's still enough left for some of you ;-) ). But I had to be fit again tonight since I had tickets for Romeo et Juliette and didn't want to miss it for the world.

Oh, and thanks for the stracciatella ice cream. It's really alluring. If this is the best with my cold? - Who cares ... Had nothing but a cup of soup since I came home, so something sweet is exactly what I need.

Oh, vielen Dank, kisan. *Zimmer bewunder. Gaston einen Hundekuchen zuwerf*

@Sachs: Meine Eltern haben Karten für Romeo and Juliet, wissen aber nicht, ob meine Mutter bis dann fit genug ist, hinzugehen. Eine Motivation, sich bei der Krankengymnastik (Physiotherapie?) zu bemühen. (Die Karten sind aber nicht für Wien.)

*harambee wink. Erdbeeren ess* Hier haben wir eine miese Edbeerernte dieses Jahr. Hoffentlich haben wir bei den Kirschen und Blaubeeren mehr Glück.

As someone on the wrong end of 30 I'll try to become a bit more playful then.

I didn't know you were that young, kisan! Don't worry, you will probably make it to the right end. ;-)

Interesting that Gaston likes music festivals. Quite often older dogs are not too keen to meet people they are not familiar with.

What makes you think that I'm that old? I won't tell you my age in dog years. I might be an old bat, but my dog has just turned six. He loves to see new faces, loves children and ALL bitches. Earsplitting music doesn't seem to disturb him.
Today I went to the library and came back with tons of books. I haven't decided yet which book I'm going to read first.

@ Amy:
Keep my fingers crossed that your parents will be able to go. But looking forward to something often helps to overcome unpleasant things quicker than usual, doesn't it? Not Vienna, so maybe Shakespeare Globe? (well I guess the answer will be no, but who knows) I'd really love to go there for a performance once.

@ kisan:
You know a trucker then? Or how else were you able to transport "tons of books" back home? Was it perhaps poor Gaston who had to carry them all? ;-)

Vielleicht hat Gaston einen Bollerwagen gezogen.

@Sachs: Keep my fingers crossed...Kann ich das von hier aus? *gg* Auf Englisch musst du "I'm keeping my fingers crossed"...Sonst versteht man deinen Satz als Befehl. Danke, übrigens, dass du das machst. Meine Eltern können das gut gebrauchen. Gestern ist mein Vater ohnmächtig geworden und kippte vom Stuhl um. Zum Glück hat er sich dabei nicht verletzt. Zwar musste er ins Krankenhaus, aber die Ärzte haben nichts gefunden. Eine gute Nachricht eigentlich, aber trotzdem hat man es nicht gern, wenn Leute ohne erkennbaren Grund plötzlich ohnmächtig werden.

Warum willst du besonders gern ins Globe Theater?

Hi kisan, thank you for playing the fairy and building the wonderful new shell! And also thank you for the highlights!

Tomorrow I am going to see a “Parsifal” production which is supposed to be really awful – I hope that the music and the singers will make it up.

And now I am too tired to write anything more – have a good night everybody!

Salut zusammen!

Vielen Dank, kisan, für's neue Häusle. (Ich bin im Moment in Stuttgart mit Schülern - habe aber keine Zeit, mich mit dem Stammtisch zu treffen - deshalb das -le.) Du bist bestimmt eine gute (Haus)Fee.

Wir sind am Dienstag in Stuttgart angekommen. Der Flug war gut und ruhig, nur etwas lang, besonders weil ich nicht genug Fußraum hatte. Am Donnerstag machten wir einen Ausflug nach Tübingen, Burg Hohenzollern und Schloss Lichtenstein. Am Freitag gaben die amerikanischen Schüler Vorführungen. Am Samstag war das Wetter sehr schlecht, aber am Abend sind wir nach Stuttgart in die Altstadt gefahren und haben Posaunenchöre im Alten Schloss spielen hören. Heute war ein Ausflug nach Bad Wimpfen und zum Kloster Schöntal. Am kommenden Dienstag fahren wir nach Berlin.

Ich werde nochmals vorbei schauen, wenn ich Zeit habe.

Are really so many snails teachers and all on summer holidays already or is it just to prove that we still deserve this name that hardly anyone is around?

@ Amy:

Thanks for the correction. My fingers are still crossed, and I'm keeping them myself and all alone.

A little correcturito in return:
"... und kippte vom Stuhl um" It's either "und kippte vom Stuhl" (was falling from the chair) or "und kippte mit dem Stuhl um" (he fell down and the chair tilted as well).

Why the Globe? I was there once for a guided tour and it's a fascinating place. I probably would prefer a seat for the "wealthy" audience to the standing room around the stage for the "poor folks", but I think it must be a very special atmosphere to see Shakespeare at a place coming close to where it originally was performed.

Have a nice time in Stuttgart, Robert.

Posaunenchor sounded strange to me, but I just checked that this indeed is the name of several brass groups, so one even learns the own language here.

Thank you, kisan, for the new shell and the pretty highlights.

The fireflies emerged about nine days ago, but they are not very active this year. Maybe it is too cold and windy.

Last Wednesday night, I drove home from basketball practice at about half past ten. A figure appeared on the left side and started to cross the road. I slammed the brakes, but it walked on steadily and didn't seem to notice me until the tires started to creak. One step further and I would have hit it. Then it jumped back and left me wondering what might cause such a state of absent-mindedness in a roebuck. Don't they have any road safety training?

Hi Emil, good that your brakes were working so well.

Dennis Schröder was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in round 1. Did that surprise you?

@Emil: Ein Glück, dass du und der Rehbock einander nicht näher kennen lernten.

@Sachs: Aha, in England war ich noch nie. Ich habe wenig Fantasie, also kann ich mir nicht vorstellen, wie interessant das im Globe Theater ist, das muss man mal erleben, glaube ich. Übrigens danke für die Korrektur. Das um gefiel mir im Satz nicht, aber ich wusste nicht, wie man den Satz besser schreibt.

Auch hier ist es kühl. Wir hatten einen ganzen Tag lang keinen Regen. Heute verspricht das Wetter aber keine Sonne.

*Lucy_E, Robert, harambee und die anderen Schnecken bewink*

Thank you for the new shell, kisan! It's lovely :-)

Amy, my best wishes for your parents. It must be scary to just suddenly fall and not know why :-( I do hope that won't happen again.

Robert, that sounds like a packed program! I hope you and your students are having a good time in Germany :-) And whenever I meet a group of English-speaking students from tomorrow on, I'll ask their teacher if he's you :-P How long are you going to stay in Berlin?

Emil, wow, that sounds... bewildering. Maybe the roebuck was on drugs? Luckily your brakes were working.

A thunderstorm just passed. It was pretty close. I like thunderstorms, but it gets a bit scary when the thunder precedes the flash of lightning ;-)

when the thunder precedes the flash of lightning

Ähm, wie geht das denn nochmal? Habe ich vielleicht im Unterricht nicht aufgepasst? Ich dachte, zuerst kommt der Blitz, dann der Donner. *Kopf kratz*

Heute suche ich fast den ganzen Tag schon wichtige Unterlagen, die nicht zu finden sind. *grr*

*eine Schale frische Erbsen aus dem Garten auf den Tisch stell*

@harambee "Did that surprise you?":
Well, not really. I had read about a mockdraft, which listed him as pick #16. And he was finally drafted as pick #17, so, that was not a big surprise. I hope the Hawks will be the right team for him.
The teams bear a huge responsibility given how young those players are.

@shhh: On drugs, yes, that's one possibility, lovesickness is another.

Hello! For me there was no "Parsifal" yesterday – I preferred to “take the long way home” – unfortunately I had an accident with my bike and had to go to the hospital instead ;-(

But it could have been a lot worse – only a day surgery was necessary and I am covered in bruises but at home now.

So – dear children and parents! – better wear a cycle helmet ;-) (and I wore one)

@ harambee (in # 4): Yes, a warning – agreed!

@ Sachs: I hope you enjoyed the “Romeo and Juliette” performance!

@ Amy-MiMi (in # 7): sich bei der Krankengymnastik beim Physiotherapeuten um einen Termin (Physiotherapie?) zu bemühen. (oder so ähnlich ;-))

@ Robert--US: What a pity that you could not accomplish the Stuttgart “Stammtisch” but your programme really seems to be filled!

@ Emil 14: That was a good joke – the road safety training for roebucks! I could have needed it for myself ;-)

@ Amy-MiMi: Thank you for the greetings! And also for the peas - I am adding some sort of sour cream and a sip of white wine.

Have a nice day – evening – morning all around!

Oh dear! That doesn't sound nice, Lucy_E!
Do sleep well and get well soon.


@#21: Edith is suggesting 'roemania'. - Aaargh!

Emil, ouch :-P

Lucy, oh no! That doesn't sound good :-( Get well soon. Of course it's nicer to be at home than in the hospital, but it would be nicer still to not be hurt*. I hope you'll heal up quickly!


*not to be hurt? ENS, please help - I never know where to put the "not" :-(

Poor Lucy! I wish you a speedy recovery!

International anti-discrimination laws require that all jokes, even the worst ones, have to be told. So, as an honest and law-abiding snail I have to comply: Lucy, you did not disguise yourself as a roebuck, did you?

Oh harambee, you stern law-abiding snail, you made my day! *Quickly hiding my roebuck costume*

Laughing is a good cure, I think! And thank you all for your good wishes, dear snails! Of course it is better to be at home than in hospital and hopefully the injuries will heal soon.

As I mentioned I was lucky not to get more hurt – but I’ll have to buy a new cycle helmet because after one fall it is supposed to be no longer functional.

And now I am grabbing some ice packs to cool my bruises!

Laughing is a good cure, I think!

I agree and I'm glad that you don't resent my attempt. People are different and it can be difficult to tell how far one can go without going overboard. Sometimes it is asking too much if one expects that others laugh through tears.

People are different and it can be difficult to tell how far one can go without going overboard.

Ja, deshalb hat man wohl das Lied geschrieben: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfBwsG8ubFw

Aber mal im Ernst, ein Glück, dass es dir einigermaßen gut geht, Lucy_E. Eine Freundin von mir hatte beim Radfahren in Deutschland einen Unfall. Sie hatte auch einen Helm an, was ihr vielleicht das Leben gerettet hat.

but it would be nicer still to not be hurt *6-Gang* auch waschecht, auch waschecht.

@shhh: Beides geht. Korrekter wäre "not to be hurt", so vermeidet man das verpönnte "split infinitive", aber viele Muttersprachler würden das so, wie du es geschrieben hast, ausdrücken und das "NOT" ganz toll betonen.

Take care Lucy and get well soon!

Fireflies appreciate balmy nights. I've just seen one.

But no roebuck in sight! It's already some ten years ago that I almost hit one. That Sunday afternoon he must have felt disturbed by hikers and had the idea to cross the road just where I was coming along. I still see him barking at my hood while I was putting my foot on the break; seconds which felt like eternity. I must have missed him by inches. Afterwards when I was wobbly I felt in need of cognac. I had to do without.

Thanks for the peas, Amy! The other day I wasn't a little bit surprised when I opened a can of flageolet beans. Someone must have spilled them, as there was only water.
Waving to Amy!

People are different and therefore I can't watch Amy's video :-( due to copyright issues in Germany.

New books were delivered yesterday, among them "The Twelve" and the not so red anymore Marses. ;-) However, I started reading "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch. I'm wondering why I bought that book. I can't remember who has recommended it. It wasn't anybody from the CC, was it? I can't tell yet what to make of that book. It seems to be a strange mix of Harry Potter and "Men in Black", but it's probably too early for such a statement. Some episodes from the first chapters were quite funny, but you should regard that statement with suspicion as - so I was told - people are different and not everybody shares my kind of humor. ;-)

not everybody shares my kind of humor

I know what you're talking about.


(In memory of Franz Kafka. Let's celebrate his 130th birthday today)

Are we talking books now? :-) After re-reading Huxley's Brave New World (still spot-on after all those years!) I've just finished Der Komet by Hannes Stein; it's an alternative history novel, where World Wars I and II never happened, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is still the dominant force in Central Europe. The Germans, in the meantime, efficient as ever, have colonized the moon, while the USA are known as the "Switzerland of America", permanently neutral, not getting involved in world politics. and just a little backwards. None of the prominent figures in history (Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, ...) ever rise to power, and the peoples of Europe continue to live peacefully together. An interesting book.

Sounds interesting, Carullus. Does Germany still have a Kaiser? I don't know enough about history and therefore I'm not in the position to tell whether avoiding WW I would have avoided Hitler's rise.

Why is the book called "Der Komet"?

Does Germany still have a Kaiser?

Yes, indeed. Germany has become the leading industrial nation in the world, everybody is learning German, etc.

Why is the book called "Der Komet"?

I'm glad you're asking. Well, the Imperial and Royal Court Astronomer discovers that there is one to collide with the earth in a few months' time, bringing death and annihilation to all mankind. It's not as central to the plot as one might expect, though.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Franz! *glaserheb*

Das Buch klingt interessant, Carullus.
Why is the book called "Der Komet"?
Ja, das würde mich auch interessieren. Vielleicht ist auf dem Balkan ein Komet eingeschlagen und dadurch wurde der 1. Weltkrieg verhindert? Nur so wild geraten.
kleine Korrektur: the USA is known as
Ich glaube Du weiss das schon, aber manche Gewohnheiten sitzen tief. Das kann ich aus eigener Erfahrung sagen! ;-))
für harambee:
I can't remember who (has) recommended it. simple past
Ich kann diese Sache mit den Zeiten schlecht erklären. Vielleicht kann das jemand anders?

Vor zwei Wochen wurde mein Fahrrad geklaut. Naja, das Rad war ziemlich alt und nicht besonders wertvoll. Ich wollte ja sowieso ein neues kaufen, aber ich bin nie dazu gekommen. Jetzt muss ich das machen. Trotzdem habe ich mich darüber gewundert, weil mein Rad mit einem guten Bügelschloss abgeschlossen war. Dass jemand soviel Aufwand macht, um so ein Rad zu klauen, ist mir schleierhaft. Vielleicht war ich einfach dran. Ich habe viele Freunde und Bekannte, die mir erzählt haben, dass das ihnen passiert ist. Mir wurde noch nie in Berlin ein Fahrrad geklaut. Und das nach über 20 Jahren! Ich war einfach dran. ;-) Jetzt habe ich genug darüber gejammert.

Vielleicht ist auf dem Balkan ein Komet eingeschlagen und dadurch wurde der 1. Weltkrieg verhindert?

