THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => CHATTER => Topic started by: Papersatan on 15 Jun 2013, 11:22
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Mecklenburg Gardens is this nice German resturant in Ohio where Stephen and Eed and I are having dinner and drinks.
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There's this thing going on here too, not real sure what's up with that.
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l-5rtDNKoO0/Ubyx6hHMUAI/AAAAAAAAEe0/MRpKmt6eFsE/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_142612.jpg)
Eed got a beer!
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RSBWp-Ytdlg/Uby1FhJI2sI/AAAAAAAAEfQ/miL-h4AiX1E/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_143936.jpg)
I got some food!
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(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TJeKc7XfTU8/Uby2GgXpd8I/AAAAAAAAEfs/L3uEiPmCby8/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_144417.jpg)
Steve got a Jameson.
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(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-AeGh1Dmhn_k/Uby3DAPV4qI/AAAAAAAAEf8/2yecYJyr9KE/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_144818.jpg)
Linds got a husband!
:-D
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WOOT!!!!!
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WHISKEY! Yay!
Matrimony! RUN!
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(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B6kG6yGpHRg/UbzEC-pv0aI/AAAAAAAAEgU/zWtf5VkbECw/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_154349.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UmuK0pQoqmI/UbzEH6Fl7VI/AAAAAAAAEgs/HZiThKyNKAg/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_154403.jpg)
Dancing!
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-fL4hxl80Kfc/UbzGqGzP0LI/AAAAAAAAEik/MaYBQBgOekc/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_155501.jpg)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GTn5hjD6CSQ/UbzF_IGCk5I/AAAAAAAAEho/5o-nSnSrdvg/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_155120.jpg)
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I danced once, the casualties were catastrophic to say the least
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CAKE!
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eTITlqlV-EU/UbzLKm9SxyI/AAAAAAAAEi8/Or1qQQQPr_g/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_161400.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Do7ttDmKbwc/UbzLW5FdgOI/AAAAAAAAEjg/AzhxY0SofDU/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_161459.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5nZ_WrLdXtI/UbzL6fjf1QI/AAAAAAAAEj4/X7OjKKXvit0/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_161543.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-eWsX2uszh00/UbzL_fTAxDI/AAAAAAAAEkE/cxJeWl9ytyg/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_161727.jpg)
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The Mecklenburg Gardens is a great restaurant, but I didn't realize that you could get husbands there.
Also, Jameson is good stuff.
And congratulations!
Iechyd Da!
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CAKE!
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eTITlqlV-EU/UbzLKm9SxyI/AAAAAAAAEi8/Or1qQQQPr_g/w480-h480/IMG_20130615_161400.jpg)
"I have a knife! You will listen to me!" *bride edges away*
Thank you guys SO much for coming! Not gonna lie, when you told me there was a thread, I got a little excited. :D
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Well, at least you didn't have any blue boxes interrupting the fun.
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First: Congratulations!
But this restaurant confuses me as a German. The interior, the flags and the beer selection scream out loud "Bavaria", which is southern Germany and practically has a culture on it's own, the name on the other hand refers to Mecklenburg, which is northern Germany. If they had northern meals as well that would be alright, but I don't see any on the menu. No Sauerfleisch (though that is most typical for Schleswig-Holstein, even more northern), no Birnen, Bohnen und Speck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birnen,_Bohnen_und_Speck), no Mecklenburger Rippenbraten, nothing really typical for northern Germany.
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American German is a lot different than real German. I should know; I live in the state with the most German immigrants in the US.
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It is definitely more Bavarian than German, but I'm not really sure why. Maybe the newer owners went with a more Bavarian menu and when it first opened, it had a northern German menu. I mean, it's a historic restaurant in the city, but it has closed a few times and gone through ownership changes, and when that happens it does affect the menu.
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It was a great time! Lind's, your dress was sooo pretty, and your hairs! I'm so glad we could make it! <hugs> Congrats! Also, get off the internet and get packing!!!!
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congrats indeed
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In Linds' honor, the WCDT poll has been adjusted accordingly. ;)
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Congratulations Linds! You looked lovely!
But this restaurant confuses me as a German.
Heh... I wonder how I'd react to a "Chinese" restaurant in Germany. :-D
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Hurray, Linds! Congratulations! :-D
Akima, at least they're as general as can be. Don't want to confuse Westerners by calling it a "Zhejiang" restaurant!
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WHY WASN'T I INVITED TO THIS SHIT?
Oh wait. I was, I just had to work. Stupid capitalism. Congrats, Linds!
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Congratulations Linds! You looked lovely!
