LL-L "Language use" 2007.11.17 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  15 November 2007 - Volume 05
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language used" 2007.11.16 (06) [E]

From: R. F. Hahn < sassisch at yahoo.com >
Subject: Language use

Hi, Paul!

Obviously I can't speak for Jonny, but I can tell you that I didn't get your
meaning right away either.

.......

That's was my take on it.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

No, it looks like I got the wrong idea!

Cheers

Paul Finlow-Bates

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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language used" 2007.11.16 (06) [E]

 Thanks, Paul and Ron,

for having cleared up some missunderstandings.

Paul wrote:
>  What I find even more surprising is that other Lowlanders seem to regard
this anti-German feeling as a good thing, to be encouraged.

I don't think it's too bad to be a little bit anti-German from time to time-
it keeps us to be in practice ;-)!
This slight missinterpretation reminds me at a story often told by my
father. In the early fifties from time to time he used to visit a man with
the illustrious name 'Onno Menno Onnen' in Eastern Frisia. He always got
invited for a cup of the famous Frisian tea (the latter described by a
certain R.F.H. here: http://www.lowlands-l.net/travels/teetied.php ) with
the words "Kom' 'rin, kom' 'rin! Loot 's Tey drinken un praten! Wat givvt'
Neyet in Duitsland?" ("Come in for a cup of tea and a little talk. What's
the news in Germany?"[Watch the Frisian/Dutch words *'praten'* and *
'Duitsland'*...]).- Perhaps I should mention that Eastern Frisia always
belonged to the 'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nations' and already since
A.D. 1744 had been under Prussian reign before A.D. 1871 there was a united
Germany established.
Similar things could have happened in all the German provinces situated at
the boarders of the main land, as history shows in the case of the north of
Slesvig-Holstein, the Saarland, Bavaria and even East Prussia whose
inhabitants always made a difference between their province and the 'Reich'.
But- going far off-topic now- I think there are only very few countries in
Europe one could call 'homogeneous'; perhaps Denmark or Poland coming close
to this attribute?

Ron schreyv:

> The way I understood Jonny's point was that the use of Low Saxon
introduced a more familial tone that diffused a volatile situation. The guy
> was not pleased, but Jonny's demeanor, accentuated by his use of local
lingo, took the sting out of it.

You hit it! Thanks!

> As you may have noticed on occasion, people in rural Northern Germany tend
to (mistakenly) believe that proficiency in Low Saxon is
> exclusively rural, that this is one of the things that differentiate them
from city dwellers. I believe that this is one of the reasons why some of
> them are surprised by city dwellers' use and proficiency of the language
and why they like to dismiss it as unauthentic and plain wrong,
> especially when different and new expressions are used. Thereby they seem
to be declaring urban use of the language invalid, this being
> an attempt to neutralize what they perceive as being a threat (= change).

I'd rather think everyone is welcomed here to speak Low Saxon his own way-
as long as he doesn't intend to kill our local dialect ;-)! Perhaps you
should take a look here
http://www.stern.de/lifestyle/reise/598060.html?q=Amazonas%20hinterm%20Deich
to learn
something more about the hillbilly - clichè of our region ;-).

Allerbest and nice weekend!

Jonny Meibohm
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