No, WW I didn't take place because Archduke Ferdinand wasn't assassinated in Sarajevo: after the first attempt on his life he cancelled the parade ("I bin doch ned deppat, i fohr wieder z’haus.") and went home instead.

Thanks to wupper for the correction. Tenses are so difficult, but never mind.

A very minor correction for you - I had to seize that rare opportunity ;-) :

Ich habe viele Freunde und Bekannte, die mir erzählt haben, dass ihnen das passiert ist.

I won't say your word order was completely wrong, but in this case it sounds unusual to me. Other Germans may disagree. Funny enough, in the sentence
Ich habe viele Freunde und Bekannte, die mir erzählt haben, dass das auch ihnen passiert ist.
I'd prefer your word order.

Carullus, I like the kind of pragmatism Ferdinand demonstrated. :-)

"I bin doch ned deppat, i fohr wieder z’haus."
LOL Ja, das wäre die vernünftige Reaktion darauf gewesen, nicht wahr?
Danke für die Korrektur, harambee. Ich bin über solche Sachen oft unsicher - Wortstellung und so. Das Verb, na klar, kommt am (ans?) Ende des Nebensatzes, aber wohin mit den anderen Wörtern? Ich habe ganz schwach im Kopf eine Faustregel von "das Subjekt kommt als erstes". Das scheint aber nicht zu stimmen.

Kennt einer von Euch das folgende Buch:
Erik Larsons "In The Garden of Beasts"? Eine Bekannte hat es mir neulich empfohlen. Es klingt interessant.

Hi everyone!

@ Amy-MiMi: Yes, that's why I wrote about the cycle helmet – I don't want to think about what could have happened if I hadn't worn one... By the way: it's "verpönt" with only one "n". And I was also not able to listen to your youtube link, due to copyright issues ;-(

Thank you, RenaRd, for reminding us of Kafka's birthday ;-) an author I like very much.

Hello, wupper! I think we haven't met in here before, but I might be wrong. Some years ago I suffered from several bicycle burglaries – after the second theft I decided to move, and after the third which happened two years ago I refused to buy a new one (the bike I rode last Sunday was only borrowed but luckily it is still in order ;-)).

A small correcturito: "Ich glaube, du weißt das schon" ;-)

@ Carullus: This book sounds really interesting! Never heard of Hannes Stein before.

Currently I read "A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan – does anyone in here know it, too? The German title is "Der größere Teil der Welt" which does not really seem to be a convenient translation. I really like it and learn some new and interesting vocabulary.

Good night!

Hallo, liebe Schnecken

Zuerst einmal vielen Dank an kisan für das Basteln des neuen Schneckenhauses und die tollen Hochlichter!

Bei uns sind gerade auch zwei Wochen Schulferien. Morgen werde ich mit einer kleinen Horde (4) Kinder in die “Art Gallery” gehen. Zum Glück sind die Kinder aus dem Sack-Flöhe-Alter heraus und leichter zu hüten. Das Kunstmuseum hat ein interessantes Feriengprogramm und die Kinder sehen sich auch immer wieder gerne die Bilder und Skulpturen an, besonders manche interaktive moderne Installationen. Es ist immer faszinierend, wie offen und neugierig ganz junge Menschen mit Kunst umgehen. :)

Alles Gute für deine Eltern, Amy!

Dir und deinen Schülern noch viel Spaß in Deutschland, Robert!

(Nochmal ;) ) gute Besserung, Lucy!
Zwei kleine Correcturitos, wenn ich darf: “... suffered from several bicycle burglaries ...” vielleicht besser: “... had several bicycles stolen ...”.
“...which does not really seem to be a (convenient) suitable / apt translation.”
Ich habe von dem Buch gelesen. Wenn es dir weiterhin gut gefällt, schreibe ich es auf meine Liste. :)

*Kräftig den amerikanischen Schnecken zuwinke*. Happy 4th of July! Nehmen manche Leute bei euch diese Woche auch einen Brückentag? ;)

Nehmen manche Leute bei euch diese Woche auch einen Brückentag? ;)

This is a trick question, right? :-) (In Austria we call them Fenstertage, by the way.) That said, happy 4th of July to all the leftpondians! Enjoy the BBQ, the fireworks, or whatever else it is you are doing on this day.

Das Wort muss ich doch jetzt anwenden, Carullus, habe ich doch gerade erst im CC gelernt! ;) *Fenstertag (Öst.) dazuschreib*

Danke, kisan. Alles Gute an die Amy-Eltern, gute Besserung an Steve und Lucy, gute Reise weiterhin an Robert, frohen 4. Juli zusammen. Wir haben gerade Besuch, ich schreibe vielleicht nächstes Mal mehr.

Sorry to hear about your accident, Lucy, but glad there are no really bad injuries. Take good care and lots of ice for your bruises.

The Romeo was a great performance, even if a bit wearisome due to the cold. After all I had at least to try not to make too much noise by coughing and sneezing. But the whole cast was great and the house was completely sold out, both for the tenor on stage and the tenor (baritone?) in the pit I guess.

@ wupper:

Maybe they were not after your bike but after your solid padlock? ;-) But serious: I can imagine that this is rather annoying, no matter that it was old and no matter you planned already to buy a new one.

I'm reading Lars Kepler (pseudonym for a writing couple from - I guess - Stockholm) "Flammenkinder". A bit bloody at points but well written.

Well, now, back to work ...

Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate it :-)

A friend of mine once bought a really expensive bike, and of course he was afraid someone would steal it, so he chained it to a fence.

The next day, that part of the fence had been cut out and taken away, with the bike still chained to it.

Pippa, that sounds like fun! I know I loved art museums when I was a child (I still like them, but somehow there's never time to visit a museum when I'm not on vacation). Next week my parents are visiting, maybe I'll go to a museum with them :-) "Sack-Flöhe-Alter" is a great expression, by the way ;-)

I'm reading a book by a Finnish author (Tuomas Kyrö) at the moment; the German translation is called "Bettler und Hase". No idea if an English translation exists. I like it - well, I like the first three chapters; don't know yet about the rest ;-)

Back home after vacation in Florida (Gulf coast and Atlantic coast).
Had a good time though some rain forbid more visits to the beaches ( I do not like wet sand ).
Brought Jo Nesbo, Lee Child and Jeffery Deaver books ( 'f'light entertainment), now getting over the jetlag, do laundry and watch at tons of weed. Kill it, let it die or try to remove? Lots of questions...

Willkommen zurück, walther. Wie gut, dass du eine angenehme Reise hattest, auch wenn es geregnet hat.

watching tons of weed = viel Gras (Marihuana)
watching tons of weeds = viel Unkraut (im Garten)

(-;

Ich kenne weder Jo Nesbo noch Tuomas Kyrö noch Lars Kepler, aber es ist gut, dass ihr jetzt ein bisschen mehr Zeit fürs Lesen (zum Lesen?) habt.

Wir sehen jetzt endlich Kolibris am Nektarspender. Der Besuch fliegt leider morgen ab, aber heute ist noch schön und sonnig. Schönes Wochenende noch, wem schon drin ist. Oder wie man das verständlicher sagt. (-:

Perhaps: "wer schon drin ist"

Apropos flying around:
In case harambee stops by. Or perhpas someone else does know: can get cash with credit card at the Beijing airport?

@ Wachtelkönig: Yes, there are ATMs at Beijing airport. The airport is huge and I don't know where you will arrive. So, I can't tell you where you will find the ATM. However, there are quite often ATMs in the area where you wait for your baggage. Don't worry, you will find one.

Edit: That is if you go there yourself. If you asked on behalf of a friend, he or she should not worry ;-)

Thanks, harambee!
Are there ATMs in other larger cities as well? Last week I could pick up a new passport at the German embassy in Buenos Aires, and finally decided to attend a congress in Kunming. So hopefully I won't get lost in Beijing. Do the people in the airport speak English?

[Sorry about the bad English - my previous post was written just before our group went for lunch]

Yes, you will find ATMs in all large cities and in most of the smaller ones as well. I haven't been in Kunming for a very long time, so I can't give you first hand advice for that place, but I'm very sure that they have plenty of ATMs. In 1993 I liked Kunming a lot, but I'm sure it changed dramatically as all Chinese cities did. Don't forget to take an umbrella ;-)

English at the airport: You will find people who do speak English, but not everybody does speak it.

Thanks! At first I wasn't very enthused about travelling to China. But recently the Field Guide to the Birds of China arrived (for the post-conference tour), and there will come people I haven't met for years. And I always travel with an umbrella.

In order to make your day:
http://suite101.de/article/die-schnellsten-sc...

*Ohren immer noch von einem M-80-Boller betäubt*

Toi, toi, toi, Sabine Lisicki! Ich habe mich gewundert, dass sie so gut Englisch spricht, aber Tante Wiki sagt mir, dass sie, seitdem sie 14 ist, in den USA wohnt.

Korrekturen:

@WK #52: and there will come people I haven't met for years - and people I haven't seen for years will be there (bzw. will come)

#50: Last week I could was able to pick up a new passport at the German embassy in Buenos Aires

@harambee #51: You will find people who do speak English, but not everybody does speaks it.

#49: in the area where you wait for your baggage Eigentlich ist das nicht falsch, aber man hätte auch schreiben können: baggage claim area

keine Korrektur: *shhh zitier* The next day, that part of the fence had been cut out and taken away, with the bike still chained to it. Wie in einem Cartoon.

@Sachs (#44): The Romeo was a great performance, even if a bit wearisome due to the my cold. Sonst denkt man, dass es im Theater kalt war, oder dass man womöglich im Freien das Schauspiel/die Oper gesehen hat. After all, I had at least to try not to make too much noise by coughing and sneezing. Aha, jetzt versteht man, was du meinst, aber wenn my im vorigen Satz steht, wird der Leser nicht verwirrt. Und dann: But seriously:

Keine Korrektur: *Carullus zitier* Enjoy the BBQ, the fireworks, or whatever else it is you are doing on this day. Danke! Leider haben wir nichts gegrillt. Das Feuerwerk, naja, wenn das nur die Nachbarn machen, ist das ein bisschen langweilig, finde ich. Es sei denn, man Kinder dabei hat, denen das noch ziemlich neu ist. Irgendwann mal sollten wir nach Detroit fahren, denn das Feuerwerk in Detroit/Windsor, Canada soll sehr schön sein. Oder am Michigansee gibt es ein schönes Feuerwerk. Am Wasser ist ein Feuerwerk am schönsten.

So, wir kriegen bald Besuch, also muss ich putzen. Ciao!

*reporting back from my holiday to London and Oxfordshire*

I had a wonderful time - it's so strange, every time I am in England, I feel so much at home. If I believed in reincarnation, I would think that I was British in a former life...

I will give you a few highlights later, but at the moment I'm still in the process of clearing up things and catching up with work.

I've just come back from a week's holiday in England as well ....

Thanks for the correcturitos, Amy. I thought "the cold" sounds a bit odd, but - you see, the alternative can be that easy but it just doesn't show up when you need it ;-)

@ Goldammer + penguin:

I envy you ! Not for being back from England but for having been there. I really long to go there again ...

Hi snails,
I am out of the hospital. GsD
Your wishes helped.
Today is wonderful sunny weather and
my daughter will take us for a ride to a "lekker Mittagessen".
I read something about diet in the Hochlichter, don't what that means.

wupper, Berlin/Brandendenburg is the Eldorado for Fahrraddiebe. I know what I am talking about.

A beautiful quiet Sunday morning... to all snails whereever they are.
Going to take my bycicle now and will get some strawberries (high season now in my area) from a cabin close to a field.

Goldammer, willkommen "zu Hause" nach deinem Urlaub! Es freut mich, dass du eine schöne Zeit in England hattest. Ich habe in den letzten Tagen das Tennisturnier in Wimbledon verfolgt und daran gedacht, dass du sicher auch viel Sonne hattest (?). Perfekt!

Schön, dass du wieder aus dem Krankenhaus bist, Steve! Wenn du schon wieder essen gehen kannst, scheint es dir ja ganz gut zu gehen. ;)

Unser Ausflug ins Museum hat viel Spaß gemacht. Nach dem Besuch haben wir im Park vor dem Museum ein Picknick gemacht und Verstecken gespielt. Du hast Recht, shhh, man nimmt sich oft nicht genug Zeit für solche Sachen. Zum Glueck bringen Kinder uns oft wieder dazu, alles Sehenswerte in der Stadt zu besuchen, weil sie immer etwas Neues sehen wollen. :)

Edit sieht gerade noch Walther: dir auch willkommen zurück im Schneckenhaus! Ich hoffe, du hattest auch einen tollen Urlaub.

Well it is a "ride in the Blue", I don't know what is expecting us. (o;

Sorry for the "bold message", I wanted to edit but Steve was quicker!

Ever since we moved back to Germany, we try to spend at least two weeks every year in England (last year it was a week in Rutland in May and one in Devon in September, this year one in Liverpool and Edinburgh in May and one just now). This time the house we used to live in was for sale again, and from the particulars we could see that it had changed beyond recognition: All the beautiful roses pulled up from the garden to make it more manageable, the landmark huge copper beech in front of the house taken down, a kitchen extension and breakfast room added at the back, changing the proportions of the building .... in a way that made it easier to see it again as it was no longer "our" house.

Sorry, penguin, ich hoffe, du hattest auch einen schönen Urlaub und willkommen zurück!

*nächstes Mal gründlicher lesen müss*
*Lucy wink*

Hallo, Steve, und Glückwunsch zur Entlassung. Hoffentlich konntest du das leckere Mittagessen genießen, ohne es mit dem Essen zu heftig zu übertreiben. Ich stelle mir vor, wer gerade aus dem Krankenhaus gekommen ist, weiß vielleicht sogar Obst und Gemüse ein bisschen besser zu schätzen, so lange sie 'im Freien' sozusagen gegessen werden dürfen. (-:

Lucy, was singt ihr denn im Chorkonzert? Das hört sich jedenfalls nach Spaß an, toi toi toi.

Wachtelkönig, das hört sich in der Tat interessant an. Ich hätte wohl auch Bedenken, nach China zu reisen, aber wenn du gerne zelten und wandern und so im Dschungel gehst, kannst du wahrscheinlich auch mit den Stehtoiletten usw. gut zurechtkommen. Und jetzt kann man anscheinend auf einem Smartphone so eine App bekommen, die sogar laut übersetzt, d.h., die Übersetzung vorliest. Ich stelle mir vor, so etwas könnte unglaublich hilfreich sein, wo nicht viele Englisch sprechen, die Schriftsprache für uns unlesbar ist und die Bedeutung jedes Wortes darauf ankommt, wie man einen von 4 Tönen ausspricht.

