kisan, thank you for the lovely premises and the Hochlichter.

Crossover Chat 190
This was my last try!!!
Welcome neutrino!

Nice try. *clappinghands*

Thanks, I've deserved your applause ... I'm impressed by my achievement ...

Third time is a charm.

Thx for the new shell, Kisan!

So, what have I done today?
I have wrapped my christmas present for my finnish pen pal and I've been sitting around listening to some music and lurking netlog. On this occasion I found the page of a pretty nice girl whom I'm gonna meet soon for a date *blush* *happy* :)

WHat have you done today, snails?

Danke schön, kisan. Hallo, neutrino. (-:

Zum Geschenk für die 9jährige: Warum denn nichts auf Englisch? Würde sie sich nicht auch für eine andere Sprache interessieren, wenn es ihr dabei Spaß machen würde? Vielleicht eine CD mit Gedichten oder Liedern oder so, mit Texten zum Mitlesen. (Oder wahlweise ein Buch mit einer CD zum Mithören. *g*) Es gibt auch in amerikanischen Buchläden ziemlich viel Zweisprachiges en/sp für Kinder.

Ansonsten vielleicht ein Spiel, und du könntest mit ihr mitspielen. Ein Kartenspiel würde nicht zu viel Platz im Gepäck brauchen. Uno z.B., oder Pit, falls genug Leute dabei sein werden (?). Ansonsten, für 2 oder 3 Spieler -- wie heißt nochmal dieses Kartenspiel, wo man 4 zueinander passende Karten (einen Satz) sammelt? Bei mir war es Authors oder Composers, aber es existiert wohl mit Bildkarten für fast jede Interesse, wohl auch sogar Tiere oder Insekten oder so.

Zu candices Brieftaschenfrage würde ich auch eher zu einer nicht ganz so eleganten Brieftasche zusammen mit einem wirklich netten Restaurantabend neigen, wenn man tatsächlich so viel ausgeben möchte. (-;

*f5* Hallo, Flo, viel Spaß beim Date. (-:

Comfy new home, thanks, Kisan.

@Candice: I'd say you enter the ALEX and drive to the capital. I can show you some really nice shops and I'm sure, we find a suitable briefcase at a far lower price. :-)

hm, the gard game you have to collect four of a kind is called "Quartett".

What I have done today? As usual, I was in the office and killed time :o)

Hi; coming back home after a busy afternoon and night, I find this nice new house and highlights!
Thanks ki-san!

Tell you what, today somebody told me that the wall we tore down in the community center last Friday wasn't supposed to be torn down at all because it was sort of important for the statics of the building...the ceiling should have supported with additional structures before it could have been torn down!
Nothing happened, and obviously there wasn't a high risk for the ceiling coming down on us or something, but I felt a bit wobbly all the same, hearing that.

...should have beensupported...

Hello Goldammer, Nothing has happened yet, but is it for sure that the building will stay solid also on the long run without the missing wall? Or may there now be the risk that some day the ceiling will come down?? Hopefully this is not the case.

*f5* Hallo, bluesky. (-:

Aha, Quartett, danke. Aber auf Englisch weiß ich immer noch nicht. Happy Families (aus dem Archiv) kommt mir sehr BE vor, aber ob es überhaupt einen AE-Namen gibt ...? Go Fish? Old Maid? Diese werden aber mit einem normalen Kartenstapel (? deck) gespielt, glaube ich.

Zur Brieftasche: Habe ich einen Restaurantabend gesagt? Eher 2 oder 3, plus Hotelunterkunft sogar, oder nur halb so viel Geld, oder?

Obwohl, echtes sanftes glattes Leder ist auch was Feines ...

@kisan - thank you for the nice shell, and especially for the wonderful word "predilection" which hasn´t been part of my active vocabulary yet.

@bluesky - what a tempting offer! Unfortunately, I´m running out of time; there´s still so much to do and to prepare. In fact, I will even be in Würzburg on Monday, and I´m almost sure I would be able to find something there, but I do not want to wait until Monday.

@hm-us - did I use the wrong word? Isn´t "briefcase" "Aktentasche" and not "Brieftasche"? *being confused*

I am just listening to my favorite "Christmas in Vienna"-CD; I just love this kind of music. Does anybody know these CDs?
http://www.amazon.de/Best-of-Christmas-in-Vie...

Thanks for moving us to a new kome, kisan!

hm -- us, I actually have a nice English picture book which I wanted to translate into Spanish a few years ago (in the library they have it as Spanish translation, which I found out later). And I already thought taking just this along (still untranslated, only problem is that he main characters are Old World fruit bats. Oh well ... that reminds me that I want to draw a children's book already for many years (with changing ideas and stories). I some respects I am a real disaster.

*f5* Hallo, Goldammer. Ihr wohnt nicht etwa in einer Erdbebenzone, hoffentlich ...

Aktentasche, Aktentasche, Aktentasche ... Tut mir leid, ich hatte das Gefühl, dass das irgendwie falsch war, war aber zu faul, zurück zu schauen.

Na, viel Erfolg bei der Aktentaschesuche, candice.

Thanks hm--us!

Oh, candice, you as a Bavarian, could you tell me how's the weather in Bavaria these days? Here in Tyrol it's just cold as hell and it doesn't snow...(I hate this kind of weather :/ )

f5 - hm-us: I really felt tempted to buy this expensive briefcase because the shop assistant sounded very convincing when she said that it would last a lifetime, because it was such good quality... But no! Too expensive! And now I think we have talked enough about briefcases...

f5 again (Gee, you are fast today!) - Flo: It´s really nice here. Cold but sunny, and quite a bit of snow.

Good night dear snails. I've got to go.

Don't worry, neutrino, it wasn't a very important wall, only a small piece. They are going to support it properly (or maybe have done so already).
And yes, we are in a earthquake zone - the Hohenzollerngraben. Not very active, but still...

Hallo, Wachtelkönig. Na, wenn das Buch tatsächlich auch eine interessante (für Kinder) Geschichte über *nachschlag* -- Flughunde? (wirklich? Sachen gibt's) -- enthält, könntest du es immer noch schnell übersetzen, wenn du die Übersetzung schön ausdrucken könntest. Vielleicht sogar mit einem zusätzlichen Bild oder so. Das wäre sogar ein personalisiertes Geschenk, speziell für sie.

Aber wenn es eher wissenschaftlich orientiert ist, würde ich zu diesem Alter vielleicht etwas mit ein bisschen mehr Fantasie vorschlagen. Es sei denn, du weißt schon, dass sie sich für Tiere und so interessiert.

Flo, hier ist es auch ziemlich kalt gewesen. Vor ein paar Tagen sogar den ganzen Tag unter 0 (°C natürlich, 32 °F) -- ganz erstaunlich. (-; Wir haben sogar ein Feuer im Kamin gehabt. Aber leider kein Schnee ...

hello everybody,

@candice: I feel tickled pink that I could contribute to enrich your vocabulary.
I haven't been to Würzburg for ages, since my grandfather's death.
Anyway, now I am curious to know if you will get that briefcase or not.

Where I live there are earthquakes too. The last one I remember was 5 years ago.

When I let my dog out a few minutes ago, it was sleeting (???).

Hi hm--us!

What a pity, candice. What do you do in spice castle?

I have to correct myself: it wasn't sleet, but ice rain.

@candice: Thx for the information!

==By the way: Could you also say: Gee, are you fast today?

I saw that kind of switching positions quite a few times with some other native speakers...

@hmm-us
Wir haben sogar ein Feuer im Kamin gehabt. Aber leider kein Schnee ...

Crap! Even I as a native German speaker got troubles with judging if kein or keinenkeinen is more suitable here.*embarrassed*

Oh i think I got it now!

You use kein for saying stuff like: "Kein Schnee in Sicht."

I think in your sentence keinen is actually more suitable.

I think the solution is the case:

Wir haben einen Hund/ keinen Hund. Wen?
Der Hund ist in Sicht/Kein Hund [ist] in Sicht. Wer?

I forgot that I should write some more textes... shite, that'll be another allnighty. I should email my bed and tell it that I can explain it before it gets jealous on the sofa;-)

Hi Snowie, how are you?? Can't you sleep??

It's nightshift again, :-(

I'm going on patrol now, will check in in about an hour or so.
In case you're gone see you perhaps next night.

kisan!!!! Vielen Dank für das Basteln und für die schönen Hochlichter.

@Flo: By the way: Could you also say: Gee, are you fast today!  Ja, kann man, nur wäre das keine Frage, also würde man ein Ausrufezeichen setzen, kein Fragezeichen. Und Betonung auf "fast" in diesem Fall anders als bei #21.

@sarti
I'm deathinitevely tired to death, I miss my bed and anyway, who IS interested in that stuff I gotta write about...
How could I only forget???

I'm gonna be here for the next few hours or so...

Hallo Snowflake und Sarti!

#30: that'll be another all-nighter
and tell it that I can explain (it) before it gets jealous of the sofa;-)

#31: In case you're gone see you perhaps tomorrow night.

@Snowflake: Thx, now that I got it written in front of my nose it appears so clear...xD I should really go to bed....

@SD3: Thx, that's exactly what I meant. I just forgot the "!"

Bed, oh how I miss thee.

But then, isn't NrXY of "You know you're a true student, if" you have slept as much as 22h and as little as 2h in 24h?

