LL-L 'Names' 2007.01.21 (01) [A/E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 21 January 2007 - Volume 01

=========================================================================

From: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L 'Names' 2007.01.20 (01) [A/E/LS]

Haai julle,

En ek onthou nog uit my kleintyd (en dis nog daar in die wonderlike
Boesmanland

anderkant Calvinia of Brandvlei): Onseepkans, Pramberg, Drieputs,
Swartsekolk,

Verneukpan, Nelshoogte, Van Wyksvlei, Klawer, en dit in 'n gebied waar
kinders partykeer

eers op 6-jarige ouderdom reën ervaar!

Groete,

Elsie Zinsser
----------

From: Pat Reynolds <pat at caerlas.demon.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L 'Funny foreign' 2007.01.19 (03) [E]

Mathias Rösel wrote saying that he cannot see the joke for English
readers/listeners in the German word Ausfahrt.

This is the joy of transgression: saying a word which in your language
is a little bit - or a lot - forbidden.  We (English-speakers) find this
joy even when the words are not in a foreign language, but are in our
own - for example as people's names (there is a classic cricket radio
broadcast where we were told "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's
Willey").  Other surnames which provoke such mirth are Ramsbottom, and
my own maiden name, Alcock (mispronounced by southerners - in the North,
it isn't funny).

Half the world is probably shaking its head and saying "No, I can't see
why Miss Alcock's name is anything to laugh about".  You won't
understand why Ausfahrt is funny, either.  This doesn't mean 'you
haven't got a sense of humour' (something the English tend to allege
about Germans), but that it is a different understanding of what is
funny.

Cheers,

Pat (now Reynolds, but retaining Alcock as a middle name: although I
didn't like the teasing when I was young, I am proud of my family
heritage)
Reference for the cricket joke: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A6564341 -
full of other examples of British humour which others may find
distressingly unfunny
--
Pat Reynolds
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070121/5fa60e3b/attachment.htm>