Pippa, gerade letzte Woche habe ich mit unserem Besuch ein mir total neues Kunstmuseum in einer mir sehr gut bekannten Stadt besucht. Manchmal ist die Unterhaltung von anderen eine gute Motivation.

Und die gute Nachricht des Tages: Es hat ein bisschen geregnet. (-:

penguin, danke übrigens verspäteterweise für den Tipp zum Regenmesser. Es kann sein, dass ich durchaus einen aus Europa oder UK bestelle, wenn es einen auf (mit?) Zoll(en?) gibt.

@wupper Re #38: Kennt einer von Euch das folgende Buch:
Erik Larsons "In The Garden of Beasts"? Eine Bekannte hat es mir neulich empfohlen. Es klingt interessant.
Ich habe das Buch gelesen. Es war okay, aber ich habe es nicht besonders interessant gefunden. Falls du das Buch lesen möchtest, könnte es dir schicken.

*Steve53 zitier*
wupper, Berlin/Brandendenburg is the Eldorado for Fahrraddiebe. I know what I am talking about.
Na, komm schon, Steve. Hast du wuppers Fahrrad geklaut?
Mal im Ernst: Ich hoffe, du hast die Fahrt genossen und es dir gut geht.

@penguin: RE Rosen. Schade, eigentlich, dass die schönen Blumen weg sind, aber es stimmt schon, wenn alles sehr verändert ist, erkennt man, dass die Vergangenheit vergangen ist.

Verleser: *nächstes Mal gründlicher leben müss* Ja, eben. *gg*

*F5* Hallo, hm. Schön, dass es bei dir geregnet hast. Stehtoiletten habe ich mal erleben dürfen, wenn die Toilette dreckig ist, dann stehe ich lieber.

Ich wollte eine Korrektur für Lucy_E schreiben (Tempus in #61), aber da fällt mir ein, dass es mit Tempus einen BE/AE-Unterschied gibt und ich mir nicht sicher bin. It's very, very long ago that I've been there. Ich würde sagen: It's been a very, very long time since I've been there. oder I was there a very, very long time ago. Was meinen die anderen Schnecken?

Doch eine Korrektur für Lucy_E: picking them (up) could be too exhausting, couldn't it?

Oh Amy come on you old squealer.

hm you are so right, the food was disgusting.

Thank you Lucy.

@hm:
wenn es einen auf (mit?) Zoll(en?) gibt.

What exactly do you mean? If you don't need to pay customs duty? If it will be cleared by customs?

(PS: Wait for the trade agreement with the EU to be signed and you might get one without any duties or taxes)

*aus dem Off*

Inches. Sorry. (-:

*gg*
wenn die Skala in Zoll ist
:-)

But it's so easy to measure: If the glass is full, there was a lot of rain, if it's empty, there wasn't any .... You could also transfer the water to another receptacle to measure.

You amateurs dare talk about bicycle thefts? So, watch in amazement how other regions can lift you to new heights. Most recent statistics shows that Magdeburg is one of the best performing German cities in the category per-capita rate of bicycle thefts. Only Cottbus and Münster report even higher rates. If you want an autograph from me, please contact my manager ;-)

@Steve: the food was disgusting.
The food in hospital or on your outing??
(SCNR, but seriously: how was your outing?)

Well well well, so lala.
They brought us to places were I have been ten times bevor.
I always looked for a shady place to sit and let them go and see
the "attractions". At the austrich farm I had a plate with austrich cold cuts and an "unleaded" beer, very good. While the others visited a toy museum, I sat within a wedding party and had fancy ice cream. And by the church with the mummy of "Ritter Kahlbutz", I had an excellent "Bauernfrühstück".

harambe, that's just what I said, Magdeburg and Cottbus are in our neighborhood. Our whole Region has a high criminal energy.
Bikes are just the top of the ice berg. HAHA

harambee, Steve, I hope you're proud of your region :-P The bicycle thieves of Berlin are looking up to you in awe.

Steve, that sounds like a nice outing :-)

Wachtelkönig, have fun in China! I hope you'll enjoy your stay there, although I guess it's going to be quite hot, isn't it? I looked up Kunming on Google Maps, and it's not exactly the northernmost city in China... Well, at least you won't get cold ;-)

Kunming does not get that hot in summer, it is actually one of the few places in Southern China that can be quite convenient at that time of the year. But as I said you should bring an umbrella or a rain coat. I probably only have it as an old slide picture, so I can't show you a photo I took a long time ago in Kunming. It is a very colorful picture because of so many different umbrellas and raincoats. But don't worry, it's not raining all the time. You should just be prepared for occasional rain.

Oh! I didn't know that. Good for Wachtelkönig! How fortunate to have someone as well-travelled as harambee in the CC :-) I learn something new here every day.

harambee, I envy you - you really have seen a lot of the world. But I'm young enough still to have a chance to catch up one day ;-)

There are so many places I have not seen, so I don't think I am that well-travelled. It is just that I have been in China quite often. It had always been one of my dreams to go there and so I did after finishing my university time. After that first trip to China I started playing xiangqi and that brought me back to China quite often. I don't play much xiangqi anymore and therefore my trips to china have become rare. Just not enough time left due to my Kenya activities. But sometimes I miss it.

@hm: Ein konisches Regenmesser aus Kunststoff gefällt dir nicht, stimmt's? Sowas kann man überall finden. Sie werden natürlich in China hergestellt.

But it's so easy to measure: If the glass is full, there was a lot of rain, if it's empty, there wasn't any .... 

Aha, warum kauft man überhaupt Regenmesser?

@shhh: Wohin möchtest du am liebsten hin?

Korrekturvorschlag für shhh: That's good for WK! (Ohne das das, klingt das wie Lob, und ich fragte mich: Was hat der WK gemacht?)

@harambee: Statt convenient würde ich comfortable nehmen.

Eine Kleinigkeit für Steve: ostrich, wenn man austrich sieht, denkt man an Austria, und dann fragt man sich, was bei euch angebaut und auf die Schlachtplatte kommt. Wir möchten die Österreicher keine Angst einjagen.

@wupper: Hast du #72 gelesen? Falls du immer noch nach dem Täter suchst.

Thanks, Amy! I'm afraid I will repeat that mistake a couple more times. Comfortable sounds just wrong to me, probably it is almost a false friend. In this context I would never say "komfortabel" in German.

A few correcturitos for Amy:

It is "der Regenmesser", consequently "Ein konischer Regenmesser"

Wohin möchtest du am liebsten hin?
That is "doppelt gemoppelt". You can write
Wohin möchtest du am liebsten?
or
Wo möchtest du am liebsten hin?

Wir möchten die Österreicher keine Angst einjagen. 
That's tricky again, and again you have two options:
Wir möchten den Österreichern keine Angst einjagen.
or
Wir möchten die Österreicher nicht verängstigen.

Danke, harambee. Die ersten zwei Fehler waren Verschlimmbesserungen. Als ich konisches schrieb, war das Wort Messgerät im Satz. Adjektivendungen sind wirklich lästig IMHO. Aber es stimmt, manche Fehler muss man wiederholen, bis man bereit ist, sie abzugeben. Goldammer hat fleißig den Fehler mit dem fehlenden am vor Tagen korrigiert, aber ich glaube, dass ich das endlich kapiert habe.

Kann wer mir etwas Motivation schick? Im Moment poliere ich eifrig Silber.

Hello to everybody!

Sorry that I didn't answer your questions for quite a long period of time...

I'm from Germany and we have holidays at the moment. :)
Uhm, my shoe size: 39 :D
I used to live on the Mars and I'm still not really sure how I left this place. Funnily enough nobody takes my descent seriously.

I seem a little weird to most people: I write English stories, I (try to) compose own songs and I am someone with a very inquisitive mind. I feel like at least 15/16, though I'm only 13 years old. :(
Also, I think all day long about whatever comes in my head and my character is pretty introverted.

I can speak German (of course), English, French and a bit of Spanish.

If you like to know any other things, don't hesitate asking. However, I'm determined not to tell too much about me. :P

I'll try to join your conversations as good as possible!
Hope to hear from you soon,

Alien13 ;-)

One Mars year (there is no such word in LEO) is equivalent to 1.9 earth years. So, for an earthling you are about 25 years old, Alien25?

If you like to know any other things, don't hesitate asking. However, I'm determined not to tell too much about me. :P

Also, verstehe ich die marsische Sprache richtig? Wir dürfen Fragen stellen, aber du beantwortest die Fragen nicht? ;-)

Frisch von der Welcome Wagon einige Korrekturen: If you want to know any other things, don't hesitate to ask. Eventuell könntest du auch: If you'd like to know anything else...

@harambee: Sounds good to me! :)

@Amy-MiMi: Doch, ich beantworte gerne Fragen, bloß nichts derart Privates wie den vollständigen Namen oder die Adresse der Schule etc., so meinte ich das. Ich entscheide dann einfach, ob ich darüber erzähle oder es lieber nicht preisgebe.
Oh, marsisch kann viel komplizierter werden... xD
Danke für deine Korrekturen!

>>Ein konischer Regenmesser aus Kunststoff gefällt dir nicht, stimmt's? Sowas kann man überall finden. Sie werden natürlich in China hergestellt.

Doch, das reicht schon aus, wenigstens kurzfristig, und zufälligerweise hat meine Mom heute einen im Baumarkt (? Home Depot oder so was) gefunden. Nicht so schön als der aus Glas und *nach oben schau und mich bei pengu bedank* mit einer Skala sowohl in Millimeter(n?) als auch Zoll, aber adäquat. (Besonders, wo die paar Tropfen Regen von gestern jetzt vorbei sind und es keinen Regen mehr in der Vorhersage gibt.)

Hi, Alien, und willkommen im CC. Was machst du also diesen Sommer, oder ist bei dir die Schule (oder Uni oder was auch immer) noch nicht aus? Spielst du gerne Sport oder Musik oder liest du gern oder was? Und die Schuhgröße darfst du natürlich auch in marsisch angeben ... (-;

harambee und Steve, hoffentlich sind euer Fahrräder noch heil und glücklich zu Hause.

Lucy, viel Glück beim Chorkonzert, sing schön. (-:

walther, wie haben denn die Erdbeeren geschmeckt?

A few morningly corrections for hm:

Nicht so schön [als] wie der aus Glas
it's "so ... wie" when something is equal and "als" when something is better, more beautiful, bigger etc. (e.g. "Der aus Glas ist schöner als der aus Plastik"). Or to say it differently: If you use the comparative form it's "als"

[Spielst] Machst du gerne Sport oder Musik ... You could also say "Betreibst Du gerne Sport und machst / hörst Du gerne Musik / interessierst Du Dich für Musik" but to keep it short as possible "machst" is fine; "spielen" for sports in general is rather unusual, even if you use it for individual sports (tennis, soccers).

"Baumarkt" sounds fine. For "Millimeter" I'd say both versions are possible, but I'd prefer the one without "n".

Amy I knew that there was something wrong. We do ot make cold cuts from Austriens of course. I should have ask LEO. Will I ever get rid of that duncecap? )o:
....and Amy calls it "Kleinigkeit"......

hm, my bike got stolen a few years ago, now I have a tricycle that is not so easy to ride. The thief would ride circles on the parking lot.

Holidays in many parts of Germany now, I really like the more quiet mornings with less traffic.
At my age it is getting difficult to bend down and pick the strawberries, that is why I buy them at the cabins near the fields. It is interesting to compare the different tastes.
I have a bowl almost every day now, variations besides of sugar can be a cover of whipped cream, sometimes even a splash of liquor (orange, apricot,cherry or vodka).
Today I will try to remove a hazelnut bush, planted by birds or squirrels. The original source is a screwdriver hazelnut(? very twisted branches) but the wild one is simply straight. Hopefully the roots will not reach too deep.

waltherwithh, mmm, now I'm hungry for strawberries, and it's your fault! :-P Maybe I'll pick up a box on my way home later. We still have some icecream at home - do you like strawberries with icecream too?

Amy: Where do I want to go most? Hmm... everywhere? :-P I don't know. There are so many interesting places in the world - for example, I've never been anywhere in Asia, so I would love to go there some day, but of course China is not like India, and both are different from Russia, etc. etc. - Asia really is big, so I don't even know where to start. And of course there are a myriad places I haven't been to yet on every other continent.

At the moment we (my boyfriend and I) are trying to get to know Europe better, because it seems logical to start with your home continent. We've been to Romania in May, and maybe next year we'll go to Ireland (or maybe we'll decide the way we did this year - write all European countries' names on scraps of paper and draw one). So in about 40 years we'll be through with that, and then we can start on Asia ;-) As there are only about 200 countries in this world, two to three lifetimes should be enough to visit them all...

Steve, no need to wear a dunce cap! I'm sure the Austrians in here know you well enough to guess you didn't want to eat them ;-)

I, for my part, at least was not worried about Steve's culinary extravagances. The only thing I could say to this: Just back from hospital you probably should be pretty careful what you eat - one bite and you don't have to be surprised about a very upset stomach :-D

Strawberries and some types of icecream are a nice combination as well, even a creamy joghurt is good.

Not a real success with the hazelnut, some very deep roots :-(

WK, are you in China already? Regarding the rain harambee is right, I guess. Never been to Kunming but to Chonquing and Guiiin. Forget Chonquing but, go to Guilin if you have spare time. Take a trip on the Li-river along the famous karst hills. I visited China once (3 weeks only) and was highly impressed. And don’t be afraid of the toilets as long as there is a hotel nearby. Most of all I’d like to recommend Hong Kong, since you are in the South-East Asian area – I’ve been there four times and it changed its face every year. IMHO it’s one of the most interesting places on earth and if I were younger I’d go there asap. Do you like cities after all? Probably I was too keen to tell you – though there is a bird market…. Anyway, if you’ve got the time and the money to go there, I can even recommend good hotels. :o)

@hm--us (and other interested persons:)):

Hi!

Well, we have vacations at the moment (6 weeks) and I just came back from a trip to Spain where I was with my family. We had a pretty warm, but windy climate there.

Yes, I love sports, especially athletics, soccer and hockey.
I'm crazy about music. I can play the piano and the guitar and I belong to my school's choir (chorus?). I often try songwriting. However, it seems difficult to me.
Oh, I'm such a bookworm! I'm momentarily reading "The Hobbit" in English. This version is much better than the German one, I think. I also write short stories in my free time: stories, which probably nobody(except for me)will ever read. :)

So, your guesses were really good!