But this restaurant confuses me as a German.
Heh... I wonder how I'd react to a "Chinese" restaurant in Germany. :-D
Probably even worse…
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I have a friend from Hunan and when she lived in the US there was a restaurant down the street from us that was called "Hunan Wok", it sold almost exclusively American-Chinese food. She was a little disappointed because she thought that having a place in the name as opposed to just "Lucky Garden" or the like indicated they would have dishes she missed from home. She was never too upset in Rochester though, because she knew what to expect from the take out places, and there is a fair sized Chinese population, so there were a few good dine in restaurants that made food she liked. However, she was taken aback when we were on our road trip and stopped at a Chinese buffet in a super small town in the midwest.... The buffet was lo mein, sesame chicken, rice, chicken nuggets, french fries, salad, those wontons stuffed with cream cheese and watermelon. She asked for hot sauce, and got Tabasco. I thought she might cry. To be fair, when she said "ooo a Chinese restaurant!!" I tried to warn her that it was unlikely to be any good.
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those wontons stuffed with cream cheese
I think I threw up a little in my mouth.
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Hurray! Congratulations Linds!!
I am so sorry I couldn't make it.
Maybe next time!*
*When you renew your vows of course.
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Akima, at least they're as general as can be. Don't want to confuse Westerners by calling it a "Zhejiang" restaurant!
You can't trust it, as Papersatan points out, even if they do put a regional name on the restaurant. Plenty of "Beijing" restaurants serve no Northern specialities, for example. But wontons filled with cream cheese? That is just gratuitously horrible; a "Chinese" food item that would make most Chinese people unwell!
In Eastern Sydney at least, and especially in the sort of "Chinatown" where I live, there is a large enough Chinese population to support, and even demand, good Chinese food, but Australia is not without horrid examples. In Cowes on Phillip Island (http://goo.gl/maps/v5Bkg) (a touristy place in Victoria, better known for motorcycle racing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf3W_4G_-dw) than fine dining), the food was typical gooey, over-sweet, generic Southern Chinese, and they laid the place-settings with knives and forks.
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those wontons stuffed with cream cheese
FLOG THEM, FLOG THEM i SAY!!!!
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I love those wontons stuffed with cream cheese, but they are in no way Chinese. None of those places are. They're 'murican.
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You can't trust it, as Papersatan points out, even if they do put a regional name on the restaurant. Plenty of "Beijing" restaurants serve no Northern specialities, for example.
Yes, of course. Wasn't saying there wouldn't be the "Bavarian Mecklenburg" problem and worse when they do (presumably just to sound cool), but that if they do describe themselves broadly as "Chinese" then at least they'd get away with mixing all the culinary traditions on the menu. :-)
and they laid the place-settings with knives and forks.
Can't really blame them for providing knives and forks if their customers are generally incompetent about it, I suppose.
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Eating with chopsticks is a point of pride for me at this point, as it is for a fair number of my circle of friends, members of the tribe who are not chopstick capable without good reason (say damaged nerves) are viciously mocked at dinner time.
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I'm just going to state my opinion here, but I do not think comparing a German restaurant that currently serves Bavarian food is the same as a typical western "Chinese" restaurant. At least the food is from the country of origin, not some made up mishmash of crap that isn't from its country at all. Also I think everyone kind of ignored my comments about this being a historical restaurant. Considering there is a HUGE German population (descendants now, including both mine and Michael's families) in Cincinnati, OH and Covington, KY, the German restaurants around here actually do serve German food. I'm sorry one historical place didn't want to change their name to match their newest incarnation of their menu.
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Man I love the little wontons with cream cheese and crab. And sushi with cream cheese and cucumber. You people are crazy.
Congratulations, Linds! You look so good in your dress!
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I am with neko here
Also
YAY WEDDINGS!
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She asked for hot sauce, and got Tabasco.
See, I'd be offended by this anywhere.
Edit: Oh, and mazel tov, Linds!
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Yay, Linds!
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I am chopstick impaired, no matter how hard I try to learn. This makes me sad.
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I can sort of use them, but it probably doesn't look very good. I can get big chunks of food to my mouth. I will never understand people who can eat rice with them, though.
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I can almost eat rice with them. I'm sure I look derpy as hell trying to do it, though.
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The rice they serve at Asian restaurants I've been to serve rice so sticky it's super easy to eat with chopsticks.
But then I like Turkish rice more.
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I am not familiar with turkish rice. :psyduck:
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Me either!
