[Lexicog] Re: lexical entries as singulars or plurals

[Fritz Goerling]

Merci vielmals, Robert, for pointing out my typos,

David, the American got it right (No spelling mistake, David!)
I , the German, spelt my own language wrong. Of course,
the point of the little world-play is in the similar-sounding
"ist" (= is) and "isst" (= eats).

Fritz


  So the German should be "Man ist was man isst." (note the different verbs)

  Robert
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Fritz Goerling
    To: 'Fritz Goerling' ; lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
    Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 9:17 PM
    Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Re: lexical entries as singulars or plurals


    Sorry, I meant "One is what one eats"and "Man is what he eats."

    FG




        David,

        "Man" in the saying "Man isst was man isst" is only written in
capitals because it
        begins the sentence. Otherwise all nouns are capitalized in German.
However, the "Man"
        in the saying "Man isst was man isst" has nothing to do with "Mann"
(= man; the male)
        It corresponds to the impersonal "on" in  French and "one" in
English. So the translation
        of the German saying into English is "One eats what one eats" or in
gender-noninclusive
        language "Man eats what he eats."
        Fritz



        Fritz --

        I don't know German, but I remember a German saying, something like
"Man ist
        was man isst." (Please forgive and correct spelling mistakes.) Is
this "man"
        unrelated to what you were talking about?

        -- David Frank


        ----- Original Message -----
        From: <billposer at alum.mit.edu>
        To: <lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com>
        Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 10:29 AM
        Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Re: lexical entries as singulars or plurals


        Granting the availability of mensch as a gender-neutral term,
        am I wrong in thinking that, in the indefinite usage, mann and
        leute are a singular/plural pair? I'm thing of usages like:

        Was mann sagt ...  "What a person/one says..."
        Was leute sagen .. "What people say..."




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