Oh dear, I have no idea what my shoe size on the Mars would be... I always wore comfortable sneakers, that grew with my feet. Useful, isn't it? ;-)

____________________________________________________________________________

Man! I wish I could visit China, too... I dream of having a journey round the world, but my mom is against traveling to any other continents, so I'll have to wait until I'm at least eighteen years old or try to convince her, which is obviously pretty hard.

The Hobbit ... in English ... is much better than the German one, I think.

Everything is better in the original version if you speak the language. I hardly ever consume English works in translation if I can help it. That includes books, movies and TV shows. I also re-read The Hobbit a few moths ago and quite liked it.

I also write short stories in my free time: stories, which probably nobody(except for me)will ever read. :)

In this day of Amazon (& Co.) self-publishing, why not put a small compilation out there as an ebook? Make sure to post a link, though :-)

China certainly would be a great place to go to - like approximately several thousand other places as well. What I really would be concerned about is the food. I mean, I really wouldn't like to have dog sweet and sour for lunch by accident. If they at least had our alphabet it probably would be quite easy to avoid - or should the word for dog in Chinese really be something else but "wau wau" ? ;-P

Hello again! And a happy welcome to Alien13! So you only are 13 years old? Then it is useless to ask for your credit card number...

I just came home from our first choir concert – and, what shall I say? We rocked the hall – it was really great fun! Our programme was a medley from pop songs and pieces of music from operettas, all relating to the differences between women and men (e. g. "It’s Raining Men", "Happy Together", "She’s Only a Woman", "Ach, die Weiber", "The Argument" and also some German pop songs like "Männer sind Schweine"” (not my opinion, of course ;-)) or "Nur für Dich"). On Saturday we will have our second concert and, from experience, it will be even better than today. And by then my voice will hopefully have recovered from the exhausting performance tonight.

And now – as I am going back to the office tomorrow – it’s time to go to bed. See you!

Hi snails, welcome Alien,

Congrats, Lucy!

A rare doorlet for Amy, probably only a typo:
Aber es stimmt, manche Fehler muss man wiederholen, bis man bereit ist, sie aufzugeben (abzugeben).

Another rare doorlet for hm::
... ist bei dir die Schule (oder Uni oder was auch immer) noch nicht aus? 
I would put it differently. Something like: Hast du Schul- oder Semesterferien? Die Schule ist aus doesn't mean vacations. Heute war die Schule schon um 12 Uhr aus.

And a doorlet for Sachs, probably a typo: (Be)Treibst du Sport?

Tonight I'll just make it to my bed; even the idea of travelling is too much for me. Good night!

No, kisan, sorry but that was no typo since it's - even if you ask the Duden - correct usage, see
http://www.duden.de/suchen/dudenonline/Sport%...

Ah, I like "Nur für dich"!
It's one of my favorite Wise Guys songs. I haven't followed up their most recent output; I somehow got the impression some time ago that their songs were becoming more and more banal and shallow and stopped listening. Am I right? Does anybody else know?

*curiously creeping through*
*carrying cookies and morning coffee*

Hello everyone old and not old enough to know me. ;)

I second Carullus' opinion on English originals. The Hobbit and especially The Lord of the Rings is so much better in English. Anything containing humour or poetry just isn't suited for translation (this probably holds for every language). However, the Silmarillion freaked me out. That was one of the few books that I had to give up in English. Maybe I should give it another go. :)

Moin!

@ #98/#99: I agree with kisan. Everybody will understand "Betreibst", but to me it seems more normal to ask "Treibst Du Sport?"

The Duden examples are not quite to the point. Most of them are constructions like "Tennis als Sport betreiben". The only examples where the "Sport" itself is "betrieben" are constructions like: "den Sport als Beruf betreiben".
IMHO, this usage differs from hm's simple question.

A still more colloquial version might be:
"Machste irgend'n Sport?"

"Machste irgend'n Sport?"
I'm sure that's exactly the sentence people should learn in a language group ...

I'm not sure what I'm missing. If you go**le for "Sport betreiben" you get over 5 mio. search results, for "Sport treiben" it's only 1.7 mio. I know that this isn't the "holy grail of language" but the results speak a very clear language, so I don't see why "betreiben" should be less common or even unusual/wrong. Maybe there are regional differences once again (no idea what neck of the woods kisan calls home).

Well, since the newest version of the Duden apparently also claims that der Vollpfosten and die Rabaukin are proper German, I wouldn't attach too much significance to that. :D (I also would say Sport treiben and not betreiben, though).

Sachs wrote: What I really would be concerned about is the food. I mean, I really wouldn't like to have dog sweet and sour for lunch by accident.

Many people say that, but in my opinion there is no reason to be concerned. It is very unlikely to be served dog meat accidentally, as it is not that common in street restaurants. In most regions of China it is actually quite difficult to find it if you want it. I actually believe that China is one of the easiest countries for travellers when it comes to food. You will mainly get chicken, pork, a lot of vegetables. The way they cook it makes it quite safe and there are so many nice and cheap food stalls, from nice noodle soups in the morning over dumplings at lunch time to full meals in the evening. In my opinion that kind of food is motivation enough for visiting China.

Gruppenkorrekturito:
the Duden —> Duden

Kein Artikel im Englischen. Sorry. (-:

Vielleicht ist das mit treiben/betrieben noch so ein N-S-Unterschied.

Danke für alle Vorschläge. Darf ich also kombinieren? 'Machst du irgendeinen Sport oder irgendeine Art von Musik'?

Hi, Lore, schön, dich wieder mal im CC zu lesen. Fährt ihr irgendwo Interessantes zum (auf? im?) Urlaub hin?

Lucy, das Themenkonzert hört sich nach viel Spaß an. Ihr müsst ziemlich gut sein, die Wise-Guys-Harmonien sind nicht gerade einfach. (Arrangements: Versätze? Versetzungen? Dazu gab es schon mal einen Neuen Eintrag, aber da ich weder die Suche noch Wörterbuchseiten nach der Ersten zu sehen bekomme ...)

Alien, wie hat Spanien denn euch gefallen? Wo wart ihr denn, Madrid, Barcelona, Inseln, Küste ...? Das ist ein Land, das noch auf meiner 'To-See-Liste' steht.

#94 I'm momentarily reading "The Hobbit"
—> I'm reading "The Hobbit" at the moment
/ At the moment I'm reading "The Hobbit"
/ I'm currently reading "The Hobbit"
/ Right now I'm ...
etc.

hm!! *waving madly* Thanks for the doorlet. Really no article. Huh.

Your sports-and-music combination is lovely. :)

No exciting holiday destinations in sight: we're going to spend a week at the North Sea. That's it. Sheep, seals and possibly sun. We have timing issues since older Lorbeerchen starts school on Aug. 10th, but little L. has Kita holidays only from Aug. 9th on (3 weeks). I have to take care of her then and can't afford to not work for more than 4 weeks.

doorlets for you: Fährt ihr irgendwo Interessantes zum (auf? im?) Urlaub hin? This is a construction you might hear in spoken German. Then it would be: Fahrt ihr irgendwo Interessantes in (*g*) Urlaub hin? It's no elegant sentence, though. In writing you would have to say Habt ihr ein interessantes Urlaubsziel? or Fahrt ihr an einen interessanten Ort in Urlaub?

wie hat Spanien euch denn gefallen

Hello again and thank you for your nice welcomes!

Everything is better in the original version if you speak the language.

Yes, that's obviously true. When I wanted to read "The Hobbit", I stopped after a few chapters for it sounded boring and didn't catch me at all, which usually never happens to me. Though I liked Harry Potter(in German)very much, I'll try to read the English version. It may be even better, I guess.

In this day of Amazon (& Co.) self-publishing, why not put a small compilation out there as an ebook? 

Wow, I didn't know about that! (I'm not that used to the internet: no facebook, neither skype, nor whatsapp or twitter, nothing at all and I also never bought something in an online shop so far...:D)
But it's a good idea, I'll think about it!

So you only are 13 years old? Then it is useless to ask for your credit card number...

Yes, I am. But I'll become fourteen on Saturday, the 13th...Though, I already feel like about 16 sometimes, it's stupid. Well, I don't even know my credit card number (my parents probably keep it), I'm not that rich either, although I save nearly everything of my money. :P

I just came home from our first choir concert[...]

Are you a singer? Gratulations to the succes last night! I love music and singing and I wish I could become a singer (but there still are many other possibilities). I'm in my school's choir, we only have quite small winter and summer concerts, but I do enjoy them every time. I can't believe how great yours must have been!

The Hobbit and especially The Lord of the Rings is so much better in English. 

Yeah, I decided to start with the English version of "The Lord of the Rings" right away. The author has great writing skills, but they easily get lost in any other languages.


"Machste irgend'n Sport?"
I'm sure that's exactly the sentence people should learn in a language group ...

:DDD

About the Chinese food: I've never been to China so far, though I'm sure they have many common things to eat. And well, in Germany you can have Lasagne with horse-meat (without knowing what you eat), which is also not that nice. To order new meals that are typical for another country, that's a bot more difficult. But I'd take it with humour. I'd never refuse visiting a country just because of the food. In fact, the differences between us are, why most people travel round the world.

@hm -- us: Thanks a lot for your corrections!

Fährt ihr irgendwo Interessantes zum (auf? im?) Urlaub hin?

I'd better say in German: "Fahrt ihr in den Urlaub an irgendeinen interessanten Ort?"

Yes, Lucy's work sounds pretty professional! They must have had many exhausting rehearsals...

Alien, wie hat Spanien denn euch gefallen?

*Wie hat euch Spanien denn gefallen?* (just a very small mistake :))

I liked Spain. We were in Andalusia, the southest part. They have great beaches and comfortable hotels/acommodations (I was really pleased) and nice beaches, too. The climate is of course extremely warm, but also quite windy (at leat at the coast). You can visit a plenty of beautiful villages and towns with interesting museums. Yes, it is a must-see place, nice culture and they're not always alike with Italy.

Good night, everybody!
Sleep well, dream positive...
And don't forget the daily jogging! xD

I also just re-read the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in English. Very enjoyable reading - especially when you pay attention to the little details, descriptions of landscapes etc, and also take your time to read the songs and poems etc.

I really encourage you to read the Harry Potter books in English, too. Although the German translations are very good, a lot of the small details, humor etc. get lost and the originals are really much better.

Are you going to change your name into Alien14 on Saturday?? ;-)

Guten Abend, Goldammer. Seid ihr in letzter Zeit *hüstel* in einem interessanten Ort wandern/spazieren gegangen? Oder früher in England? Wie geht es den Katzen?

Wow, Alien, danke für den schönen langen Beitrag. Eine Handvoll Korrektürchen:

#108
—> didn't [catch] interest / engage / (ugs.) grab me at all ... and I've also never bought [some]anything in an online shop so far ... Congratulations [to] on the success last night! ... I'd never refuse [visiting] to visit a country just because of the food ... I'd [better] say in German instead: ... in Andalusia, the [southest] southernmost part ... ). You can visit [a] plenty of / many beautiful villages and towns ... [they're not always alike with] The towns aren't like the ones in Italy?

Ich war auch noch nie in Italien. Ich stelle mir vor, im Hochsommer ist das Wetter in beiden Ländern ziemlich heiß, aber wenn ihr am Strand wart ... Mich würden die maurischen Schlösser und so mehr interessieren. Und die Tapas. (-:

Zu Harry Potter auf Englisch gibt es übrigens schon im Forumsarchiv* jede Menge Fäden zu schwierigen Wörtern, Namen usw. (*Suche in allen Foren, falls das bei dir klappt, anders als bei mir ...) Viele junge Leute haben es richtig aufgeschnappt, damals, als die neuen Bände gerade erschienen sind. (-:

Isn't it AndaluCia in English? Not sure now and too tired to look it up...
My hubby's from there - great place for a holiday!

*sings* going to see MUSE tomorrow on the Loreley... Cannot wait!!

Oh, and yes, Alien13, read Harry Potter again in English. Full of funny little ideas...

Can't I edit with my phone?
Well, just a short question. I stumbled a bit over Alien's "will become 14" - is that correct? I would say "I'll BE" oder "I'll TURN" 14 on Saturday?

Yes, I sometimes write much and I wanted to answer all your comments as good as possible...

Oh, it's already pretty late, I should stop writing, I make too many mistakes (and you find them, of course)... ;D

Well, we viewed a couple of ruins (I love ruins!!!) and also visited the "Alhambra" in Granada. It would be interesting for you, I think. Its history has a lot to do with the Moors and they also built some of the castle towers. Anyway, it belongs to one of the most popular tourist attractions in Europe...

I've been to Italy three times already. We Germans often move to the south, mostly Italy and Spain, to have warm and sunny climate, which we can't expect to get at home. :) Italian food is my favourite food: pizza, pasta, bread, salat... mhh... DELICIOUS!!! :D
But to order Tapas may be funnier, especially, when you just say "We'd like to have a mixture of Tapas." because you don't understand anything on the menu. And then you wonder what they'll serve... Though most things seem eatable and quite tasty. :)

I'll see if I can join the "Harry Potter" forums, thank you for the advice, I might need them.

I really encourage you to read the Harry Potter books in English, too. Although the German translations are very good, a lot of the small details, humor etc. get lost and the originals are really much better.

Yes, I believe so, too. It's always the same. Even great translators aren't able to really get across feelings, humor and the meaning of something as deep and great as in the original.

Are you going to change your name into Alien14 on Saturday?? ;-)

No, I won't. ;-)
First of all, I don't like the number 14 at all. 13 is my favourite number: I was 13 while living in year 2013, I already celebrated my birthday on Friday, the 13th... :)
Besides, I hate getting older.

And even if my time as a thirteen year old girl was horrible enough, I still had a very small other connection to the number: a 31 year old person. That are obviously the numbers, changed in their position and having a far distance, though for me, it's the same.

Well, above all, he's 32 now, that's why I can say goodbye to my lovely 13 without too much longing...
And if you're confused now: You don't have to understand those reasons, they're quite unlogical. :P

Isn't it AndaluCia in English?

I looked it up on dict.leo.org and it says "Andalusia". :)
Yes, great place. I met many English people there.

Then I mixed it up with the Spanish spelling...
Great place because or despite all the British people there?! Lol...

@ Sachs(#103):
Please don't worry about "Machste".
There has been a behind-the-back no-look pass and hm -- us made the lay-up in #106.
That's how I see it.

@ Andalusia:
The Doors: Spanish Caravan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKmkOIlHbok

Hi! I am just trying to hide my blushing – thank you for your compliments! In fact we are just an amateur choir with some ambitions ;-) And our programmes differ very much – sometimes classical music, sometimes pop music. We even performed Beethoven’s 9th symphony which was the most exciting challenge ever (and I still wonder how we made it – but it definitely was a great experience).