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It's just a different way of preparing it. The Turkish pilaf (pilav in the original language) is prepared by first cooking the rice in butter, then adding boiling water and salt, lowering the cooker to the lowest setting and then keeping the lid on until the rice is done (the sweet spot is at 22 min). If you take the lid off too soon your rice is all mushy and awful, but if you do it right, the rice tastes super good and has a nice texture. In Turkey there's a saying that you have to cook rice 100 times badly until you get it right.
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So - this being a good German restaurant, did they serve schnitzel as a side dish?
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Pilau is a great way to cook rice, but when I do it, it is usually with vegetables and herbs cooked in with the rice, and other people often add chicken or fish too. Chinese rice is generally steamed plain (even fried rice starts out that way), because the idea is to provide a neutral base for the foods and sauces you eat with the rice.
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So - this being a good German restaurant, did they serve schnitzel as a side dish?
The typical Schnitzel, the "Wiener Schnitzel" is from Vienna (which is called Wien in German/Austrian) and actually a national dish of Austria… But it sure is common in Germany as well, so I don't complain.
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I don't think Schnitzel would appreciate that...
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/19/juqe3apu.jpg)
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I've yet to see this thread and not read the first word as Macklemore.
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Pilau is a great way to cook rice, but when I do it, it is usually with vegetables and herbs cooked in with the rice, and other people often add chicken or fish too. Chinese rice is generally steamed plain (even fried rice starts out that way), because the idea is to provide a neutral base for the foods and sauces you eat with the rice.
I love to add veggies to my pilau (love that spelling), but I usually add it when I'm done steaming the rice. And I can get behind the neutral base thing, of course... But it always tastes so... plain and boring. I do eat it with sweet sour chicken though.
but my favourite is pilau with Turkish yoghurt. Mmmmmmmmmmhhh
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So - this being a good German restaurant, did they serve schnitzel as a side dish?
Schnitzel is a main dish, do you mean spaetzel, the pasta? I do believe they have both, but we didn't serve either.
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*spätzle (plural).
I never quite got the grasp of what constitutes a main dish and what constitutes a side dish.
I am not sure if I congratulated you yet, Linds. If not, congratulations!
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Man, go away for a week, and look what happens - people's lives change!
Mazel Tov!
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Yes, I meant spatzle. It's been a while since I was at the local German restaurant near my old home in SE Wisconsin.
I love the noodles, though! They go great with a good slab of roast pork and applesauce.
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Spatzle is so fucking good.
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Spatzle is so fucking good.
Sorry for being a German smartass once again, but this just hurts. "Spätzle" is a word which is always in Plural.
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Is it a countable plural, like "noodle" or an uncountable one like "rice"?
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Is it a countable plural, like "noodle" or an uncountable one like "rice"?
I didn't know rice is plural… :psyduck:
But I think it's countable. At least to me saying "10 Spätzle" makes sense.
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I didn't know rice is plural… :psyduck:
But I think it's countable. At least to me saying "10 Spätzle" makes sense.
Seconded in both regards, except I would have used "ein paar Spätzle" (a few) as an example.
Ankh, maybe what is uncountable singular to us (der Schnee/das Geld), is uncountable plural to them?
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Ankh, maybe what is uncountable singular to us (der Schnee/das Geld), is uncountable plural to them?
Us and them
and after all we're only ordinary men
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English has nouns that are 'uncountable'. 'Rice' is one of them, sticking to starchy foods, so is 'popcorn', and 'pasta' and 'bread'. No matter how much rice you have, it is still 'rice'. If you want to count your rice you need a measuring word. So "Three pieces of rice," "6 cups of rice" There are also countable nouns, which are more common, and which usually get an 's' at the end when they are plural: 'Noodle' 'potato*' So I could easily talk about "6 noodles" or "12 potatoes" (though noodles, due to their small size are more typically counted in volume (1 cup of noodles).
The other difference between countable and uncountable nouns is howwe talk about them in a sentence like Jace's. Uncountable nouns are treated as single. "Rice is good" v. "noodles are good." I would tend to treat 'Spatzle' as an uncountable noun in English. Other native English speakers might want to weight in, but I think I would say "a piece of spatzle" or "six cups of spatzle" and "spatzle is good," but probably never "3 spatzle" We have imported the word as a plural, and we don't ever further pluralize it with an 's', but I don't think most people would know or use the singular.
I think this 'mistreatment' of foreign words is pretty common in English. One example is our use of the word 'graffiti', which no one but the most pretentious of us ever says in the singular "graffito". As such most people treat it as an uncountable noun: "6 pieces of graffiti" not "6 graffiti" and "The graffiti on that building is terrible." A contrasting example is 'cappuccino' which we imported in the singular and so is most commonly pluralized using English rules (cappuccinos) even though this makes prescriptiveist pedants weep into their own overprices cups of coffee.