*sigh* only 48 more h....

Um in die Weihnachtsstimmung zu kommen, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas:

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=JEyR8LOv8Bg

und dann mit Text (1 Punkt für jeden richtig erkannten Rechtschreibfehler! Ich zähle mindestens sechs, Groß- und Kleinschreibung nicht eingeschlossen.):

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=a3o3fusCnF0

If my firefox wasn't so bitchy I could even watch those clips.
*sigh*
*yawn*
I'm not really getting anywhere...

Good Morning, sorry, good evening SD3.
Snowie, are you lerning for exams, or what?

Nope. Homework. To be handed in tomrorrwo ....
*lookingpissedoff*

You really sound pissedoff!!
When are your holidays beginning, or are they also spoiled because of homeworks?

oouuups, sorrrry everyone, I just saw it myself:
#39: learning...

Hello!
Snowflake, you should creep into bed!
Here is utmost miserable, only 10°F, almost lost balance on the partly frozen streets on my way across town. If it stays like this I won't see "Frozen River" tomorrow, the last day. Anybody saw this film?

Sorry, King of those birds of which I alwas forget the name.
I can't. *sigh*
Haven't seen the film.
BTW I asnwered you, in case you don't check your emails.

@sarti
Holidays are in 48 hours or so...
But spoiled by exams.

I have almost the same problem:
My very last exam (hopefully!!!) in my life.
It's on feb 16th, 18th and 20th.
Unfortunately, I have family and my two fighting dwarfs (Kampfzwerge: 5 Monate und 3,5 Jahre)wont allow me to learn at home. I have to go to an abbey for 6 weeks in order to be well enough prepared!!

@Sarti_LU: Which abbey is that? Echternach? Just asking because we visited there when we were in LU many years ago. They had an interesting (to me) exhibition in the museum there about the medieval scribes of Echternach and how they influenced other scribes. What kind of exam is it? Just wondering because it's a multi-day exam.

BTW, I haven't forgotten your "request" to pay a visit to Vianden castle; I am trying to work that into the vacation schedule for next summer (assuming there is a European vacation, given the current recession; who know what will happen next).

Actually I go to Clervaux.
My Exam is about many different laws and acts, such as traffic act (STVO), Penal Code, criminal processing act, laws about drugs, lodging, and many more.

I wont force anyone to visit the castle, but I can tell you that it is worth it.

oh, I think I can hear the Pfadschlitten....*sigh*
But the end's in sight, presumably in 1.5 hours.

Seems to be a snowplough, this pfadschlitten.
They are quails, Snowy, but I am a staunch antifeudalist and antimonarchist. There seems to be something wrong with your studies. I remember that I sometimes had to resubmit my too concise lab protocols, but there was probably no other homework. At least I was never doing anything studies-related at night in the first couple of semesters except for reading interesting textbooks.

Cool, I've got to hand in 2-4 (5 if I did them all) marked things in, per week. And then comes the books, the preparing and afterparing of lectures and the practising things that need to be practised.
And then, well I obviously didn't learn a thing, nor from my Maturarbeit, nor from the written exams, nor from the oral exams.
Remember, everytime I more or less swore NEVER to do it again like that.

But I'm pretty much done, now. I think I'll soon head for bed.

PS: We call it "Bachelor/Master" programme. Lic was nicer. My father studied with Lic, too. He also wonders what exatly I'm doing.

Then send off the stuff by e-mail, creep into bed, and sleep for at least five hours, Snowy.
Good night! (at least I'll creep into bed now, possibly best into the new sleeping bag, with the furnace shut off it might get too cold otherwise)

I'll put it in the folder and then I'm finished and ready to fall into my bed.
You no heating?

Good morning.

Sleep well, Snowflake.

@Wachtelkönig: 10 deg F? I think we should send you some of our mollycoddled Californians for an attitude adjustment. Today and yesterday the first 5+ minutes of the evening news were spent discussing a "freeze warning". Yup, that's right, temperatures in some parts of the Bay Area may fall below 32 deg F, and that's major news. People up in Minnesota probably laugh their *sses off when they hear that. Heaven forbid there should be any snow! There actually is snow visible on the mountains around San Jose, and some roads were closed temporarily because of snow.

@Sarti_LU: I guess I should have put a smiley after "request", rather than just enclosing it in double quotes. Yes, I took your input as the friendly recommendation it was meant to be.

Anyhow, good night to all left-pondian snails (incl. right-pondian night owls), and good morning to the right-pondian crowd.

*wave at Norbert*

Handwarmers @Wachtelkönig

@ sleeping Snowflake I'm pretty sure you'll soon stop preparing lectures :-)
To be honest, I very quickly stopped even attending them as I figured the time was spent much better at home with the respective book, the slides were copied from. But who knows, maybe you have ambitious lecturers. I didn't. (Sorry, crabby today.)

I'm tearing my hair because my Prof made strange notes in the margins of my manuscript (I'm glad he finally read it, though.)

I need confirmation/correction concerning the use of likewise and said (Don't mock the sentence, it's not from my manuscript! ;-))

It was freezing outside when we got on the likewise cold bus and said bus then took us home.

It was freezing outside when we got on the likewise cold bus and said bus then took us home.

Der Satz ist m.E. grammatisch richtig. Er hört sich aber etwas merkwürdig an. Aber warum? ... Vielleicht weil "likewise" und "said" einer anderen Stileben angehören als "it was freezing". Insbesondere der letzte Satzteil (said + Substantiv klingt wie Amtssprache) hört sich irgendwie übertrieben genau an, fast wie Verspottung. Will man mit dem Satz einen besonderen Effekt erzielen?

... we got on the bus, where it was equally/just as cold, and the bus then ... wäre "normaler", denke ich.

Thanks, SD3. As I said, I used the words in a very formal scientific paper and just made up a sentence to see if I got the use right.

#16: the wonderful word "predilection" which wasn't part of my active vocabulary until now/before. 
(Man könnte auch until now/before weglassen. Der Sinn ist dann ein kleines bisschen anders - keine explizite Aussage über Aufnahme in den aktiven Wortschatz.)

Lore: Ach so, in dem Fall meinen Kommentar nicht beachten! ;-)

*snowingin*

*schnurr*

I am observing a huge black woodpecker hammering a rotten trunk into pieces. It's quite impressive. "Wo der hinschlägt, wächst kein Gras mehr" :)

*busilyrunningthrough*
*wavingtoallsnails*

*LookingafterNeutrino*
*Thinkingaboutseacurrents*

*snailsin**greetssnails**yawns**headfallsonkeyboard**sleeps*

Snowflake, why do you think of sea currents when you look at me??

@Norbert: Mein Vater erzählte mir heute, es ist -23 C in Iowa. Ich dachte, ja, ja, es ist im Winter manchmal kalt in Iowa, hier wird's fast nie so richtig kalt. Und dann dämmerte es mir ein, wir sind vielleicht am Wochenende in Iowa und sollten unsere warme Winterkleidung einpacken! Als ich noch in Iowa wohnte, konnte ich extreme Temperaturen besser leiden, aber seitdem ich hier in Michigan wohne, bin ich ein "weather wimp" geworden. Herr MiMi ist definitiv ein "weather wimp". Am besten sage ich ihm nur, dass es in Iowa derzeit kalt ist. Wenn ich -23 C erwähnte, würde er sich vielleicht weigern, überhaupt nach Iowa zu fahren! Na, das ist nicht mein Ernst.

*Motivation in die schneeflöckschen Taschen steck. Kleine Schneeflocke tröst.*

@neutrino

Because I have to think about sea currents anyway. The Eckman drift e.g., but not even wiki knows it :-(

Snowflake, maybe you should look for the "Ekman drift" (without a 'c' in Ekman) ...

*wavingthrough*
It is cold here, but not as cold as in Iowa, and I just add the North Bay to Norberts description of the South Bay's weather condition.

*neutrino wink*
Wie schön, dass hier Hausaufgabenhilfe angeboten wird!

@sarti: Du hast einen Kampfzwerg, der 5 Monate alt ist? Hmmm. Kleines Korrektürchen: won't let me study at home...

@Flo: Schläfst du noch auf der Tastatur? Kannst du nicht ins Bett gehen?

@Snowflake [52] --- Fortunately the furnace is working. But it is a hot-air-producing machine (combined with A/C), but I switch it off at night (and during the day as well), beacuse I would wake up every time it runs.

@Lore --- Thanks! Handwarmers would be really useful. Recently purchased better gloves, but at temperatures below around -7 degrees C they are not really warm enough.

Hello to everyone!

Adding to the general weather report: Here it is 3 degrees centigrade, and instead of the snow they promised for today it is drizzling all the time, and in the morning I had to do the shopping by bike and had to be out there for about an hour! I returned soaking wet ...
But now I feel fine, because I'v just done the most efficient part of my work: written invoices. I'm thinking about doing nothing but this from now on: it takes only a few minutes and you get money for it ...

Snowflake, whenever you suffer because of your studies, just think of that: when you've finished you might be in a position to write invoices, too, and it will be fun!

Mooooo-ment...wie kommt es, dass wir schon bei #73 sind? Ich denke, wir haben (vielen lieben Dank kisan) einen neuen Faden? Man guckt einige Stunden weg und schon ist das Haus fast schon wieder voll!! *mecker*
ABER ich bin eigentlich gaaaaaaaaanz entspannt jetzt, weil ich FERIEN habe :-D

*michzumfadenlesenaufmach*

@suzi: Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Danke, dass du mich daran erinnert hast...