As Alien13 wrote about Spain and Andalucia I would like to share this song with you (and thanks, Emil 14, for your link – I quite like The Doors ;-)) – here is my recommendation:

Yo La Tengo covering John Cale

Oh you're collecting music about Andalusia? Then you can't miss this one.
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2196660/The_Clash... :)

@hm Sorry, but...
Seid ihr in letzter Zeit *hüstel* an einem interessanten Ort wandern/spazieren gegangen? ;)

Hey Emil 14, I'm Alien13! lol

Then I mixed it up with the Spanish spelling...
Great place because or despite all the British people there?! Lol...

That's it. In Spanish they say "Andalucía", so you took away the stress to make it English. :)
Not only, but great place because of the landscape, the climate, the culture, the sights, towns... :D Though, I love hearing Native Speakers speaking English, it sounds beautiful!

Thanks for the links, I'll listen to those songs now. ;-)

@Alien13 Since you're so much into the number thirteen, I recommend another classic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4 (got nothing to do with Spain, though)

Oh dear, I hope it'll be weekend soon :-( I didn't really sleep well last night, and my foot is itching like crazy because I have an allergic reaction to a mosquito (or whatever that flying critter was) bite :-(

But I don't want to drag you down, I'm sorry - Andalusia and music are much better topics than my whining, so keep on. At least your good mood brightens mine a little, so thanks for that, everyone! :-)

@Lore: Thank you, I like this song very much!! :)

@shhh: Oh, I feel sorry for you... My sister too reacts allergic to mosquito bites and if those stupid animals catched an articultion, she couldn't even move normally, it must be terrible!

OK, we'll try our best! ;-) I just have found another song we often listened to in the Spanish radio, sounds like summer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMkbhYwZczA

You poor guy: still working!! :O
I'm on holiday. :P

@Alien13

shhh is "sugar and spice" afaik

Hello again :o)

Hallo alle, insbesondere Grüße an Alien13 und RenaRd.

Heute ist mein letzter Tag in Stuttgart. Bis jetzt war die Reise ganz gut: die Schüler waren total brav und sehr anpassungsfähig. In Berlin haben wir den Zug verpasst, aber nur weil er frühzeitig abgefahren ist. Wegen der Überschwemmungen zwischen Berlin und Hannover hat sich Deutsche Bahn dafür entschieden, die Züge frühzeitig abfahren zu lassen - ohne ihre Kunden darüber zu informieren. Alles ist aber bestens gelaufen. Ich ging zum Reisezentrum, und die Angestellte schrieb mir eine Erlaubnis, ohne Reservierungen mit dem ICE zu fahren. Der Zug war übervoll, aber wir hatten alle den ganzen Weg Sitzplätze - und wir sind früher als geplant in Stuttgart angekommen.

Jetzt geht's los nach Norden. Ich folge den Spuren Störtebeker.

'Türchen für Alien13:
My sister also has an allergic reaction to mosquite bites, and if those stupid animals bite her in a joint, she can't even move normally.
Wie furchtbar!

shhh, gute Genesung wünsch ich Dir.

Letzten Sommer war ich in Spanien aber nicht in Granada. Córdoba war aber sehr schön.

Schönes Wochenende an alle.

*Schwäbische Dinette und Apfelschorle ausstell*

Thanks for the correcturitos and travel wishes! On Tuesday I was at the Chinese embassy. Still sore muscles, almost two kilometers from the end of the subway line. On Monday I have to repeat the same trip, to hopefully being able to get back my passport.

Some of the recent comments made me remember the thirteen-lined ground squirrel that lived near my previous premises in Illinois.

Oh, how lovely, Robert!!
*grabbing Dinnete and Apfelschorle*

Bis jetzt war die Reise ganz gut.
I'm not sure whether you know that putting it like that, you are saying something like "The trip was sort of ok, but not really very nice"

If you wanted to say that it was really fine so far, you could for example say:
Bis jetzt war die Reise sehr gut / ist die Reise sehr gut verlaufen / war die Reise sehr schön

Moin,
Goldammer and Robert can you decide how to spell Dinette Dinnete and explain old stupid Steve what that is?

At your service, Steve!

The spelling "Dinnete" complies with the pronunciation: stress on the first syllable, short i.

http://chaosqueen.net/2009/06/03/schwaebische...

Oh, I looked at the Picture and what can I say:
"I love Dinnete".

I thought you might! :-DD

I knew it, I knew it, Iknew it,
this Dinnete thing is a fraud.
It's a simple copy of our "Weimarer Zwiebelkuchen".

How do you know it's not the Weimarer Zwiebelkuchen which is a fake Dinnete???

Aunt Wiki says, btw

Dinneten sind ebenfalls sehr nahe mit der vor allem in der Schweiz verbreiteten Wähe verwandt, die regionalen Übergänge sind fließend. Dinneten werden mit unterschiedlichen Belägen angeboten, häufig mit Zwiebeln und Speck, aber auch mit Äpfeln, Kartoffeln, Käse oder anderen Zutaten.

Do the Weimarer Kuchen thingies also come with apples, potatoes and cheese???

;-)

Danke, Goldammer, für den Hinweis.

Die Reise war sehr schön.

Dinette war ein Tippfehler. Die Franzosen sind daran Schuld. :-) Ich hatte eine Dinnete mit Speck und Zwiebeln, meine Kollegin hatte eine mit Spinat. Ich wollte eine mit Apfel und Sahne probieren, war aber total satt. Wir konnten nicht einmal die ganzen Dinneten essen.

Der Flug von Tegel nach Arlanda (Berlin nach Stockholm) war auch sehr schön. Von Stuttgart nach Berlin saß ich in der Mitte, was nicht besonders bequem war. Von Berlin nach Stockholm aber hatte ich drei Sitzplätze für mich allein. Ich fand es höchst interessant zu sehen, dass die Sonne "rückwärts" ging. Das heißt, die Sonne war am Anfang des Fluges ganz am Horizont, aber später war sie etwas höher am Himmel. Als wir in Schweden landeten, gab es immer noch genug Licht, um Farben zu sehen. (Das war kurz vor 23.00 Uhr.) Irgendwann zwischen der Landung und meiner Ankunft im Hotel wurde es dunkel. Als ich in mein Zimmer trat (etwa um 00.30 Uhr), konnte ich schon Licht im Osten sehen.

Heute bummelte ich durch die Altstadt. Jetzt mache ich eine Boots(Schiffs?)rundfahrt. Also, bis später.

My niece is going to Stockholm for a study trip with her class early tomorrow morning! (She's a teacher, too).
Maybe you two meet without knowing!

How long will you be there?

A nitpicky topiclet:

Heute bummelte ich durch die Altstadt.

Spontaneously, I felt that sounded a bit unusual to me. I would have said:
Heute bin ich durch die Altstadt gebummelt.

What do other German native speakers say?
If they agree, can they give any reason why one should prefer perfect to past tense here? I can only "feel" it but not give a reason. Or am I maybe caught once again in my southern German "language feeling" and the others find "Heute bummelte ich durch die Altstadt" perfectly ok?

"and the others find "Heute bummelte ich durch die Altstadt" perfectly ok?"

Yes, to me it sounds okay, although I have to admit that most people would use Goldammer's version.

Amy, today the German federal president visited Klaipeda. A good choice for a trip, isn't it? When I heard about it on the radio, some nice memories returned.

Onions and Bacon okay but potatoes apples and all that other stuff is just to camoflage the original Thüringer thing wich is the
real Macoy.

# 134, Goldammer: Your proposal is okay for a Southern-German. :o)
Unfortunately I can't grant you a link (for I don't remember where I got it from) but I once copied some rules for my personal use. Here's an excerpt:

In South Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the preterite is mostly used solely in writing, for example in stories. Use in speech is regarded as snobbish and thus very uncommon. South German dialects, such as the Bavarian dialect, as well as Yiddish, and Swiss German have no preterite, but only perfect constructs.
However, in the colloquial language of North Germany, there is still a very important difference between the preterite and the perfect, and both tenses are consequently very common. The preterite is used for past actions when the focus is on the action, whilst the present perfect is used for past actions when the focus is on the present state of the subject as a result of a previous action. This is somewhat similar to the English usage of the preterite and the present perfect

That's why to me (and harambee as well) Robert's sentence sounded very familiar and accustomed.

Hey Robert, have a nice trip.

I like the part "Use in speech is regarded as snobbish".

Unfortunately, my use of preterite and perfect is not very similar to English usage, otherwise I would not make so many mistakes with thoses tenses in English.

Use in speech is regarded as snobbish

Deshalb verbessert Goldammer eifrig, wenn ich Imperfekt benutze. *gg*

Ich musste an die Opernliebhaber unter uns denken, denn meine Schwägerin hat einen Preis bei einer Verlosung gewonnen. Konzertkarten und eine Kiste voller CDs. Sie hat sich über die CDs gefreut, bis sie die Kiste aufmachte und nur Opern-CDs drin fand. Sie mag keine Opern.

RenaRd, I do know about this, nobody knows better than I.

It's why I always feel uncertain about preterite / perfect issues and usually say so in here.

With three of you stating preterite ok in Robert's sentence, I stand corrected.

The "snobbish" connotation originates from the fact that if somebody uses preterite in spoken, colloquial Schwäbisch, it sounds unusual - since in our variety of the German grammer, it simply doesn't exist, as RenaRd's article also states. Therefore, the use of it may be associated with trying to pretend to be "something better" and denying one's Swabian background. An altogether stupid attitude, since I find we Swabians needn't think we are inferior in the first place, therefore no need to pretend to be "uppish" by using preterite.

Of course - before I trigger off another discussion again - it is necessary and useful to be able to speak the northern variety of German with its grammar (including preterite) for those contexts where it is appropriate (even if not many of us are able to get rid of their accents - think only of Wolfgang Schäuble, Günter Öttinger and Jogi Löw!)

@Goldammer: Wie lernen Schwäbisch schwätzende Kinder Hochdeutsch in der Schule? Werden Grammatikregel explizit gelehrt, oder lernt man so aus Erfahrung, sprich indem man die Hochsprache hört und liest?

The snobbish young Amy ignored my hint to Klaipeda. I'm gutted ;-)

To be honest, Amy-MiMi, I don't remember. I guess it is a mixture of both.
You read hochdeutsche texts all the time (not only in school but also the books you read for your own enjoyment); your teachers speak Hochdeutsch (if with accent), and you have grammar units in your German lessons, too.

I'm gutted. *harambee ein Pflaster überreich.* Oder meinst du das etwa im BE-Sinne? *unschuldig guck* Oh, ja, Klaipeda. Ich wollte dir sagen, habe es dann aber trotzdem vergessen, dass ich an dich dachte, als ich gestern die Suppe zubereitete. Und...da du so quengelst...Gestern suchte ich kurz im Internet, wurde aber auf die Schnelle nicht fündig. Was hat Herr Gauck in Klaipeda gemacht?

Edith wanted to add that she just asked Goldammerson about how we learn Hochdeutsch, and he said exactly the same - without knowing what Goldammer had written before.
But then Amy-MiMi was quicker.

How can you say that I am whining? That's absolutely untrue. I never do that and it makes me cry when you say such a thing! ;-)

What did Mr. Gauck do in Klaipeda? Oh, he did what German presidents do on such trips. Here is his program: http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Ber...

And here you can find the transcript of what I heard on the radio: http://www.mdr.de/mdr-info/Klaipeda102.html

I never do that and it makes me cry when you say such a thing! Sheesh! ;-)

@Goldammer: Danke. Ich habe nur gefragt, da manche Afroamerikaner die Black English sprechen, Probleme in der Schule haben, da sie die Standardsprache nicht zureichend beherrschen. Vielleicht ist es aber der Fall, dass sie in der Freizeit nicht genug lesen und in der Schule die grammatischen Unterschiede nicht lernen. Wenn ich in der Stadt geblieben wäre, hätte ich mich mit dem Thema intensiver befassen müssen. Deswegen fand ich dein Kommentar so interessant. Ja, und ich habe dich nur deshalb ignoriert, weil harambee so bitterlich weinte und ich ihm ein Tempo holte.

*harambee das Taschentuch überreich*

*editier* Interessant, dass im Bericht Beides Wilna und Nida steht. Kennt man Nidden nicht mehr?

Danke für die Links, harambee. Ich schaue mal, was Herr Gauck unternommen hat.

A few correcturitos for Amy:

#141
Werden Grammatikregeln explizit gelehrt

#147
da manche Afroamerikaner, die Black English sprechen, Probleme in der Schule haben,
(missing comma after Afroamerikaner)

da sie die Standardsprache nicht zureichend beherrschen
In my opinion you can say
da sie die Standardsprache (nur) unzureichend beherrschen
or
da sie die Standardsprache nicht hinreichend beherrschen

I know that's tricky and I can't explain why "nicht zureichend" sounds unusual. I'm not even sure that other Germans agree.

@ Amy-MiMi (#147):
"... so bitterlich weinte und ich ihm ein Tempo (holte) geholt habe/holen musste." is what I would say. That's confusing, isn't it?
Sorry, no time.

Sorry to disagree, Emil.

I thought that when harambee cried at the same time as Amy-MiMi fetched the tissue, which was the case as she put it, it was perfectly ok to put both in preterite.

(one could add: ...weil harambee so bittelich weinte und ich ihm gerade ein Tempo holte...)

And I also disagree with harambee. "nicht zureichend" may be a bit unusual, but ok imo.

@Afroamerican students: Maybe the differences between black and standard AE (is that how you put it pc-ly?) are bigger than those between Swabian and standard German?

Hmmm, I can see your point, but I still feel different about the sentence.

In the beginning ...
harambee was crying.
Then, Amy-MiMi went to fetch a tissue.
In doing so, she ignored you.
Therefore, ignorieren and holen should both be in present perfect.

I see that many of you use "preterite" - would "past tense" be sub-standard?

@ #140:
"Wolfgang Schäuble, Günter Öttinger and Jogi Löw" - It is true, you can hear where they come from. But there are others like the former long-distance runner Dieter Baumann or your current prime minister - to put it mildly: schlimme Sprecher.

@"nicht zureichend"
I would only use "unzureichend".
I couldn't use "nicht zureichend", because I wouldn't use "zureichend".
For me, it is "ausreichend" und "nicht ausreichend".
Probably a N-S difference.

Danke für die Korrekturen.

I see that many of you use "preterite" - would "past tense" be sub-standard? Nein, aber es gibt verschiedene past tenses, also genügt "past tense" nicht. Man liest auch simple past oder imperfect.