Bonus lesson, because it is one of my language pet peeves: the word 'number' is reserved for countable things, and the word 'amount' for uncountable things. Amount is a stand in for the measuring word you would need to count an uncountable noun. "Twice the amount of rice." "Twice the number of potatoes*." It grates on me when people say things like "I need to increase the amount of friends I have." because friends are countable. I've noticed this is becoming more common, so it will probably be an accepted alternative in another 50 years.
*my use of potatoes assumes that we are talking about whole potatoes, and not potatoes which have been mashed or otherwise formed into an uncountable dish.
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Ankh, maybe what is uncountable singular to us (der Schnee/das Geld), is uncountable plural to them?
Us and them
and after all we're only ordinary men
And sisters. Definitely also sisters, they are part of the band too. I think they play drums. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0421.html)
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Ankh, maybe what is uncountable singular to us (der Schnee/das Geld), is uncountable plural to them?
Us and them
and after all we're only ordinary men
And sisters. Definitely also sisters, they are part of the band too. I think they play drums. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0421.html)
I uh - uhm...
I'm afraid that reference sailed right above my head.
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Is it a countable plural, like "noodle" or an uncountable one like "rice"?
Is either of those a plural? I would say one noodle, but two noodles. Are uncountable nouns regarded as plurals? I did not know that, and I don't think of rice as a plural any more than water or air. Are people confused because mice and dice are plurals? Incidentally the use of "measure words" meaning something like "unit of" is very common in Chinese, and there are many of them to learn (http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/cgi-bin/big5.cgi?page=measure-words.html&simpleform=1&simpleaction=nothing).
I never use the singular "graffito" but I do normally treat graffiti as a plural, as I do media and data, so I would say "There are a lot of graffiti on that wall."
My pet peeve is "different than", or even worse "different to", instead of "different from". I don't know that it is wrong, but it grates in my ears.
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Spatzle is so fucking good.
Sorry for being a German smartass once again, but this just hurts. "Spätzle" is a word which is always in Plural.
Oh I just sometimes talk with real bad grammar. Aint no thang wrt plural or singular but I did consider putting are rather than is, in the end Iffigure I ain't one to go too hard with it so I let it be
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And another thread effectively derailed! :)
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I never use the singular "graffito" but I do normally treat graffiti as a plural, as I do media and data, so I would say "There are a lot of graffiti on that wall."
that just sounds wrong to me... i'd say "there is a lot of graffiti on that wall". say, like you would use the word art, or puke. :P
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Spatzle is so fucking good.
Sorry for being a German smartass once again, but this just hurts. "Spätzle" is a word which is always in Plural.
Oh I just sometimes talk with real bad grammar. Aint no thang wrt plural or singular but I did consider putting are rather than is, in the end Iffigure I ain't one to go too hard with it so I let it be
No, Jace, you got it right - that's what Papersatan and Akima are saying. Spatzle, as a dish, is good, just as rice is good, plural or not. You can talk about the individual little dumpling-like noodle things if you like, but it's not a collective noun or anything. It's still treated in the singular - "the popcorn is buttered", for example.
All this talk about countable or uncountable just makes me think of the mathematical definitions of those terms...
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Saying, "Spätzel is good," in English is grammatically correct. It's like saying, "Lasagna is good," or "Basmati rice is good," or "Udon is good." Though the last one could be debatable, as it could also be, "Udon noodles are good." But for me, spätzel is spätzel, not spätzel noodles.
Also, spätzel IS good, especially when topped with goulash. NOM.
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You English treat our poor German words pretty harsh… To a German that sounds just plain wrong. (by the way, the English Wikipedia article on them starts with "Spätzle [...] are a type of egg noodle [...].", but that's hardly a reliable source.)
But who are we to judge. There were actually a few German stores which advertised backpacs/rucksacks (by the way, the German word for that is Rucksäcke) as "body bags" as the German term didn't sound "hip" enough. Also we call it "public viewing" when lots of people come together to watch a live event on TV. I guess our marketing experts are very harsh on your language too.
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I hate the words "games" and "handy" used in German. They're just horrible. I want to puke when I hear them.
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I remember you explaining "handy" the other night on Mumble. Does it ever cause confusion/double-takes?
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The problem is, the German language just combines existing words to create new ones.
Like Hoopenballen.
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Yeah, but seeing as that is an integral part of the German language, I have no problem with that. I take issue with ads saying "games" though.
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Hoopenballen.
:?
I remember you explaining "handy" the other night on Mumble. Does it ever cause confusion/double-takes?