@kisan: Danke für den schönen Faden. Ich hatte es eigentlich vor, mich bei dir zu bedanken, aber ich habe das vergessen. ;-(

(oops, seems my manners have been washed away this morning *runningoutandscratchingthemfromthestreet*): THANKS FOR THE NEW HOUSE, KISAN!!!

Hello, Amy and suziq!

OK...jetzt bin ich durch - mit Lesen, meine ich!

@Sarti - Ein Kampfzwerg mit 5 Monaten???? ;-)

Ich wünsche Euch einen schönen Abend :-)

Two more days, and then I'll be done for this year as well. The company I work for has instituted an extended year-end shutdown to save some money, and I've topped it off with a few additional days of PTO. Too much work and no play have made Norbert a very dull boy indeed in recent months. I have a stack of movies on DVD waiting to be watched over the holidays. That ought to let me forget about w*rk in a hurry :-) So I should be as relaxed as suziq by this time next week.

Looks like we can all look forward to e really relaxed time ... I have only four ten-hour-days of selling books in front of me (the four hardest days of the year), and then ...

Relaxed time? *sigh* This year has got five more full working days for me ...

Oh, poor neutrino! One day of work more than I have ... I'm gonna think of you that one day when I finally sit at home doing nothing but eat and drink and everything else that is fun ...

:op @ atalante

Guess who has dty on new years eve! *yay!* [/sarcasm]

>______________________________________________________________<

duty*

Thank God, in my job usually you don't have duty on that day. Okay, sometimes it happens that a contract needs to be notarized ... for tax reasons ...

Oh, poor Flo, too ... Anyone else I'll have to think of?

we're all going on a winter holiday
no more working for a week or two
fun and laughter on our winter holiday
no more worries for me or you
for a week or two

OK, OK, I´ve changed the text a bit - but only two words...
I have had a 12-hour day today, and I feel absolutely pooped, but now I´m free like suziq!

*sending loads of energy to all snails who still need them*

@bluesky - What do you do in spice castle?
I´m going to visit my mother who lives there, and I will enjoy the Christmas market there which I haven´t seen for ages. I´m planning to go there by train, and then we´re going to drive back to the Allgäu together, where she will spend Christmas with us.
 
@kisan - Anyway, now I am curious to know if you will get that briefcase or not.
Today I have finally made up my mind and bought a briefcase for about € 200. It is quite nice (and it´s quite a lot of money, too, I think), but deep down inside I still yearn for the wonderful, but ridiculously expensive, other briefcase...

@SD3 - #16: the wonderful word "predilection" which wasn't part of my active vocabulary until now/before.
You corrected my use of the present perfect, and now I´m a bit confused, because we always tell our students that they should use the present perfect with "until now". Is that wrong?

Hallo ihr. Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Flo. (-;

Was macht denn ein deutscher Notar, wenn nicht (wie ich von mehreren Archivfäden entnehme) bloß die Echtheit einer Unterschrift (zu?) beglaubigen? Hier machen das meistens die Sekretärinnen. Wenn ich einen echten Anwalt an Silvester anrufen würde, wären die Herren (bzw. Damen, Teilchen usw.) alle wohl schon seit langem zu den Bahamas oder so geflogen, um sich gebührend vom Jahresendestress zu erholen. (-;

Poor neutrino!
Poorer atalante!!
Poorest Flo!!!

Is there anything we can do for you?

HM, that's what US notaries are only allowed to do: certifying signatures.

Notaries in Germany (and all over Europe) also certify signatures but over and above there are legal transactions in Germany for which notarial form is legally required. In such matters the notary reads out loud the deed and has the duty to inform the parties to the transaction about certain legal circumstances. Examples for suich transactions are the sale of land, of shares in a private limited liability company, the establishment of a stock corporation or a private limited liability company, the conclusion of matrimonial agreements, etc. pp.

German notaries usually studied (and finished) laws at the university like e.g. attorneys and judges did.

@candice: great that you've made up your mind.
For all the poor ones: Maybe throwing shoes will help

Okay, danke für die Erklärung. Na, hoffentlich wird niemand dieses Jahr gerade an Silvester einen steuerwichtigen Vertrag (ab?)schließen wollen.

Glückwunsch auch an die ferienreifen Lehrer und besonders an candice zum erfolgreichen Geschenkerwerbung.

Flo, gibt es neben dir auch andere Zivis (stimmt das?)? Vielleicht könnt ihr unter euch eine kleine, unauffällige Silvesterfeier veranstalten.

Ah, throwing SHOES ... thank you, kisan. First I've read: throwing SHEEP, and asked myself why I should throw those peaceful animals which I actually like, and besides, they're a bit heavy, I think ...

But there is also reason for joy: if my hair goes on turning grey that fast, we won't have to buy tinsel for next year's Christmas tree ...

hm, this may happen. I have a client, a big company, which needs to transfer shares in two companies for tax reasons before the end of the year. However, there are several people who have to decide this, then I will need powers of attorney of five different people residing in three different countries to be able to represent them in front of the notary public. Not that we have explained the situation to them several times for the last four weeks ...
*sigh*
... a significant part of lawyers' fees always is smart money ...

... einen steuerwichtigen Vertrag (ab?)schließen wollen.

Both possibilities are correct.

Thanks for all the pity :)

@hm--us: I'm a "soldier" in the military hospital xD (as a medic)

Oje. Na, wir werden die Daumen drücken müssen, dass so etwas nicht passiert. Vielleicht kriegen sie alle die Kurve schon am Montag 29. und du kannst endlich aufhören, ihnen damit in den Ohren (oder am Telefon?) zu liegen. (Sagt LEO zu 'nag', stimmt das?)

—> Not that we haven't explained

Hallo, kisan & atalante. Irgendwie verwechsle ich euch zwei immer noch ein bisschen. Seid ihr beide denn (zur Zeit) Linksteichler? Entschuldigt (mir?) bitte mein schreckliches Gedächtnis ...

—> First I['ve] read: throwing SHEEP

*g* So lange keine Schnecken geworfen werden ...

Okay, in diesem Fall andere Militärdienstleistende -- wie sagt man das richtig?

hm, in den Ohren zu liegen is correct.

In Germany it is Wehrdienstleistende.

ooops, should not have been bold but italics

Hello, hm -- us. Well, I admit, kisan and I are almost like twins, no wonder you have problems telling us apart ...
I'm a rightpondian, and thanks for your correction.

BTW, Entschuldigt bitte mein schlechtes Gedächtnis ... without "mir" is correct.

Ach so. Danke. Also Flo wehrt die bösen fremden Bazillen von euch deutschen Bürgern ab? (-:

Oh, atalante, I've always wanted a twin sister who is at least 20 years younger than me ....
I've something in common with atalante: I am a rightpondian as well and live in the Palatinate.

Entschuldigt bitte mein schlechtes Gedächtnis ... without "mir" is correct.

But it would be "Verzeiht mir ..." - Where is the logic?
*sigh*

kisan, are you sure about those twenty years?

candice, you should never look for logic in any language. I don't know a single one so far that is logical in every respect. But on the other hand that's fine, because like that computers do not really have a chance to do language-related jobs perfectly ...

atalante, were you going to say that I'm looking much younger than 53?
@hm-us: I read a lot of daft books, whereas atatlante translates them when she doesn't sell them ...

Flo wehrt die Bazillen von bösen Österreichern ab :D.

Im Militärspital läuft das alle ein bisschen anders. Wir schießen auf die Bazillen anstatt Medikamente zu verabreichen...XD Die Überlebensrate bei den Patienten is dementsprechend gering. :/

kisan, so it's only eighteen years, not twenty. Or have you just mixed up the digits?

Ups, von Österreichern natürlich (aber bösen? ts ts), verzeiht MIR bitte mein, na, ihr wisst schon.

Ich muss jetzt etwas Produktiveres machen -- guten Abend rechts, bis vielleicht später links. (-:

18 years is ok for a twin sister... - my guess was right. Since you are in the book trade, you could perhaps give some reading tips that are up to my high literary standard, but only if you feel like it. Feel free to refuse!!!

standards
See you, hm-us!

Would be a pleasure for me. Would you mind defining your preferences a bit more precisely?

Just finished my Brötle production for this year with Kokosmakronen and Zimt-Mandelmakronen.
*uploading some for everybody*

just a few corr for hm--us
...zum erfolgreichen Geschenkerwerb(ung).
...gibt es (neben) außer dir auch andere Zivis..

I like authors like Arundhata Roy, Rohinton Mistry, Amoz Os, Iris Murdoch, Doris Lessing, Robertson Davies, Margret Atwood, to name but a few ....

Hello Goldammer!

atalante, there is no need to rack your brains, just tell me what kind of novels you like.

your brain, not brains!

Good night snails.

Ok, one of my all-time favorites which would have deserved to turn into a bestseller: Anthony Doerr, About Grace (Winklers Traum vom Wasser). It's just wonderful. An almost classic one: Keri Hulme: The Bone People (Unter dem Tagmond), from New Zealand. If you like books, where strange things happen: Rupert Thomson, Jonathan Carroll.