@Emil: Ich hatte zuerst ausreichend geschreiben, und verschlimmbesserte dann deiner Meinung nach den Satz. *gg*

@Steve: Man schreibt das "the real McCoy", weiß aber nicht, woher der Ausdruck ursprünglich kommt.

Danke, übrigens, dass du von Weimarer Zwiebelkuchen erzählt hast. Ich habe ein Rezept im Internet gefunden und backe das vielleicht mit den Schülern. Und eine Zwiebelsuppe koche ich auch. Warst du schon auf dem Zwiebelmarkt in Weimar?

Grüße aus Gotland.

Gestern bin ich durch die Stadt Visby ein bisschen gebummelt. Heute gehe ich ganz um die mittelalterliche Stadt. Leider habe ich nicht genug Zeit, um die ganze Insel zu erforschen.

Hier ist Snopes zum Ursprung von "the real McCoy"
http://www.snopes.com/language/eponyms/mccoy.asp

Für Euch, die an keine Links klickt: Der Ursprung ist nicht total klar, und es gibt einige Theorien. Am wahrscheinlichsten ist folgende Theorie: McKay war eine Marke schottischer Whiskey. 1856 hörte man schon den Satz: „A drapple o' the real McKay." Später wurde der Name manchmal falsch geschrieben (z.B. McKie, McCoy). Als den Satz über den Teich kam, wurde er mit dem Boxer Norman Selby gen. „Kid McCoy" verknüpft.

Wie Amy schon schrieb, ist "past tense" zu allgemein. In der Vergangenheit kann ein Verb im preterite/simple past/imperfect, perfect, past progressive oder perfect progressive sein. Dazu kommen die pluperfect Formen: pluperfect und pluperfect progressive. Wusstet Ihr, dass Englisch etwa 18 verschiedene Tempora hat, Deutsch aber nur sechs? (Dafür hat Deutsch Genus und Kasus.) (Es ist schon eine Weile her, seitdem ich sie gezählt habe, denke aber, dass die Zahlen stimmen. Hauptsache ist, dass Englisch viel mehr Zeitformen hat als Deutsch.)

Schönen Tag, alle. Jetzt geh' ich spazieren.

re #136, #152, #153 - I can't hold back myself (probably I stayed at the association thread too long) :)

Real McCoy, originally known as M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy, is a German Eurodance group, best known for their '90s singles "Another Night" and "Run Away", which were both Top 10 hits worldwide.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_McCoy_(band)

But surely the band was named after the well-established expression? I am afraid I wasn't familiar with that group.

Thank you, Amy-MiMi and Robert -- US, for the explanation.
I agree, my question could have been more precise.

My Swan dates from 1991 and its nomenclature may not be up to date anymore. But I also never heard preterite or imperfect in my English lessons (WIMNI hihi - though I may have been sleeping). So I wondered why so many people here were using preterite.

I know "Plusquamperfect" from my Latin lessons, but pluperfect is really nice, if unknown to me. When has that term been coined?


Has any of you bookish snails read 'A Cuckoo's Calling' by Robert Galbraith?

You mean by Joanne K. Rowling? No, I didn't, but read somewhere just this morning that the critics are good.

Guten Abend zusammen. Nein, ich habe es noch nicht gelesen und werde es auch nicht jetzt sofort kaufen. Eigentlich kommt es mir ein bisschen verdächtig vor, wie das alles doch bekannt worden ist. Ich denke, sie hat wohl nicht allzu sehr versucht (schwer? try hard?), es geheim zu halten.

Robert, meine Mutter hat Visby als beinahe das perfekte Reiseziel in Erinnerung. Sie träumt davon, noch eine letzte Überseereise zu machen, will aber nur wieder nach Visby, Sizilien, Zürich, Hawaii und vielleicht Neuseeland. Wir sagen ihr, sie muss sich zuerst ein eigenes Flugzeug kaufen. (-;

Zur Grammatik: Wir sagen schon preterite und imperfect, auch perfect und past perfect/pluperfect, aber in erster Stelle bei den romanischen Sprachen.

Emil —> When [has] was that term [been] coined? ... [Has] Have any of you bookish snails read ...

Sachs —> the [critics = Kritiker] reviews are good

Thanks, hm. So we have to read the book first to able to judge if the critics were good (by writing good reviews), right ? ;-)

Thank you, hm -- us for those painful corrections!

Sachs, hm -- us, everybody is so well informed!
Yesterday's newspaper said that only 1500 copies had been sold so far. This made me wonder if, by any chance, one of the snails may hold one of those - possibly unknowingly.
I haven't even purchased the 'Casual Vacancy', yet, although I wanted to - too much other stuff to read ...

@hm -- us
sie hat wohl nicht allzu sehr versucht - perfect!

Sachs playing ingeniously on words - Edith does like that.

Sorry, Emil, what is it you find "schlimm" about the way Kretschmann speaks? I don't get it.

Kretschmann's voice can sound very grating. I sometimes find it hurts me physically when he speaks.

Thanks, Emil (or Edith). It might have been even better if I hadn't missed a "be". Blame the late hour ...

It seems like real hard word when Kretschmann modulates the words.

*Kretschmann nicht kenn*

Wärmezahl schon 34 Grad Celsius, und es wird noch wärmer. *schwitz*

Da hast du nichts verpasst, Amy. Übrigens, er kennt dich auch nicht.

Oh that is really warm. Wehad 27°C today and that was warm enough for me. Actually to warm for me.

Kretschmann is the Prime Minister of Swabia. What makes him extraordinary is that he is from the Green Party.

*Kretschmann auch nicht kenn*

Generelles Correcturito:
Ministerpräsident = premier
Premierminister = prime minister

*Amy Eiswürfelbeutel, Steve einen Fächer reich, mich über unsere 22°C freu*

*disagreeing with Steve* I find him an excellent premier and I like his down-to-earth-ness.

We have had temperatures in the mid-twenties, my absolute ideal of a nice summer, and it's still going on like that.
We are planning to go back to one of those old castle ruins on the Schwäbische Alb which we recently discovered and sleeping out in the open for one night, one of these days.

In a book I just finished I read about a yellow fewer epidemic in Philadelphia at the end of the 18th century. I would never have connected yellow fever to North America, so I am now wondering whether that was pure fiction (yellow fever was only mentioned in one or two sentences, it is not really important for the novel). Is there any historical background? I could google (and will probably do it later when I have more time than now) about it, but I assume that there are snails in the know who would like to tell us more. If there is a historical background, the next question may be whether yellow fever still occurrs in North America. I've never heard that travellers to the US should consider a yellow fever jab, so I assume there is no such problem these days.

re yellow fever:
Apparently the virus travelled from Africa by way of the slave trade to America - here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

The yellow fever virus is transmitted by the bite of female mosquitoes (the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, and other species) and is found in tropical and subtropical areas in South America and Africa, but not in Asia.[4] The only known hosts of the virus are primates and several species of mosquito. The origin of the disease is most likely to be Africa, from where it was introduced to South America through the slave trade in the 16th century. Since the 17th century, several major epidemics of the disease have been recorded in the Americas, Africa, and Europe. In the 19th century, yellow fever was deemed one of the most dangerous infectious diseases.[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_fever

I've had a yellow fever jab before we moved to Brazil in the 1960s, but nowadays it is only recommended if you travel to the South American and African tropics, not to the big coastal cities.

Thanks, penguin! Your link even mentions the epidemic I asked about:

The yellow fever epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia, which was then the capital of the United States, resulted in the deaths of several thousand people, more than nine percent of the population. The national government fled the city, including president George Washington.

I got a yellov fever jab 9 years ago and now I'm wondering whether I should get a booster next year. Recently the WHO announced that there was strong evidence that the standard immunisation resulted in life-long immunity. So, a booster should not be necessary anymore. However, it has been text book knowledge for very long that a booster would be necessary after ten years. For people travelling to Kenya a yellow fever jab is not required when they have not recently travelled through yellow fever areas. However, if I go to Uganda from kenya (or viceversa) an immunisation is compulsory. I have no immediate plans of visiting Uganda in combination with Kenya, but I have done it in the past and I may want to do it again. I will have to check whether the regulations for Uganda and Kenya will be modified after the aforementioned WHO announcement. I don't like the idea of getting a forced immunisation at the border. But that's something I can think about next year.

I'm afraid the text above could use some editing, but I don't have time for that, so I will just post it.

that a booster would be necessary after ten years

That's what my WHO International Certificate of Vaccination says, you better ask a doctor.

That's what my WHO International Certificate of Vaccination says, you better ask a doctor.

Yes, of course I will, but the problem may be more a regulatory one than a question of medical science. Even if my doctor says that a booster is not required anymore, officials at the border may still insist that I have to get one. By the way, here is a link to one of the many articles on the medical question: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/...

Edit: The fact sheet on yellow fever on the WHO website was conformed to the new scientific results. It says (see http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs1... ):

Vaccination is the most important preventive measure against yellow fever. The vaccine is safe, affordable and highly effective, and a single dose of yellow fever vaccine is sufficient to confer sustained immunity and life-long protection against yellow fever disease and a booster dose of yellow fever vaccine is not needed. The vaccine provides effective immunity within 30 days for 99% of persons vaccinated.

Therefore I'm optimistic that the official rules will be changed in all countries I may want to visit.

I’ve thrown my Certificate of Vaccination away recently when I decided to avoid countries like that henceforth. No more yellow fever (the Black-African belt from Kenya in the East to Nigeria in the West). No malaria or (even worse) dengue fever in and around Myanmar – though I’d love to go there again. But if your company sends you there – enjoy it!…
Diarrhea is bad enough (IMO) but can be handled with a glass of whiskey after drinking or eating. (Strange enough: it always worked!)
That reminds me of Wachtelkönig. If you read this: You’re a "Birdie"? Working on your “Big Year”? I never heard of this until yesterday when I saw a film about this passionate people hurrying around the world counting rare birds. Fascinating!

What is a "Big Year", RenaRd, please?
I just don't know.

Goldammer I did not say anything about his quality as prime minister, I think he is qquite okay. I was just talking about the way he speaks and forms his words, it's teacherlike. (o:

AFAIK: It's 365 days of chasing around all the (to Birders) well-known places to "meet" as many birds as possible. It's a quite expensive competition ... let me have a look ...
Ah - I just found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_year

It seems, only Americans take part in here, though it rather looks like a very British kind of sport...

No Renard, everybody was invitetd to count the birds in his living area. I think that was for entire Germany, maby only in Brandenburg.

@Steve: Weeell, you made a quite general statement about him, didn't you?
If you say about somebody "da hast du nichts verpasst, wenn du den nicht kennst", it is clearly more than saying something about the way this person speaks.

And, teacherlike - he is a teacher, after all! :-D

Edith says, Steve, that she believes you are getting two things mixed up here.

What RenaRd said about the Big Year is quite a different kettle of birds (scnr) from "Stunde der Gartenvögel" which is a project by German nature preserving organizations where everybody is counting the birds he or she sees within one hour in their garden or at any other place. The aim here is not to see as many birds as possible all over the world, but collecting information about the present populations of the most common bird species.

You are right Goldammer , I forgot that part of my statement and I regret it. )o:
About the birds, you are also right Goldy.

Before I totally forget all the details, here's the promised travel report from our trip to England.
We stayed in a B&B in south east London, Catford near Lewisham. The B&B was very simple indeed, the tiny room had practically nothing in it but two beds, not even a chair or a little table. It was an upstairs room in a typical London suburb terraced house - there was one more single guest room, and the landlady and landlord also had their bedroom next to ours. The 5 of us shared one tiny bathroom and a toilet. Breakfast consisted of toast with ham, cheddar or jam, and an apple or banana, instant coffee or tea. At first we thought we couldn't stand that for a whole week, but our landlady proved to be a very kind and friendly host - she housed us at their own standard of living, and we didn't bear any grudges - only maybe against the agency which charges a lot for that standard of accomodation!
We had really nice talks with our landlady; for example she told us that her husband and she both used to work as cleaning people in the ministry of defence (they are pensioners now), and how difficult it was at first when she started the job not to lose her way in those vast underground "mazes"; also how stressful the time of the Falkland crisis was not only for the higher officials in the ministry, but also for the cleaning staff! Very fascinating.

On our second day, we started to take the bus into town instead of the train, this took us about 45 minutes to London Bridge station or into the city, but it was really very enjoyable to sit in the front seats upstairs and look at suburb life on our way.

One thing Mr Goldammer was really fascinated about was the great number of top-of-the-range cars you could see in the streets - not only in the City or in Knightsbridge, but everywhere. The absolute highlight was a Bugatti Veyron which we saw outside Harrods. It had a Dubai number plate and its own "body guard" who kept a close eye on it.

Some of the touristy things we did were real fun, for example the boat trip on the Thames to Greenwich, or climbing up St Paul's Cathedral, others not so much - I can't recommend Mme Tussauds, for example.

We took up hm--us' recommendation and attended an evening service in Westminster Abbey - that was really very impressive and atmospheric, with many officials in their colorful gowns, lots of incense, wonderful choir music - and a surprisingly modern and interesting sermon.

On our third day I stumbled on the very last step, coming down from the more than 500 steps of St Paul's, and sprained my ankle really badly. For about a day I thought that was the end of our holiday, but fortunately, after one night, it improved rather quickly. We spent a morning in Lewisham hospital, got a very positive impression of the NHS - the examinations showed that nothing was broken and no ligaments injured, the lady doctor there was very friendly and gave me excellent advice.
Since Mr Goldammer also can't walk all too much in towns, we didn't even have to change our plans very much - we didn't "do" more than two things per day and spent many leisurely hours in parks inbetween, reading and watching people, both very entertaining.

More highlights were: Temple district and Temple church, Southwark cathedral, walking across several of the bridges, a classical concert in St Martin in the fields.

Foodwise, we soon stopped eating out in town altogether - the prices are outrageous. We bought bread, ham and cheese, juices and fruit in a local supermarket near our B&B and had picknicks during the day, and then a warm meal (take-away, eaten in our tiny room from an improvised table made of our two suitcases, or a pub meal in a lovely pub in Catford) at night on "coming home".

Our last three days we spent near Oxford with friends, a couple, whom we met for the first time in our lives. How can that be, you might ask - very simple - the woman is a leonide whom I had "known" for many years but never met before.
We had a very lovely time together - after a very short time of "initial shyness" it felt as if we had been friends for a long time. We spent a lovely day at Oxford, saw a lot of the beautiful colleges, walked through "Hogwarts refectory" with a crowd of mostly very young tourists etc.