No, because we use the German word for handy, which is not the English word handy.
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Funny I used to live and work for Mecklenburg County North Carolina. I think we've already spoke on this bla h blah blah. /i amPointless
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Bonus lesson, because it is one of my language pet peeves: the word 'number' is reserved for countable things, and the word 'amount' for uncountable things. Amount is a stand in for the measuring word you would need to count an uncountable noun. "Twice the amount of rice." "Twice the number of potatoes*." It grates on me when people say things like "I need to increase the amount of friends I have." because friends are countable. I've noticed this is becoming more common, so it will probably be an accepted alternative in another 50 years.
Fewer vs Less is the one that gets to me. 'Fewer' is for countable things and 'less' is for uncountable things. "I have less busy when I have fewer projects to work on." NOT "I'm so busy. I wish I had less projects."
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I have less busy
If this wasn't a rant about using the wrong word I'd let this go :roll:
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:-P
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You English treat our poor German words pretty harsh…
To be fair, the people who made Englush kind of just took German, chopped it up, threw some bits from other languages in there and called it a thing. English is a pretty fucked up language.
Also saying, "You English," makes it sounds like you're talking to people from England. "You English speakers," would be better.
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HEY! Aren't you supposed to be enjoying your honeymoon instead of posting on a message board? ;)
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Is Linds's husband one of us?
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One of us...
one of us....
ONE OF US...
OK, I'll stop now. And I don't believe he is.
Linds, are you keeping us a secret?
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He is not.
Re: uncountable plurals: I think the uncountable words are technically singular. I think of them as plurals, in my head, but upon I don't suppose they are. Also, the OED informs me that
Re: Spatzle specifically: I went and looked it up the 1986 OED declares it to be a plural, but the updated versions allow it to be either.
Re: The English language and the mistreatment of foreign words: I think that our language's mixed heritage and the ease with which we can co-opt new words is a strength. Perhaps not when you are trying to learn it as a non-native speaker, but I like that we can easily mix new words, and that they quickly become natural sounding parts of our speech. There are critiques to be made about our language and culture steam-rolling the languages and cultures of others, but from a purely linguistic point of view, it is great.
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He is not a member, but he sees a lot of the forums. Like right now! He's watching as I type. So he's pretty much one of us. :) (Also he just said, "I could get on the forums, I suppose." Also he's been reading the comic just as long as I have or maybe a little longer, so hey.)
And if I posted on the forum, it's because I we had down time. Like while waiting for a shower, waiting for food, or lazing about the hotel because we'd exhausted ourselves by wandering around Coronado/San Diego.
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I'm late to the party but it's because I was packing/losing my mind/finding it again on my own honeymoon so I'm allowed. :-)
Anyway.
YAY LINDS!!! :-D You looked absolutely gorgeous and it sounds like your wedding was a blast! I hope you are enjoying/enjoyed your honeymoon! Also....omg those cupcakes. They look delightful. OM NOM NOM.
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*looks on in interest* are you two going to discuss wife-ish things now? stuff like tapestries and cupcakes and perfect apple pies and how the children are growing up way too fast and the best kindergartens?
:mrgreen:
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You two can teach me how to do all the wedding and spouse types things! I'll be a marital protégé.
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(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eszw344IOC4/URZNALfLEEI/AAAAAAAAAIc/W4lGmQ7h730/s320/ForeverAlone.png)
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Pot roast.
Sock Darning.
Getting out stubborn stains.
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I know how to make the first.
I know the steps to do the second.
Blind luck takes care of the third. Sometimes.
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Dunno.
Dunno.
FIRE!
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1. YES. Love me some roasts
2. I didn't even know this was a thing. When my socks have holes in them, I deal for a little while before getting annoyed and then throwing them out :-P
3. BLEACH. And/or Shout.
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Can't cook unless it comes in a box.
Can't knit or crochet or anything but I can sew to an extent.
Throw it in the washer and hope.
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Reminds me of a Blondie comic from years ago - Dagwood came to her with a sock that had a hole, asking her to darn it for him. She tells him "Sure, watch", and says "Darn" as she throws it into the trash.
Edit: I should mention that I actually darned one of my favorite pairs of gloves several times... it's not hard, but definitely time consuming, and a dying art. Also, using different colored yarn makes for an interesting look.
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IDK
IDK
My wife's trick: Use Shout or some such, then put the garment out in the sun.
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I got a super cute top at Goodwill and I am hoping that some mixture of whatever cleaning supplies I have and blind luck will get the stains out of the front. Because it is a gorgeous top. And cost like $2.