And if anyone could tell me how to create a link here (I think you need that thing that used to pop up when I wrote answers, where you can also get bold and italic letters and that stuff, but it has disappeared some time ago and I don't know how to get it back)I could show you where I always tell the rest of the world about the books I read ...

Brains was correct. I have two half-brains ...

Thanks, atalante, I've got the same problem too. I can't find the pop-up thing either.

Oh, ok ... I already thought I was just too dumb to find it again. But maybe we'll find someone who can tell us how.

I've got to go to Bed now, need some strength for the next days. Guess I won't show up before Sunday. Have a good time until then, sis (BTW: feels good to finally have a sister, till now I've only had brothers), and all the rest, too, of course!
Good night!

Good night, atalante, and thanks a lot for your recommendations. I will put them along with SD3's titles on my list when I go to the library on Saturday.
P.S.: I was an only child!

kisan, atalante: Here https://dict.leo.org/pages/help/ende/searchTi... under 6. you can click on the blue "Eingabeunterstützung" to get the blue box back.
But you don't need it to insert links, that just works with copy and paste (you mark the url in the page you want to link to, copy that with Ctrl + C, and insert it into LEO with Ctrl + V).

Have a good night!

@atalante: I hope you will read it later (if the snails are not too busy), this is how to create a link, you need a little bit of HTML code: how to link

For the Eingabehelfer see here: related discussion: Textauszeichnung hier im Forum
but have in mind, that your computer is very busy loading a longer thread, so it will only appear if the machine is not at it's maximum load; try it when the thread loading is completed.

@candice - #86: Die Entstehung einer Korrektur.

Deine Frage:
'the wonderful word "predilection" which wasn't part of my active vocabulary until now/before.'
You corrected my use of the present perfect, and now I´m a bit confused, because we always tell our students that they should use the present perfect with "until now". Is that wrong?

Ursprünglich hast du geschrieben:
'thank you for the nice shell, and especially for the wonderful word "predilection" which hasn´t been part of my active vocabulary yet.'

Es ging mir nicht um die Zeitform. Ich bin auf das „yet“ gestoßen. Meiner Meinung nach geht hasn’t been + yet in diesem Zusammenhang nicht. (In anderen Zusammenhängen ginge es. Zum Beispiel: He hasn’t been to Berlin yet, but he hopes to go next year.)
Isn’t + yet geht, bedeutet aber zum Zeitpunkt der Aussage immer noch nicht. (Was inzwischen bestimmt nicht auf dich zutrifft – to have a predilection for wirst du höchstwahrscheinlich nie wieder vergessen :-))

Also als Ersatz für „yet“ fiel mir „before“ ein. „... hasn’t been part of my active vocabulary before“ klingt nach meinem Gefühl etwas ungewöhnlich. Ob es nach den Regeln richtig oder falsch ist, kann ich nicht sagen. Normal für mich wäre „... wasn’t part of my active vocabulary before“.

Dann kam mir der verhängnisvolle Gedanke in den Sinn: man könnte auch „until now“ sagen. Ausweichmöglichkeiten sind ja immer gut, dachte ich mir! Ich habe „until now“ einfach drangehängt, ohne über die Zeitform nachzudenken. Dann habe ich „before“ und „until now“ umgetauscht, damit es klarer wird, dass „until“ and „now“ zusammengehören.

Trotzdem bin ich der Meinung, dass „... wasn’t part of my active vocabulary until now“ völlig normal ist. Da ich inzwischen darüber nachgedacht habe, würde ich aber auch sagen, dass „... hasn’t been part of my active vocabulary until now“ auch völlig OK ist.

Since I personally have a predilection for data, kannst du verraten, was in den Lehrbüchern steht? Heißt es, dass man bei „until now“ ausschließlich das Perfekt verwenden sollte oder geht auch das Imperfekt? Und wie ist es denn bei „before“?

Good evening leftpondians, is everything alright?

Good evening, Sarti_LU. Don't know, everything certainly not (e.g. too cold, freezing
rain advisory). Looking forward to disappearing for a while.

So, where do you plan to disappear to?
I wish, I could also leave this weather behind, unfortunately, I have to work during the holidays.

*snailing through*

*snowingthrough*
After having handed in that stupid thing I spent the most of the day sleeping, now I'm awake.

Looking forward to in 12h (last lecture and exams over) and in 24h partyparty :D

Hey Snowie, at least you see the light at the end of the tunnel!

@Sarti_LU --- About 4 degrees south of the equator and one time zone further west.

Hi, hexlein and Snowy!

Yes, the light's coming nearer :D

I must say, the work I'm doing at this very moment is quite interesting.

@Gefieder
mhmmm travelling... some more decisions to make and who knows what might be next spring;-)

hello all (especially Wachtelkönig)

@Wachtelkönig: So that would be the country that owns the Galapagos islands? My South American geography is a bit shaky these days.

@Sarti_LU: Do you receive presents at work? I recall that when I spent Christmas at the barracks during my army time, some people from a local church brought us a big box full of board games etc as a Christmas present.

@snowflake: What is this interesting work you are doing?

Norbert, yes, some day I would like to get onto those islands. And I will have to spend some time very close to zero degrees latitude as well to apply for an extension of my visa, which has to be done from outside the country (if this is as complicated as the first time I might run into trouble, they actually recommend to do it in the home country). The main concern is to get away. Then I will see if they will let me back in.

Good night, hexlein!

Good night, Wachtelkönig! Sleep well!

Guten Morgen :-)

@SD3#125 (und candice #86) - Ich kenne diese Regel und unterrichte sie auch so ABER es gibt einige Ausnahmen und die Regel ist keinesfalls hieb- und stichfest. candice, du hättest sagen können: "It hadn't yet been part of my active vocabulary" (aber jetzt ist es)...aber das hört sich nicht so "locker" an.
SD3s Vorschläge sind gut :-) (das war aber eh klar)

Als ich in Oktober in England war, unterhielt ich mich lange mit meiner Freundin (und ehemaliger Deutschlehrerin) über dieses Thema: insbesonders über "always" (z.B. He has always done good work - "always" present perfect) aber "He always did good work" geht auch aber dann bedeutet es, dass er immer gute Arbeit in der Vergangenheit geleistet hat, und dann gibt es eine Zeitlücke...vielleicht bringt er nicht mehr so gute Leistung, vielleicht doch - man kann nur von "damals" reden. Im ersten Beispiel bestätigt man, dass seine Arbeit bis heute gut war. "He had always done good work": Seine Arbeit war immer gut bis zu einem gewissen Zeitpunkt in der Vergangenheit, und dann hat sich das geändert.

Es gibt bestimmt noch mehr Beispiele...ich finde es immer wieder spannend, wie die Nuancen einer Aussage durch solche Kleinigkeiten verändert werden! (und deswegen werden wir alle bei leo noch viel Spaß haben ;-))

So, jetzt muss ich jemanden mit einem amtlichen Stempel finden, der meine Zeugnisse und so beglaubigen kann...dann kochen...dann feiern ;-)

Very interesting discussion, this.
I guess, this is one of the things I will never feel absolutely sure about. But it is very good to be reminded of the different variations and the nuances they create in the meaning of a sentence - thanks for your examples with "always", suziq!

Yes, interesting indeed! I'm always grateful for explanations on the use of the tenses. :(

Now, I need advice concerning emphasis: I need to stress the lipids and don't know where to put them :)

[The structure is] covered with the same set of lipids, and lipids only, as the [rest of the body]. Does that work?

I keep thinking of how I could acknowledge the LEO community in my papers. Would it look odd if I wrote "I'd like to thank the folks on the Leo forum for never ending patience and unfailing help in language matters" ? ;-D

I have to acknowledge that English tenses put much more meaning into a sentence than the use of tenses in German.
And I have to confess that I'll never ever will get the right feel(ing?) for it. THX for the repeated effort of all English snails to´explain it to us.

I'm so glad this week finally comes to an end! I didn't even have enough time to look regularly into the yellow boxes (now I have the time. Tense correct??).

And I won't have much time the next days because I'll be busy with Chrismas preparations. I'll carry lots of money to the grocery store and carry home carloads of food as if a severe famine were threatening us.

Sorry to waltz in like that (this is what happens when I have a few minutes time in the office before Christmas and start reading around on Leo) but 32 degrees F in the Bay Area? Nooo! Now I know why I haven't checked the forecast yet! I usually console myself before flying over there in January that at least the weather usually is much nicer over there - which this clearly is not! Looks like I have to pack some warmer clothes then *sigh*

hexlein - I will wave again from the plane :o) (and if I find the time I'll sent you an email before heading home for Christmas)

*waltzesoutagain*

Hallo Schnecken!

@Lore: [The structure is] covered with the same set of lipids, and lipids only, as the [rest of the body].
"and only lipids" = covered with lipids and with nothing else. Meinst du das? So wird es noch stärker betont.

@suziq: Vielen Dank für die "always"-Beispiele. Ich hatte noch nie darüber nachgedacht aber genau so ist es.

uke: tenses und so:
I'm so glad this week is finally coming to an end! I didn't even have enough time to look regularly in(to) the yellow boxes (now I have the time. Tense correct?? Jawohl!).

*waving at all snails who are around*

@suziq - Thanks for your explanations. Are all your documents certified now?