So, all in all, it was a very eventful, exciting and impressive holiday - just as a holiday should be.

Thank you for the report, Goldammer, and congratulations on your successful holiday. Some of the details remind me of this and that.

I had planned to tell you a little story before I knew about Goldammer's big holiday report. It is quite different and much shorter:
This afternoon I met a colleague I hadn't seen for a couple of months.
I was surprised to see him and said, "Ach, hallo!" He put his car key from the right hand into the left, put forth his hand and said in a very deep voice, "Hallo, ich habe eine Sommergrippe."

... she housed us at their own standard of living, and we didn't bear any grudges - only maybe against the agency which charges a lot for that standard of accomodation!

Are you familiar with AirBnB.com? It's like that, only without the agency. (OK, the website is acting as such, but the rates are really very reasonable.) I really like the concept, mostly ordinary people offering a place to stay, very often (depending on the accommodation) for very little money, ranging from (literally) an inflated air mattress in the living room (hence the name) to a full-blown guest apartment. It's usually cheaper than a regular hotel, but what I find even more important is the contact with your host: more often than not I was treated as a friend or acquaintance, been given tips of where (not) to go, what to see and do, been taken shopping or invited to parties or barbecues, etc., all things I would have missed out on in a regular hotel. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Thanks for the interesting report, Goldammer. I should consider a short trip to England, haven't been there for so long.

Wow, Carullus, that really sounds very nice indeed! I wish we had known about that before our trip!

I just browsed through a few offers in London, and I definitely know we will book with them when we go back there which we might well do because there were so many things we couldn't do in that one week.

@ Goldammer

Thank you for the impressive report. Please allow me to pick the saddest parts of it:

First of all your accident on the stairs of St. Paul's – I hope you didn’t go there just because I told you about the "whisper gallery". I felt the pain when reading about it. Your ankle is okay by now hopefully?

Secondly I didn’t know you’re a devotee of sports cars, too. You had the chance to see a Veyron – wow! (For those who don’t know: Bugatti Veyron, built by the Volkswagen Group (!), the fastest street legal production car on earth [over 400 km/h, second is (was?) the Koenigsegg Agera] and the most expensive afaik , around 1.3 mio Euro). Obviously a car like that needed a “car guard”! Why this is sad? I will never be able to drive it (my eyes, you remember) and unfortunately I can’t afford such a car either. *sigh*

Retrospectively the accommodation wasn’t that bad, I guess. Sometimes a frugal meal on top of suitcases could be a kind of – romantic? :o)

Danke, Goldammer, für den schönen Bericht über London. Abenteuer sind immer irgendwie schöner im Rückblick, oder? Zumindest kann man sagen, ich hab's überlebt.

Bis jetzt ist meine Reise ein bisschen abenteuerlich gewesen, aber nicht wie die von Goldammer. Dienstag auf Mittwoch war ich in Kopenhagen. Am Mittwoch bin ich mit dem Zug nach Malmö gefahren, dann mit dem Bus nach Trelleborg. Am Nachmittag bin ich mit der Fähre nach Sassnitz gefahren. So weit, so gut. Ich dachte, dass es bestimmt eine gute Verbindung für die Fährpassagiere von Sassnitz nach Bergen geben würde. Das war total falsch. An Bord des Schiffes haben mir die Leute gesagt, es gäbe nichts. Dann haben sie nach öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln geschaut. Der letzte Bus nach Bergen fuhr nicht von der Fähranlage, sondern von einer Haltestelle 20 Minuten zu Fuß weg. Wir kamen um kurz vor 22.00 Uhr an, ich ging zur Haltestelle und wartete bist 22.41 Uhr auf den Bus. Fuhren wir direkt nach Bergen? Oh nein. Wir fuhren nach Serams zur Buswendeplatte. Dort musste ich umsteigen. Dann fuhren wir nach Bergen zum Busbahnhof. Dort musste ich mit einem Taxi zum Hotel fahren. (Glücklicherweise hatte ich mir die Rufnummer des Taxis schon vorher gemerkt.) Um Mitternacht kam ich endlich im Hotel an. Das war ein langer Tag.

Gotland war wirklich schön und steht jetzt auf der Liste der Orte, die ich irgendwann nochmals besuchen will. Ich habe nur Visby gesehen und bin um die Stadt (wortwörtlich um die Altstadt herum) gelaufen. Am Nachmittag bin ich in der Ostsee gewatet.

Tja, was kann ich sagen? Diesen Sommer will ich einen Überblick des Nordens kriegen. Das ist sozusagen eine Einleitung in die Gegend. Dann kann ich später zurückkommen und das, was ich genauer ansehen will, nochmals besuchen.

I'd say:

Überblick (des) über den Norden(s)...

Thanks for your northern impressions, Robert!

@RenaRd:
My ankle is sort of ok - I have to be a bit careful not to stumble again, but I'm free of pain in normal walking.
The doctor advised me to take pain killers for the first few days - she said that was much better than developing "secondary pains" in the knees, hips or in the back because of "Schonhaltungen" in walking because of the pain in the ankle. This worked very well.

It's more Mr Goldammer who is into cars - not so much myself. I wouldn't notice most of them. I noticed the Veyron, though, that looked really special.
I think the main reason for it to be parked just outside the main entrance of Harrods was certainly to show off. It was a major attraction, and there were always people (including me) taking photographs of it.

And no, I had wanted to visit St. Pauls anyway, I have never been in it before. When I studied in London, I felt "above" such touristy things, being a (temporary) Londoner.
We tried out the whispering gallery, and Mr Goldammer said he heard me, but I didn't really hear him. The view over the city from the top gallery was the highlight for me.
Only after we had left, we realized that we had missed looking at Florence Nightingale's tomb. Mr Goldammer had wanted to visit it, he recently had a unit about her in his Volkshochschul English class.

I envy you, Robert. I've never been farther north than Kopenhagen before. What an adventurous day you had on your trip to Bergen! Besides the difficulties you had to bear it must have been an interesting journey though. How is the weather up there, btw?

Some very small corrections:
fuhr nicht von der Fähranlage ab, sondern von einer Haltestelle 20 Fußm[M]inuten [zu Fuß weg]entfernt
wartete bis[t] 22.41 Uhr - a typo
Rufnummer des Taxis schon vorher [gemerkt] geben lassen / notiert - Am I right? You can only keep sth. in mind when you knew it before...
einen Überblick [des Nordens] über Nordeuropa / die Nordländer kriegen
sozusagen ein[e Einleitung] Einstieg in die Gegend - better einen ersten Eindruck (...) gewinnen...

Regarding the rest: I wish my English were as good as your German...

*being nitpicky*

Yes, of course, in order to remember something, you have to put it into your head first.
But it needn't necessarily be by "geben lassen", nor "notieren" - he could have looked it up in the internet and memorized it mentally.

For me, "ich habe mir die Nummer des Taxis schon vorher gemerkt" is ok; it implies the process of getting the information first without mentioning it.

Yeeah - that's possible.
:o)

Yes, it's possible. However, I had the same thought as RenaRd. It seems unlikely to me that Robert's main message was that he had memorized the number. I assume - and may be wrong - that he indeed wanted to say that he had looked up the number earlier and taken a note, be it a mental or a written one. So, only Robert can tell us whether we can let him get away with his original expression ;-)

Hi folks.

Thanks for your report from me too, Goldammer. Quite a number of places that sound very familiar. Where I actually hadn't been yet (and am not planning to go at a hopefully future trip) is indeed Mme Tussauds. Somehow I don't get what could be so fascinating in staring at wax people. But obviously that's just me and a few other exceptions, otherwise it wouldn't be so famous and well-visited.

What I really loved in the London area was Kew Gardens, maybe an idear for your next trip (if you do not know it already) - but then it's quite a lot of walking there, so I'm not sure if Mr. Goldammer will love it so much.

Also thanks to Robert for your report. I hadn't been at that region yet so it doesn't bring memories alive as Goldammer's London report does, but it sounds like a fascinating trip too.

We actually had planned to go to Kew Gardens - the idea was for Mr Goldammer to sit down and enjoy the sun and read if the walking was getting too much for him, but we cancelled that plan after my little accident.

I quite enjoyed looking at some of the wax people, and I very much enjoyed watching other people having their photographs taken with their favourite ones; some of them were behaving so silly it was real fun watching them! - but the selection which is presented there was just not what interested me - so many of the so-called celebrities were people we had never heard of before, and that made it quite boring. Others we missed - they not even had Agatha Christie there, would you believe it, or Sean Connery! Probably we were just too much above the average age of the visitors.
And quite a lot of time (for queueing inside, before that section) was taken up by an extremely stupid and silly "horror show" with real people shouting "Boo!" at you from around dark corners or suddenly jumping in your way, waving their hands in front of your face. If they had much more space, and sections to go to according to your interests (history, literature, science, politics, showbusiness, sports and so on) it might have been more interesting.

@Sachs: Danke, dass du uns Idears gibst. *gg*

Auch ich würde Mandam Tussauds nicht besuchen wollen. Es ist vielleicht interessant, aber es gibt so viele andere Museen, Gärten, Kirchen und so, die mir mehr anziehen.

@Goldammer: Da Herr Goldammer Englisch lernt und Autos mag, vielleicht möchte er diese Website anschauen: http://www.automobilemuseum.org/ Herr MiMi hat das Museum zwei Mal besucht. Es steht auf meiner Tosee-Liste.

10 Uhr morgens und schon ist die Wärmezahl 33 Grad. Zum Glück wohne ich nicht in einer Großstadt: dort ist es viel wärmer. Am Wochenende haben die Schüler, die am Austausch teilnehmen, eine Fundraising-Veranstaltung. Warmes Wetter ist hilfreich, aber hoffentlich bleibt es nicht soooo heiß, weil ich viel mitmachen muss. Zum Glück gibt es eine Mutter, die den Verkauf mitorganisiert, und sie will die ganze Zeit dabei sein, da sie das Geld für ihren Sohn braucht. Ich bin nur die Hälfte der Zeit dabei.

Korrektürchen für Goldammer: they not even had didn't even have Agatha Christie there, would you believe it...Womöglich kann man im BE "they hadn't even" sagen. Ich kenne mich nicht mit BE aus.

*raten will* I think Robert memorized the number (was it on the cab?) without looking it up. *neugierig sei*

Nach einer Stunde: Wärmezahl 37 Grad.

@ Goldammer:

Now that Sachs mentioned Kew Garners: Don’t miss one of the countless galleries. I kept the National Gallery in mind for long. But since a visit there takes at least one day your next stay in London should last longer than this one. I’m sure your friends in here will provide you with a lot of Ideas! :o)

@ Amy-MiMi:

Hopefully Robert isn’t freezing up there in Bergen (I don’t really think so, it might be T-Shirt-weather there at this time of the year). But I surely would hate 37° C! I didn’t get it, I’m afraid: Where do you live? Texas? In our part of Germany the temperature went up to 28° C, and that’s fairly enough for me. It has been that fine for two weeks now. Thast's what I cvall summer!
I knew, btw, that Goldammer is not really interested in fast cars – I sent her a link to a Lambo, Lotus und Bugatti recently and didn’t earn any response at all. ;-)

A little correcturito:
->schon [ist die Wärmezahl] zeigt das Thermometer 33 Grad

As far as I remember there is no „hitzefrei“ in your area (was it you who said so?), because there’s aircon everywhere. But I could imagine, you’d prefer a few days off, too …

Just a typo, Amy, but thanks nevertheless.

Could ask this in the language lab, but rather try it here:
I just started reading a crime story and stumbled over the sentence
"But if there's three of you ..."
Shouldn't that be "there are"?
Background is, that the daughter asks her parents for money to rent a bigger flat, but they're quite sceptical about the benefit, since she won't have more space if there are three persons going to live in the apartment.

*Amy-MiMi den Preis überreich*

Als ich von der Fähre ausstieg, sah ich ein großes, blaues Schild mit der Rufnummer des Taxi-Services. Ich hatte schon eine Ahnung, dass ich ein Taxi brauchen würde. Deshalb lernte ich die Nummer durch viele Wiederholungen auswendig. (Ich hatte kein Papier zur Hand.) Den ganzen Weg von der Fähre zur Bushaltestelle (also 20 Fußminuten [Gehminuten?]) wiederholte ich leise die Telefonnummer. Auch im Bus sagte ich mir die Rufnummer immer wieder im Kopf. Erst eine Stunde später brauchte ich die Nummer, um ein Taxi zu rufen. (Heute kann ich die Nummer immer noch sagen.) Es war gut, dass ich die Nummer im Kopf hatte, denn am Bahnhof gab es kein Taxi und kein Schild mit einer Rufnummer.

Das Wetter ist seit letzter Woche herrlich: um 22-24 Grad, sonnig, mit leichter Brise. Am Tag meiner Reise nach Gotland war es bedeckt und nebelig, aber nur bis ich in Gotland war. Am späten Nachmittag war es nochmals sonnig. Als ich meinen Spaziergang um die Altstadt von Visby machte, war es in der Sonne war und in den Schatten kühl.

Morgen werde ich auf die Insel Hiddensee fahren und dann am Abend das Störtebeker Festspiel sehen.

Als Teenager war ich auf einer Reise nach Europa und habe Madame Tussaud's gesehen. Für einen Teenager war das damals interessant, aber das Wachsmuseum ein Mal sehen, genügt. Ich gehe viel lieber in andere Museen (Victorian and Albert ist interessant, sowie das Britische Museum, das Museum von London, den Tower of London und das British War Museum), in die Kirchen, ins Theater usw. Für einen Tagesausflug finde ich Hampton Court Palace schön. Dort gibt es den berühmten Labyrinth, den „Großen Weinstock" und natürlich das Schloss.

Wusstet Ihr, dass Agatha Christie die Frau von Sir Max Mallowan (einem Archäologen) war? Er spezialisierte sich auf den antiken Nahosten. (Ich weiß nicht wie das auf Deutsch ist, aber auf Englisch heißt es "Near East" für die Antike und "Middle East" für die heutige Zeit.) Christie ging mit ihm nach Ur, Nimrud, Kairo usw. Einige Artefakte im Britischen Museum wurden von ihr mit Gesichtscreme gereinigt. Here is ein Link zu einem interessanten Artikel über „Agatha Christie, Archäologin": http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/03/1... - ich denke, Ihr könnt die Beziehung zu „Murder on the Orient Express", „Death on the Nile" und „Murder in Mesopotamia" begreifen. (Im letzten Buch soll sich das Opfer auf die Frau von Leonard Woolley, einem anderen Archäologen, basieren.)

An der Ecke Friedrichstraße-Unter den Linden in Berlin gibt es ein Gebäude mit Autos im Schaufenster. Als wir (die Schülergruppe und ich) vorbeigingen, mussten wir kurz anhalten, während die Jungen (und der Alte*) über den Bugatti Veyron und die zwei Bentleys schwärmten.

(*Nicht Adenauer)

@RenaRd: In Texas wären solche Temperaturen im Sommer nicht erwähnenswert. Ich wohne im Norden, in Michigan. Zwar bin ich anderswo aufgewachsen, also sollte ich eigentlich extreme Wetterverhältnisse gewohnt sein, aber seit vielen Jahren in Michigan ist aus mir ein Wetterweichei geworden.

Danke für die Korrektur, aber die Rede ist von Wärmezahlen nicht Temperaturen. Eine Wärmezahl ist eine Art gefühlte Temperatur, das hat mit Luftfeuchtigkeit zu tun, aber genauer kann ich es im Deutschen nicht erklären. Viele älteren Häuser im Michigan haben keine Klimaanlage, da eine solche Hitze selten ist. Mein Mann und ich haben keine Klimaanlage.

*F5* *Robert wink. Preis entegennehm. Knicks mach*

@Sachs: Du hast recht, aber umgangssprachlich (und besonders im AE?) hört man immer häufiger "there"s" am Satzanfang, egal was danach kommt. Das ist eine Sprachentwicklung, irgendwann wird "there's three cars/three of you/three guys" in der Schriftsprache auch für richtig gehalten.

Amy, I don't think the term "Wärmezahl" exists in German. But we do know the expression "Gefühlte Temperatur", although that seems to be a quite new concept.

Ja, Sachs, der Satz soll eigentlich "If there are three …" lauten. Wenn mann aber diese drei als eine Gruppe betrachtet, kann man auch die Einzelform benutzen, besonders in der Umgangssprache. In AE kann man dadurch die Einheit der Gruppe oder die Individuen betonen. Zum Beispiel:
- "The mob was quite rowdy" (Betont die Einheit der Gruppe)
- "The crowd went their separate ways" (Betont dis Versammlung von Einzelmenschen)

AE und BE sind auch unterschiedlich, wenn wir von Firmen sprechen. Auf AE heißt es, "General Motors is …"; auf BE heißt es, "Land Rover are …"

Edit: Amy hat auch Recht. Irgendwann wird "There's/There is" zu einer festen Redewendung, die ähnlich wie "Es gibt" ist. Wir sind aber noch nicht so weit, mindestens in der Schriftsprache.

Wusstet Ihr, dass Agatha Christie die Frau von Sir Max Mallowan (einem Archäologen) war?

I did, but then I've read her autobiography :-) It certainly explains her predisposition towards Mediterranean or Oriental settings. (I'd like to add Appointment with Death and the short story collection Parker Pyne Investigates to your list.)

Amy, I don't think the term "Wärmezahl" exists in German. But we do know the expression "Gefühlte Temperatur", although that seems to be a quite new concept.

In cold weather, you sometimes find a temperature taking the wind-chill factor into account, but I've never seen anything like that in summer.

Hmmm, lügt der Löwe, oder ist das ein Fehler: Dictionary: wärmezahl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index

Vielleicht kennt man das nicht in Deutschland und Österreich, da euer Klima als gemäßigt gilt.

I did, but then I've read her autobiography

So have I, very interesting - and I also visited her summer house, Greenway in Devon, last summer.

Ich gebe es zu, dass ich SVIW nichts von Agatha Christie gelesen habe. Es kann sein, dass ich einen Krimi gelesen habe, aber vielleicht doch nicht.

@penguin: Und? Lohnt es sich, ihr Haus zu besichtigen?

Goldammer, es tut mir leid, dass du dich im St. Paul's verletzt hast, aber es freut mich, dass der Gottesdienst in (der?) Westminster Abbey euch gefallen hat. Wenn es Weihrauch und Beamte und so gab, war es wohl kein Alltags-Evensong -- aber bei den Briten hätte es sich wohl so gut um die Ritterschaft des Königreichs als um das örtliche Kegelverein oder so handeln können, man weiß ja nie.

Der Oxford-Teil hört sich sehr schön an; schade nur, dass du im Sommer wohl nicht mit zur Chorprobe gehen konntest. (-:

Amy, wir dagegen hatten gerade drei (3) Tage REGEN *hüpf* *freu* und auch jetzt haben wir noch keine 100 Grad, GsD. Danke sehr, dass ihr dort oben uns die Hitze abgenommen habt, auch wenn nur für ein paar Tage. Wir wissen es zu schätzen.

Wo steckt übrigens Lara? Hoffentlich wurde sie im letzten Monat nicht mit Aufgaben überflutet.

@Oh, hm, gern geschehen. Ich habe mich fast nicht getraut, über das Wetter zu quengeln, denn für euch sind 33 Grad ja bequeme Tage. Wie schön, dass ihr drei (3) Tage Regen bekommen habt. Irgendwie hat man vergessen, darüber im Radio zu berichten. Naja, in New York und Washington ist es heiß, also hören wir davon.

Vermutlich hat Lara viel mit dem Umziehen und so zu tun. Ob sie noch arbeitet? Ich habe vergessen, wie das *6-Gang* Zählrunter läuft.

Ja genau -- wo die Medien sind, da gibt es Nachrichten. Wie beim Schlüsselbund unter der Straßenlaterne. (-:

Eigentlich waren es keine drei Tage, wo es kontinuierlich geregnet hat, nur drei wolkige Tage mit Regenschauern. Aber immerhin haben wir ein paar Zoll abbekommen, fast das erste Mal seit Mai. (Dem Mai?)

Oder vielleicht ist sie schon aus der Wohnung rausgezogen und hat vorübergehend kein Internet, und im Büro soll sie ihrer Vertretung kein allzu schlechtes Beispiel von Leonitis geben. (-;

Greenway is managed by the National Trust, but unlike other NT properties looks just like Agatha Christie and her family have left it. I enjoyed it very much, it's definitely worth visiting.

@hm--us:
You wouldn't call "officials" in a church service "Beamte". I used the term because I wasn't sure who was a priest and who wasn't - there were quite a few of them, as I said.
No, it wasn't a usual evensong, it was a full evening service with eucharist.

@RenaRd & Amy-MiMi: thanks for clarifying the issue of Wärmezahl and Temperatur - I was a bit confused about the term "Wärmezahl", too.

Edith meant to offer correcturitos but she looked at the clock and saw that midnight is approaching - so she postpones it until tomorrow, if until then nobody else did it.

Sleep well in your Bettgestell, Goldammer. *an WK denk*

Sodass du morgen dich nicht zu viel anstrengen musst, eine Selbstkorrektur: viele ältere(n) Häuser

Thanks for the explanation, Amy and Robert. Actually it's a British author and located in GB, so most probably it's BE. But it sounds logical that for direct speech colloquial language is used. But then I'm also glad to see that my feeling was right and it isn't standard.

A few correcturitos for hm:

... dass euch der Gottesdienst in der Westminster Abbey [euch] gefallen hat. - The way you placed "euch" is not completely wrong, but the sentence becomes more fluent when you place it earlier.

... es sich wohl ebenso gut ...

... fast das erste Mal seit Mai. - is correct.

... aus der Wohnung [r]ausgezogen ...


I never heard of Wärmezahl either. but according to the Wiki article the heat index is indeed also known as "felt air temperature", so a translation with "gefühlte Lufttemperatur" seems to be appropriate, even if I usually know this also only for cold temperatures appearing even lower due to wind. But you could be right, Amy, that it isn't known here for summerly temperatures since the heat is not so extreme here. And when it's really very warm + humid in my neck of the woods it's simply "schwül".

I'm not sure how Goldammer's officals could be translated properly, but maybe "(geistliche) Würdenträger" would do?

For people who believe in Wikipedia - I forgot the name of that religion - the German word for heat index is simply Hitzeindex, sounds more familiar to me than Wärmezahl.

The LEO entry for heat index has the additional note [astr.] whatever that may mean.

The (astr.) probably indicates that the term doesn't concern the weather but the temperatures of stars. Since they have different temperatures, amongst others depending on their age and visible by their colour (red giants, white dwarfs ...), there certainly is some sort of index to bring these facts together. So this one might well be it.

# 200 Amy-MiMi: Wärmezahlen
If I had looked it up I had known that "Wärmezahlen" existed in LEO already. As many others wrote meanwhile: Even the term "gefühlte Temperatur" (temperature plus humidity plus wind) is quite new. So both of us were right somehow. :o)
I just browsed the Wiki-article about Michigan, and this caught my eye: Wärmster Monat ist der Juli mit 18 °C. Now I undertstand that 37°C must be an outstanding heat.

#209 hm--us: Schlüsselbund unter der Straßenlaterne
Never heard that expression before which sounds to be quite familiar to you.I can't figure the sense of it...

#215 Sachs: Finally I found someone to talk with about Black Holes, Heisenberg and Einstein! (In fact, i'm an intertested layperson only, but you started in an in exciting way...) ;o)

#209 - Dietrich?

I think hm--us refers to the old joke of that man who had lost his keys in the night and looked for them under a street lamp and couldn't find them.
When he was asked: Have you lost them here?, he said: no, over there somewhere, but it's so dark there!

This to illustrate the sentence: News is where the media are, not where something interesting might have happened.

Sachs, you spoiled the unique opportunity for revenge, you could have thanked Amy for informing us that there is a Mandam at Tussaud's ;-)

Some more correcturitos:

#196 Amy

die mich mehr anziehen
Your original sentence has a quite different meaning, but I can't see how museums, gardens or churches can put clothes on you ;-)

Da Herr Goldammer Englisch lernt und Autos mag, möchte er vielleicht diese Website anschauen (word order)

#199 Robert

Auch im Bus sagte ich mir die Rufnummer immer wieder im Kopf.
Sounds unusual, but I have problems to explain why. Possible alternative:
Auch im Bus wiederholte ich die Rufnummer immer wieder im Kopf.

war es in der Sonne warm und im Schatten kühl. (The first one was nothing but a typo, but the second one may have been a genuine mistake ;-)

Als Teenager war ich auf einer Reise nach Europa
Nothing wrong with the grammar so far, but this sentence can only be used if the following part describes an event while you were still on your way and had not arrived yet. However, your next part is:
und habe Madame Tussaud's gesehen.
and that can be seen as a proof that you had already arrived in Europe, although some British people may disagree. Therefore I would have preferred:
Als Teenager war ich auf einer Reise durch/in Europa und habe Madame Tussaud's gesehen.

aber das Wachsmuseum ein Mal sehen genügt. I have deleted the comma after sehen. In addition, I would have used "einmal" instead of "ein Mal", but I can't tell whether "ein Mal" is completely wrong.

It is "das Labyrinth", consequently "Dort gibt es das berühmte Labyrinth"

Here is ein Link zu einem interessanten Artikel
Ich nix verstehn, welche Sprache ist das denn? (Just kidding)

#200 Amy
aber seit vielen Jahren in Michigan ist aus mir ein Wetterweichei geworden.
That's a tricky one and Goldammer may disagree with my correction. Until then I will not try to explain my problem and just suggest alternatives:
aber in vielen Jahren in Michigan ist aus mir ein Wetterweichei geworden.
or
aber viele Jahre in Michigan haben aus mir ein Wetterweichei gemacht.

Viele ältere Häuser in Michigan

#202 Robert
Wenn man aber diese drei als eine Gruppe betrachtet

#207 hm --us
aber bei den Briten hätte es sich wohl ebenso gut um die Ritterschaft des Königreichs wie um den örtlichen Kegelverein oder so handeln können

#209 hm -- us
fast das erste Mal seit Mai was correct.

#212 Amy
Sodass du morgen dich nicht zu viel anstrengen musst
--> Damit du dich morgen nicht zu sehr anstrengen musst
Sodass does not suit here in my opinion. Word order had to be changed as well. The change from "zu viel" to "zu sehr" may be optional.

Thank you Goldammer, for your explanation. Another "blond man" joke then...
(But: I thought the media go wherte the news are?)

#212 Amy: aber [seit] nach vielen Jahren in Michigan ist aus mir ein Wetterweichei geworden. I don’t want to confuse you, Amy, but this would by my choice. (Though harambees second proposal is not bad...) :)

@ harambee:

A new chance will come ... ;-)

@ RenaRd:

A fascinating topic indeed. Unfortunately it would take much more time than I can afford to be up-to-date. Thanks to improved technologies there's such a rapid increase of new infromation and knowledge that it is impossible to keep track. A lot of water ran down the river (6g?) since I read Stephen Hawing's "A brief history of time" (in German, I confess, even though I watched the documentary film with the same title in English a few years later). But "A unisverse in a nutshell" and one or two more of his books are still waiting, yet unread, in my shelves for better times. Somehow it's not exactly the right reading for a lazy evening after work.

#221 Sachs: A fascinating topic indeed...
I reckoned you'd react that way. And yes, it's hard to be up-to-date when you didn't understand the basics properly. During my studies (Economics) I regularly met some physics-students and we used to talk (combining our half-knowledge) about Einstein's theory of relativity all night. Which often led to religion before we were too drunk to discuss further topics....
Nowadays there's only one friend left to talk about those scientific questions, for he reads the appropriate Magazines. And everytime we're sitting in a café on and off debating the latest details "why our galaxy is round and what dark matter has to do with it" our other friends leave.

Ignorants! ;o)

ignorants! -> ignoramuses!

Are our Australian snails fans of Paul Mathis? If so, could you please describe Ћ basics of his plan? What are Ћ main objections? Will Ћ plan really help Ћ students and will Ћ teachers be flexible enough for that kind of innovation? Is Ћ press prepared for Ћ necessary changes? Those were only some of Ћ questions his interesting plan might spark.

This just confirms my long-held theory that English native speakers, usually (present company excluded) see no need to learn a foreign language (everybody else is learning theirs, after all) and instead prefer to muck about with their own ...

Ћ indeed.

Danke für die schönen langen Reiseberichte, Goldammer und Robert! Ich hoffe, dein Fußgelenk ist wieder ganz geheilt, Goldammer!

Harambee, bevor ich den Faden im Sprachlabor gesehen habe, hatte ich noch nie von Paul Mathis gehört. Manchmal lernt man in ausländischen Medien mehr über sein Land als zu Hause. ;-) Das größte Hindernis wäre wohl das Umstellen von Tastaturen.

*So langsam ins Bett muss*
Schönes Wochenende allen Schnecken!