@SD3 (and to whom it may concern...) - Since I personally have a predilection for data, kannst du verraten, was in den Lehrbüchern steht? Heißt es, dass man bei „until now“ ausschließlich das Perfekt verwenden sollte oder geht auch das Imperfekt? Und wie ist es denn bei „before“?

You are right: "predilection" definitely is part of my active vocabulary now :o)! To answer your question: according to our grammar books, the present perfect should be used for all events that have some influence on the present, (e.g. you can see some result of an action, or an action has just been completed, etc.) like:
I have already written six Christmas cards. (They are now on my desk, waiting to be put into into envelopes)
I have been writing Christmas cards for two hours. (... and I´m still sitting at my desk)
We tell our students that very often there are signal words for the present perfect, like until now, already, yet, just, ever, etc. that can help them, because they imply some relevance to the present.

And now I will spend the rest of the afternoon wrapping Christmas presents, writing a few more Christmas cards, listening to music, having a nice cup of tea, and enjoying myself. :-)

*spreading some of my good spirits around*

*f5* Hi SD3!!!

SD3 That's what I meant. Thank youuuuhuuuuuhuuuu :-D

Harumph! Schneesturm. Ich wollte heute nach Iowa fahren, aber Herr MiMi hatte diese Woche auf der Arbeit zu viel zu tun und wir haben die Fahrt auf morgen verschoben. Jetzt schneit es ganz toll und ich weiß gar nicht, ob eine Fahrt morgen möglich wird. Ich hätte schon gestern oder vorgestern fahren müssen und dann könnte Herr MiMi nächste Woche mit dem Zug fahren.

Ich schiebe die Schuld in die Schuhen von unserer Schneeflocke. Sie hat doch "snowing through" geschrieben!

@candice: Danke für die Informationen. Deine Beispiele sind natürlich einwandfrei.
Beim zweiten würde "wrote" anstatt "have been writing" einen anderen Sinn ergeben, nämlich ich schreibe nicht mehr.
Beim ersten aber könnte man auch sagen: "I already wrote six and now I'm going to write two more." Diese Aussage ist aber zeitlich nicht eindeutig ähnlich wie bei suziqs Beispiel "He always did good work". Ob ich die sechs gerade eben geschrieben habe und immer noch am Schreibtisch sitze oder ob ich sie z.B. gestern geschrieben habe, geht aus dem Satz nicht hervor.

Interessant!

@Lore
I think it would definitely be worth a thought mentioning the English speaking Leo community in the acknowledgements of your paper!

Hi skye!
Rare guest! Nice to see you here. Are you one of our "silent lurkers" sometimes?

@everybody
Do you remember, a few weeks back I told you the story of that balloon competition card I had found in the forest and worked really hard to find out who I could send it back to, because the address was hardly legible?
Well, I had sort of given up to wait for a reply, but today I got this really very nice letter from them.
They were indeed very pleased to get this card back, it was more than a month after their wedding and they had really given up on getting more cards back!
They sent me beautiful photos of their wedding, and of the balloon flying event, and the card I sent back was from the best friend of the bride who will now invite them to her home for a really posh brunch (that's what she promised to do, should the card come back).
I'm feeling very pleased with myself.

F5
Oh, Amy-MiMi! I'm sorry to hear your journey has been postponed! I do hope the weather improves soon!
I bet Snowy will refuse to accept responsibility!

Oh, I have to leave - promised Goldammerson to pick him up from work and then go into town with him to get his Christmas presents...

Hallo Amy-MiMi!
Tut mir leid, dass euch das Wetter in die Quere gekommen ist. Hoffentlich könnt ihr morgen fahren. Hier herrscht ein "Winter Storm Watch", obwohl es erst jetzt vom Regen in Schnee umschlägt. Bin froh, dass ich heute zu Hause arbeite.

Das ist aber sehr schön, Goldammer.
given up (to) waiting for a reply
Wer wird eingeladen? Them? Dich sollten sie doch einladen.

Hello!
Correcturito for Amy-MiMi: "Ich schiebe die Schuld unserer Schneeflocke in die Schuhe."
Here it is pretty miserable as well. A little bit less cold and ice mud all over the place. They cancelled a meeting because persons from Chicago did not want to drive (so what is the train for? Pretty good connection between here and there).

@SD3 #148 - Also ich habe ein Problem mit "I already wrote six and now...". Ich finde es sollte auch in diesem Fall: "I have already written six and now..." (BIS JETZT habe ich sechs geschrieben und jetzt schreibe ich...)aber ich glaube, dass das ein AE/BE Unterschied ist. Diese Art von Satz würde in GB automatisch als "Amerikanisch" identifiziert werden. Bist du sicher, dass das als grammatikalisch korrekt in AE angesehen wird? (Es steht so im Lehrbuch gegenüber es gibt viele Menschen, die es so sagen - es geht mir nicht um die Besserwisserei, sondern um die Information per se. Ich bin teilweise ein unverbesserlicher BE-Snob aber ich lerne - durch leo - nach und nach AE zu akzeptieren ;-)*gg*)

@Goldammer - what a nice story!

@ Amy-MiMi - I hope everything will still work out for you and you will be able to go.

@suziq and SD3 - I have also been taught that the use of the present perfect follows stricter rules in BE, whereas the simple past is accepted more often in AE. Would you agree?

Got to run now - to the gym to do some spinning. There will be too many days now without an opportunity to exercise. BTW: Is it also "spinning" in English, or is this a word like "Handy" or "Talkmaster"?

candice, falls du dich tatsächlich wie ein Kreisel oder eine Ballerina schnell rumdrehst, dann ja, heißt es spinning. Ansonsten: nein, habe ich noch nie im Zusammenhang mit Leibesübungen (exercise?) gehört, aber in diesem Bereich kenne ich mich auch nicht so gut aus.

Guten Morgen übrigens.

Good morning, hm.

This is "Spinning":

http://www.jgspinning.de/

*pssst* @hm: Es gibt tatsächlich "spinning" auf Englisch. Ich weiß nicht ganz genau, was man macht, aber es hat etwas mit Fahrrad-Ergometern zu tun. Man sammelt sich in einem Fitness-Studio und fährt zusammen auf diesen Bikes. Aber ich kenne mich nicht aus.

*F5* Ja, genau. Das heißt spinning auf Englisch. *candice wink*

YES THE SEMESTER IS OVER

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

*sigh*

We have already celebrated it with lots of hot spiced wine...woo-ho, I had to stop after the third glass, hadn't eaten anything before soooo ;-)

Well, now I'm looking forward to sitting in the tub with a hot Salvation Army soup.


*hüpf* *hüpf* *torkel* *hüpf*

Danke, candice. Hallo, Amy, schade, dass der Schneesturm dich vom Reisen abhält,* aber hoffentlich geht es deiner Familie in Iowa gut?

Interessant, danke. Vielleicht kommt es von 'take a spin on the bike' oder so was? Oder, dass stationary bikes so ein drehendes Rad haben?


*Hier kann ich nicht 'schade um den Schneesturm' sagen, stimmt, weil das eher bedeuten würde, dass Amy (die Aussicht auf) den Schneesturm verloren hätte?

How riduculous, simulating cycling. But the most ridiculous fitness instruments are treadmills: wasting energy to enable a person to waste additional energy. Fitness studios should connect these spinning machines to a generator to run the treadmills.

*f5* *grins* Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Snowflake. Viel Spaß in der Badewanne voller Suppe. (-:

Re wrote/have written.
Wenn man "and now" im gleichen Satz hat, finde auch ich "have written" viel besser.
How many Christmas cards have you written? (impliziert, dass ich noch mehr schreiben möchte oder soll)
Well, I've already written twelve, but I've got seven more to go. oder I've written twelve and now I'm going to take a break. oder Well, I've written and twelve and now I'm going to sit down and write the rest.

Ich würde aber simple past benutzen, wenn ich betonen möchte, wann ich die schrieb.

How many Christmas cards have you written?
Well, I wrote twelve yesterday, but I've still got a lot more to write.

Generell möchte ich aber sagen, dass viele meine Landsmänner und Landsfrauen die Zeitformen (aus meiner Sicht) total durcheinander bringen. Wenn die mal "I have written" sagen wollten, würden sie eher "I have wrote" sagen. Da ist das nur ein Katzensprung zu "I wrote" statt "I have written". Aber ich spreche auch meistens eine ziemlich altmodische bzw. "korrekte" Bücher-AE, denn ich hatte ältere, gutausgebildete Eltern, die keinen starken Regionalzkzent hatten und die uns von klein auf sehr intensiv mit der Schriftsprache engagierten.

@Wachtelkönig: Es wäre gut, wenn man davon Strom gewinnen würde, und ich habe im Radio gehört, dass man das manchmal tatsächlich macht. Allerdings beleuchtet man eher das Studio davon. Aber es ist gar nicht so blöd, dass man Spinning macht, wenn man so was machen möchte. Heute hätte ich z.B. keine Lust draußen Rad zu fahren. Auch machen manche lieber Leibesübungen, wenn sie mit Anderen zusammen trifft. Das kenne auch ich. Alleine mache ich wenig, aber als ich mich regelmäßig mit Anderen getroffen habe um Sport zu treiben, war ich viel fitter. Was ich blöd finde sind diese lauten Motorschlitten die durch unseren Garten fahren dürfen. Es ist Michigan, das ist nicht verboten. Sie dürfen die Straße entlang fahren.

Amy-MiMi, if you wouldn't soon be travelling you could build a snowmobile trap in your garden. An at least one-meter-deep pitch covered with cardboard and a little bit of snow.

@Wachtelkönig: Glaub mir, ich habe schon an Hindernisse gedacht, aber erstens wäre das gefährlich und zweitens illegal.

Ich zitiere Robert Frost (in seiner faux-spießigen Stimmung): Good fences make good neighbors.

@hm--us and Amy-MiMi "Leibesübungen" is not used any more. It is what PE was called in my school days and even then was never used in spoken language, only in school reports. You'd simply say Sport in this context.

Amy-MiMi
(davon) daraus Strom gewinnen
(davon) damit das Studio beleuchten
wenn sie mit anderen zusammen (trifft) treffen

snowmobile trap LOL, typically Wachtelkönig!

hm--us
indeed "schade um den Schneesturm" would mean that you regret that something terrible happened to the poor snowstorm.

Spinning: ist das nicht das verrückte Radeln im Fitness-Studio?

@suziq: Über das, was in den Lehrbüchern steht, bin ich leider nicht informiert. Anglistik/Amerikanistik habe ich nicht studiert, geschweige denn das Fachbebiet regionale Unterschiede im Gebrauch der englischen Sprache. Ich habe zwar einige Jahre in England gelebt aber die Zeit liegt inzwischen länger zurück. Es kommt noch dazu, dass der Sprachgebrauch sich ständig weiter entwickelt und man nicht unbedingt immer mitkommt.
(Ich verstehe übrigens schon, dass es hier um Daten geht. Keine Angst - ich nehme das überhaupt nicht persönlich. :-))

@candice: I have also been taught that the use of the present perfect follows stricter rules in BE, whereas the simple past is accepted more often in AE. Das ist gut möglich und ich erlebe auch, dass ich mich in England ein bisschen anpassen muss. Das Perfekt - abgesehen vom kleinen Bedeutungsunterschied - klingt in meinen Ohren auch etwas gehobener (hoffentlich liest das auch susiq *gg*) als das Imperfekt. Vielleicht kommt das Imperfekt in den Fällen, die wir hier besprechen, aus der Umgangssprache.

@hm: Zäune darf man nicht so nah an die Straße bauen. Außerdem mag Herr MiMi keine Zäune. Er ist anderer Meinung als Herr Frost.

@Goldammer: Danke für die Korrekturitos. treffen/trifft hätte ich nicht machen müssen sollen wollen.

As for the snowmobile trap:
One can easily pretend that it is a pond under construction and the cardboard covering only to prevent it from being filled with snow. After all it is your own garden.

F5: Lawinenartiges Posting inzwischen!

Snowflake: Ich gratuliere. Was ist denn Heilsarmeesuppe?

I do enjoy your fantasies, Wachtelkönig! :-D

yes, please Snowflake, what is Salvation Army soup??

Frost war da auch wohl anderer Meinung; WIMRE hat er diesen Spruch im Mund des spießigen, verklemmten Nachbars gelegt. Frost selbst meinte wohl eher: Something there is that doesn't love a wall.

Aber Herr Frost hatte wohl auch nicht so viele blöde Nachbarn, die ihr Unwesen mit Motorschlitten treiben. (-;

Hmmmm. Vielleicht ist es nicht verboten, einen Fischteich dort anzulegen. Oder Himbeersträuche? *nachdenk*

Einer dieser oh-so-schönen aufblasbaren Santas von Wal-Mart, oder? (-; Dann prallen die lästigen Motorschlittenfahrer gleich ab. Friedliche Koexistenz, Gewaltlosigkeit und so weiter.

@hm: Danke fürs linkte Gedicht. Ich habe es bestimmt ein paar Mal gelesen, aber nicht viel darüber nachgedacht. Aufblasbare Santas? Ich glaube, man darf dort nichts hohes bauen/aufstellen. Der Fischteich klingt vielversprechend.

*Geschenke einpacken geh*

I like hm--us's idea of the inflatable Santa!

I just browsed through the news of the day and got really frustrated with our government because the Umweltgesetzbuch shipwrecked.

@SD3* & Goldammer

Hmmm, do you know the Heilsarmee-Topfkollekte?
If not: Every winter the Salvation Army in switzerland stands on the streets with a huge pot  collecting money for the poor. When you give them some money you are usually rewarded with a soup (last year it was delicious tea).

http://www.heilsarmee.ch/swi/www_SWI_de.nsf/v...

Isn't there any Topfkollekte in Germany? I haven't found anything in google.

@Snowflake: Hier gibt es in der Adventszeit auch die "red kettle collection" von der Heilsarmee. Die Spender bekommen aber nichts!
Wieso kriege ich extra ein Sternchen? Ist zwar schön, habe ich aber nicht verdient, oder?
Wie lange hast du jetzt Semesterferien? Fährst du weg?
Oh - zu viele Fragen vielleicht. Also ich fahre nicht weg. Ich kriege bloß ein paar Tage frei, dann geht's weiter mit der Arbeit. :-(

I'll answer your questions tomorrrow, or when I'm home (but that'll be tomorrow, too)
Gotta go, party's waiting;-)

@ all, hello,
Dear Mr. Wachtelkönig:re: But the most ridiculous fitness instruments are treadmills: wasting energy to enable a person to waste additional energy.

My treadmill is 'motorless'... (Nordic Track 'Walk Fit')
One has to work one's a*** off to get the 'belt' to turn... ;-)
Besides, after being attacked by dogs, I feel safer in my garage on my 'Walk Fit'. :-)

@ all, have a nice weekend. *wave*

I am sorry, little a, did not intend to offend you. But in this case rather those dogs and the dog owners should be put on treadmills.

about spinning: I also used to think that it´s ridiculous, and I prefer cycling outdoors, too. However, I usually do a lot of cycling in the summer, and I started to do spinning in winter in order to keep my form. It used to be very frustrating to end the summer season being really fit, and to start from scratch the next spring. I felt like Sisyphus.

I´m so depressed; my good mood has vanished into thin air. First of all, after weeks of perfect weather (cold and snow), it actually starts raining. What a waste of all that snow if there isn´t a white Christmas!
The main reason why I´m so down is my daughter though. I have just found out that she stole something from me. This has happened once before, and we had a reeeeeeeeeally serious talk about it. She seemed to be so remorseful and seemed to regret it so deeply that I thought this matter was settled once and for all. I felt utterly devastated when I found out that she had done it again. I think I won´t be able to go to bed now, and keep asking myself what I did wrong. I detest lying and cheating, and I have always thought honesty was essential in our family...

Oh crap, never mind my wailing. It´s just that my husband isn´t home so I can´t talk to him, and it´s too late to call somebody to talk things over...

*sigh* Seems there is nobody here to talk about it either. Maybe I should try to go to sleep after all...

Hallo candice!
Ich habe heute auch geradelt - immer Keller und bestimmt nicht so schnell wie du.
Das Wetter? Enttäuschend aber nicht so wichtig.
Deine Tochter? Ich weiß natürlich nicht wie schwerwiegend das ist aber kann mir vorstellen, dass das für dich ziemlich hart ist. Du darfst aber nicht gleich auf den Gedanken kommen, dass du was falsch gemacht hast. Unsere Kinder sind vielen Einflüssen ausgesetzt. Die Eltern können nicht alle kontrollieren und ständig die Kinder davor schützen. Das brauche ich eigentlich nicht zu schreiben - du weißt es ja selber schon.

Hi SD3! How nice that you are here. I know, I know, but I thought I had convinced her in our talk how crucial it is for me to be able to trust each other in a family, and now I´m so disappointed.

Das verstehe ich schon. Bei meinem Sohn - wir haben übrigens generell ein wahnsinniges Glück mit ihm gehabt - habe ich mir immer gesagt, er braucht etwas Raum, ein bisschen Freiheit Fehler zu machen, sonst kann er sich nicht entwickeln. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das richtig gesehen habe, aber mir hat's wenigstens geholfen.

Hello candice and SD3!
As for losing fitness in winter:
I know that from riding my racing bike. Of course I always used to cycle throughout the year, but just for transportation or really fast are two different things. Especially for climbing swiftly uphill over longer distances I always needed a few months.
(Now the racing bike is on the other side of the pond, and the landscape is too flat and the streets too bad anyway.)
As for thievish daughter:
There you should make clear how disappointed you are, much more important than being only angry, and demand some sort of explanation. But you probably know that. Certainly a miserable situation.

Hallo Wachtelkönig! Zu flach beim Radeln? Nicht möglich! Ich bin ja nicht so ehrgeizig wie du.
Was machst du denn jetzt für Sport?

Thank you SD3 and Wachtelkönig. I just feel at my wits´ end because I have already told her all that and she seemed to understand (very peculiar, BTW, I keep thinking about my tenses all the time now, since we have had our little "predilection"-discussion...).

Well, anyway, just talking to you has calmed me down a bit, and I think I´ll go to bed now - maybe with a good book to distract me. And.... "After all, Scarlett, tomorrow is another day."

Good night, my dear helpful snails!

tomorrow is another day - eben! Gute Nacht!

Good night, candice!

For cycling just for fun a flat landscape is too boring, at least for me, apart from the wind which seems to be particularly pronounced in such areas. And of course I like racing downhill better than creeping uphill.
Currently I don't do any sports. Maybe in spring I should try to find again some people who play soccer just for fun.

since we (have) had... *grmpfl*

Currently I don't do any sports. Maybe in spring Wie bitte? Den ganzen Winter lang willst du dich nicht bewegen? Ein Vierteljahr körperlich nur so schlummern? Dafür ist doch der menschliche Körper nicht gedacht, Wachtelkönig :-)

*puttingthekettleon*

@SD3
Wieso kriege ich extra ein Sternchen?
Dunno. Typo?

Wie lange hast du jetzt Semesterferien? 
Middle of february, BUT I've got exams in the middle of january and I am condemned to babysit during the last week of january (well, THAT's not yet fixed, really... *grmpf*)


Fährst du weg?
I'm trying;-)
I want to go to the North Sea and race a little around Germany.
Regions I like and new regions I haven't really seen yet.
That will be the Ruhrarea, Berlin, Hamburg, ex-DDR-area and a part of Bawü.

Also ich fahre nicht weg. Ich kriege bloß ein paar Tage frei, dann geht's weiter mit der Arbeit. :-(
Poor you!

Apart from the exam today was quite a lovely day, unfortunately I had to leave the party already, because there are no SN-Trains on Friday night. Hel-lo-ho?? There are people who do not have to work on Saturdays and who might want to go out Friday night and who might need SN-trains, really, what kind of service is that???? There were no trains anymore from 1:00 to 5:00. Really.

puttingthekettleon Ja, gerne, ich nehme auch einen Tee, aber einen richtigen - schwarz, also nix mit Kräutern!

Wieso kriege ich extra ein Sternchen?
Dunno. Typo? Verflixt, habe ich mir auch gedacht.

Hoffentlich klappt's auch mit dem Verreisen. Was ist denn ein SN-Zug? Eine SNowflake-Bahn? Die andere Möglichkeit wäre natürlich bis 5 Uhr noch zu feiern. Hast du keine Party-Kondition?

It's Roibush with LOADS of hone and lemon. I could also offer you a version with Malibu, if you like.

S-Bahn-Nachtzug = SN

Well, I've done quite a lot of allnighters lately, I had quite much alcohol in quite a short time, I got ca 1 h of way home and I NEED to go shopping tomorrow, haven't bought any presents so far, so I thought I can't be home by six am.

Unfortunately I can't remember those people I met there's names(?), so I can't find them on studivz/facebook. Tz.
*sigh*

Tea is done, people still not found, friends asleep, I' ll go to bed, too.

Have a nice evening!

Tee mit Honig und Zitrone? Bist du erkältet?
Viel Spaß beim Einkaufen. Ich habe schon alle Geschenke (bestellt zumindest - hoffentlich treffen sie auch rechtzeitig ein).
I can't remember those people I met there's names(?) Ein ehemaliger Kollege von mir (hatte in Oxford studiert) hätte sich wahnsinnig über einen solchen Satz gefreut. Er hätte gesagt: So eine schöne Formulierung gibt es auf Deutsch nicht. Man kann aber natürlich auch sagen: ... the names of the people I met there. (Ist aber bei weitem nicht so interessant!)

Gute Nacht, Snowflake.

Sleep well, Snowy!

Well, what sports shall I do? No nice ways for running, and I do not like organized and semiprofessional team sport. If they let me back in I could perhaps purchase a ball and put notes on the mailbox structures if anybody wants to play soccer one evening per week. There is sufficiently large lawn area very close.

.. hi, Wachtelkönig, greetings and have a nice and possible sportsfree evening.
*wavetoeverybody*
*smile*

Hi Euel, long time no see! Hope you are doing well!

@Wachtelkönig: Fortsetzung!
Wie du das Klima bei dir beschreibst, würde ich draußen auch nicht laufen wollen. Ist dort aber keine Halle, wo man laufen kann? (Natürlich ist das nicht so schön wie im Freien - manchmal muss man halt Kompromisse eingehen.)
Deine Idee, die Nachbarn zum Fußballspielen einzuladen, ist gut. Warum denn nicht?

Hello snails,

What a bleak day! I made it to the library today where I got all the novels mentioned by a SD3 and some more. Back at home, I brewed some green tea and immediately started reading "A Small History of Tractors in Ukrainian". So far, it's very uplifting.

Thanks, wi-chan, for your advice! As you can see, it works!!

Congrats, Snowflake, for having survived your first term!!! How comes that you are that interested in Germany, if I may ask???

I hope, candice, you got some sleep last night and got really angry at your daughter instead of feeling guilty yourself.

@kisan
That's because of us German snails!!! She just loves us so much, she wants to know everything about our culture! :-D

Goldammer, we Germans get suspicious when someone likes us too much!!!

Hallo Goldammer und Kisan :-)

@kisan: Ich las auch "A small History of Ukranian Tractors" vor einigen Monaten - sehr schön. Im Moment lese ich "Affluenza" von Oliver James, was eher ein Sachbuch ist. Es geht um die Verbindung zwischen Wohlstand und Depression - sehr interessant. Ich finde meine Einstellung zum Geld/Materialismus bestätigt (und die eventuelle Erklärung, warum ich nicht depressiv bin ;-))

Hallo Schnecken!
@kisan: mentioned by a SD3 - oh je, gibt es mehrere von der Sorte? *g*
Ich habe gerade eine Buchbesprechung von "A Small History of Tractors in Ukrainian" gelesen. Hört sich ganz lustig an. Es würde mich interessieren, was du davon hälst, wenn du es ganz gelesen hast.

"A Thousand Splendid Suns" fand ich am Ende gar nicht so deprimierend. Nachdem ein paar Leute (ob du darunter warst, weiß ich leider nicht mehr) mich vor dem traurigen Ende gewarnt hatten, habe ich wesentlich Schlimmeres erwartet.

Ich muss aber sagen, dass "The Kite Runner" mir besser gefallen hat. Vielleicht weil es für mich was ganz Anderes war, vielleicht auch weil die Erklärung des politischen/geschichtlichen Hintergrunds besser in die Erzählung integriert wurde und mir deshalb erstens nicht so oberlehrerhaft und zweitens nicht so programmatisch vorkam.

get suspicious when someone likes us too much!!! Nicht doch!

The Ukrainian tractors and their caravan sequel are sitting somewhere in my mount-to-be-read. Unfortunately the tractors didn't quite seem to really catch me, that's why the book is still sitting somewhere, about quarter-read, gathering dust...

Chaja: Erkennst du es nicht in dieser Besprechung wieder?

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ar...

@SD3: well, I think I do. But neither the style nor the content really caught me. And as I have decided not to waste any time anymore with books that tend to bore me, I just set it aside.

Boah, I HATE that book.
It’s on my “books-to-be-burned-list”. A friend of mine has recently burned it, and she sounded so joyful of having done so, I’m really thinking of burning my version, too.
First I had thought about sending it travelling with bookcrossing, but then I thought that a) nobody wants to read a book that is so tattered b) nobody wants to read that crap book anyway.

Chaja und Snowflake: Was lest ihr denn momentan? Ich lese immer noch American Pastoral - seit Oktober!!! Es geht langsam voran (to state the obvious!).

Snowflake: War das Einkaufen (oder war es Shopping?) erfolgreich?

Now that's interesting, SD3. I'm reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" at the moment, I'm about half way through, and only today I thought something like "it is quite nice, but I really liked the Kite Runner more". I'm also reading it with the warning of the sad ending in mind, and I'm wondering what it might be that happens.

I'm somewhere in the last 150 pages of Brisingr (3rd sequel of the Eragon series) - that's my "on the way book". My current bed book is the German version of Leo Rosten's "Joys of Yiddish".

Snowflake, are you serious about burning books you don't like??? Have you done that before?
*grybel* (*quoting tigger*)
Didn't we have that topic some time ago, and I was asking you the very same question?

Einige hier scheinen einfach gewalttätig zu sein. Snowflake will Bücher verbrennen, Wachtelkönig und Amy wollen Motorschlittenfahrer im Fischteich ertränken, ts ts.

Ich habe 'Kite Runner' gelesen, nicht schlecht, aber auch nicht so gut, dass ich das nächste von ihm unbedingt lesen muss.

Im Moment (eigentlich schon seit einer Woche oder so, ich komme nicht sehr schnell voran) lese ich ein Antiquariatsfundstück: 'Garde du Corps', von Clemens Laar. Interessant, wie die Soldaten ihren Vorgesetzten in der 3. Person siezen: 'Herr Rittmeister wissen, dass ...' Es wird auch viel berlinert.

Alle Hauptfiguren sind ausgesprochen lieb und sympathisch und gut meinend und ich spüre das happy ending schon weit im Voraus -- dass kommt mir alles manchmal ein bisschen suspekt vor, aber zu Weihnachten ist es auch irgendwie ein Trost, wenigstens als Bettlektüre.

—> das kommt mir

Sorry, brain temporarily disengaged ...

@Goldammer: I'm wondering what it might be that happens - Ich verrate nichts! (My lips are sealed.)

Chaja: LEO Rosten! *g*

@hm--us
posting in German, you'd have to say "Happy End" - that's the proper German term. Many students use it instead of happy ending - typical false friend mistake.

Ja, danke, ich weiß, aber ich kann es (mir?) nicht über die Lippen (die Tastatur?) bringen, deswegen habe ich es versucht, den englischen Begriff einfach kleingeschrieben durchzuschmuggeln. (-;

ach so! ;-)

I had to interrupt my reading for a quick run to the supermarket. I had intended to watch TV tonight, an adaption of Pagnol's childhood memoirs, but I might return to my book.

@Snowflake, @Chaja: It might have something to do with age. Just out of curiousity, what kind of novels do you like then?
hm--us: I was already impressed that you read "Das Boot". I haven't even heard of Clemens Laar.
@Goldammer: As for the ending of "A Thousand Splendid Suns" I'll keep mum too. At a certain point of the story you might even guess it.
@SD3: Sorry for the article; there isn't any other SD3 in my life!!!!
Friends of mine borrowed me the two Hosseini novels; otherwise I might not have read them. Like hm--us I wasn't overboarded with enthusiasm, but I wouldn't classify the two novels as daft. It was ok. From the start, the fact that the books were meant for Western readers made me a bit suspiscious. I think I even preferred The Thousand Suns to The Kite-Runner, whose ending was too fairy-tale like to my taste.
I really liked "The Yacubian Building" by the Egyptian author whose name I keep forgetting.

@kisan: with age? Well... considering that I'm about twice as old as Snowflake I do have my doubts *ggg*
phew... that's a question.... to cite Fontane "Das ist ein weites Feld"....

@SD3: MTBR aka Mount To-Be-Read is kind of a fixed term among bookcrossers ;-)

@Chaja: Ah... dann habe ich heute etwas gelernt. Bookcrossers kenne ich nicht. Meine Bücher gebe ich - wenn ich sie mir überhaupt aus der Hand nehmen lasse - nur an mir sehr wichtige Leute weiter.

@SD3: I do tend to hang on to my books as well. But sometimes somebody offers you a book that you've already got - what do you do with the spare copy? Or cheap stuff you bought in jumbles sales, read once and will never read again? Books that you did not particularly like and that only are a waste of space? Somebody else might like them...

@Chaja: Das Problem verstehe ich schon. Leider - ? ja, doch, leider - habe ich im Moment massenhaft Platz. Man wird zur Packratte. Ich überlege aber, wie das wohl wird, wenn ich mal in eine kleinere Wohnung umziehe, was ich in den nächsten Jahren ganz bestimmt tue. Dann wird's akut!

Books! What a great topic to talk about before going to bed. And a new word: Mount To-Be-Read. I once inquired about bookcrossing because I cannot throw away books either, but it sounded a bit complicated to me, so I just give them to our local library.
Books in my MTBR: Anna Enquist, Kontrapunkt and Milena Angus, Die Flügel meines Vaters. I´m looking forward to having some time now to read them. Oh, and there´s also John Boyne The Thief of Time and Anne Enright The Gathering and William Boyd The Dream Lover and Hanif Kureishi Love in a Blue Time and Joyce Carol Oates Missing Mom and Daniel Glattauer Gut gegen Nordwind and... I´m afraid the Christmas break will be too short... *sigh*

I never suggested drowning snowmobilists. This sort of trap does not hold any water and is only deep enough that the snowmobilist is unable to get the snowmobile out without a winch. To be sure one can put a sign up next to it saying: "DANGER! SNOWMOBILES KEEP OFF! Garden Ponds Under Construcion". That would discharge from liability, and might even work without the real trap.

The only Oates novel I read was "The Tattooed Girl". Really disliked it and donated it to a used book store (along with "House of Sand and Fog" by some other author). Probably because of the lack of likeable characters.

Candice: du brauchst längere Ferien, das ist erstmal klar.

Hier ist meine Liste für das kommende Jahr:
The Audacity of Hope: Obama
All Aunt Hagar’s Children: Jones, Edward
When I was Elena: Ellen Urbani Hiltebrand
Chosen By A Horse: Richards, Susan
Never Let Me Go: Ishiguro, Kazuo
Three Cups of Tea: Mortenson, Greg
Come on Shore & We Will Eat You All: Thompson, Christina
Lean Mean Thirteen: Evanovich, Janet
The Quiet Room: Schiller, Lori
Miracle at St. Anna’s: McBride, James
Loving Frank: Horan, Nancy

Sie wurden übrigens für mich und nicht von mir ausgewählt.

Hallo Wachtelkönig!

Wachtelkönig: Gibt es eine Verfilmung von The House of Sand and Fog mit Ben Kingsley? Wenn schon, habe ich ihn gesehen. Soweit ich mich erinnere, war er interessant.

SD3, and who chooses your "books to be read" for you?

@snowflake - if we did "Wichteln" here, this would be my present for you :o)

http://www.yatego.com/preisschlager24/p,49023...

@Wachtelkönig - I have read quite a few books by J.C. Oates, and some are really good for the classroom (like Big Mouth & Ugly Girl, for example, or Sexy)

candice: LOL. Eine lesefreudige Gruppe. Wir treffen uns einmal im Monat, um das gerade gelesene zu besprechen. Ich war anderweitig beschäftigt und deshalb nicht dabei, als die Bücher für nächstes Jahr ausgewählt wurden.

Aber es wird hier bewichtelt:
related discussion: Secret Santa - Wichteln

[autocorrecturito: likable]

SD3, I later saw this movie as well, DVD from the public library. The problem with the story is that a bunch of psychopaths, or only two, namely Ben Kingsley's character and the policman who befriends Jennifer Connelly's character, wreak that much havoc. Of course that's what the novel is about.

candice, at that time I decided to not read any more J.C. Oates novels. Not even enough time to read the books I would really like to.

Wachtelkönig: Nett waren die zwei Männer nicht, aber die unüberbrückbare Kluft zwischen Kulturen, die Desorientiertheit und dann die Wut des Einwanderers, die Unfähigkeit sich von den alten Gebräuchen und Einstellungen zu trennen, das sind doch interessante Themen, finde ich.

@SD3 & Kisan 
Was lest ihr denn momentan?
I'm reading "PS: I love you" at the moment.
I asolutely love historcal novels, and I like these romantic, funny kind of things, like "PS: I love you".
But to be very honest, I'm really tunred off by reading at the moment, I had to read so many books (15 or so) for my Matura in such a short time, I just can't read so much anymore.

My favourite books are so far:
Angela's Ashes (histiriacl novel, Frank Mc Court)
Freak (teenager book, whoever wrote that)
Fliegen wie Pegasus (love story, dunno who)
and I guess PS I love you also fits into that list.

@chaja
Still need to finish Virago and Bücherdiebin.

Goldammer
are you serious about burning books you don't like??? Have you done that before?
Well, about this one: yes. It was a crap book and I was double-forced to read that thing.

Snowflake: Von deiner Liste kenne ich nur Angela's Ashes. Es ist interessant, dass es dir so gut gefallen hat. Ich fand es deprimierend - vor allem diese drückende Armut - auch wenn der Verfasser solche elende Zustände überleben und dann noch ein gutes Leben führen konnte.
Es ist aber gut, dass wir nicht alle den gleichen Geschmack haben. Ich mag Janet Evanovich. Sie schreibt Krimis. Hochkultur sind sie nicht, aber sehr lustig. Ich kann sie z.B. im Zug nicht lesen, weil ich lauthals lachen muss.

Sd3

It's a historical novel and I think the athmosphere is so well described in it, that's why I like it so much.


*puttingthekettleon*

I think the at(h)mosphere is so well described - ganz recht. Für mich aber anscheinend zu überzeugend!
Frank McCourt habe ich öfters im Radio gehört. Er scheint ein sehr interessanter, sympathischer und humorvoller Mann zu sein.

;-) I'm still awake. Hope I can switch back to sleeping during the nights and being awake during the days - not the other way round.

I've also got the sequel of Angela's ashes, it's called "tis" (and there's an apostrophe somewhere). Haven't read it yet, it's rather fat.

BTW Do you also sometimes wonder where all that stuff on your computer comes from?
I'm just putting together a CD to be able t listen to decent music in my mum's car, and I've found tons of music I don't even know the artist of. I have never bought nor downloaded a DJ Antoine cd, really. But it's useful for cardriving, keeps you awake.

Might be that this is the stuff I inherited from my cousin and from my brother, I simply put that on my computer, but I have never used it during the past three years.




Want some tea? This time I put some Passoa in, offered by my little, minor (!) brother... o tempora, o whatever;-)
But Malibu tasted better.

(NOTE: I'm not putting that in my tea every night, just sometimes. Other people have their glass of wine sometimes.)

Never drank Passoã. How does that taste?

SD3, as for this story, it is of course interestingly and plausibly constructed. Seems I simply don't like depressing endings. Sad endings are ok, I like open endings as well, and happy endings, but only if they are not too happy.

Hey Snowflake!
"tis" (and there's an apostrophe somewhere). LOL - 'tis. Ich habe es nicht gelesen (keine Überraschung?). Vermutlich die Kurzform von it is. Wenn Kinder sich streiten, sagen sie manchmal: 'Tis! 'Tisn't! usw.

Do you also sometimes wonder where all that stuff on your computer comes from? Ganz im Gegenteil! Normalerweise frage ich mich wo das, was ich ganz bestimmt gespeichert habe, verschwunden ist.

Ein Tee käme mir sehr gelegen. Hast du keinen Strohrum. Ich weiß gar nicht, was Passoa ist.

Wachtelkönig: Was verstehst du unter too happy? Nicht glaubhaft?