pidgin English and "Nix Forstay"

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 02:52 PM 3/2/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>-- Doug Wilson wrote:
> >But "nix-forstay" appears to be German, i.e., "nicht[s] versteh-". Why is
> >it not "forstay-nix" (= "[ich] verstehe nichts" = "[I] understand nothing"
> >or "[ich] verstehe nicht" = "[I] don't understand")?
> >Is the expression from a subordinate clause like "... weil ich nichts
> >verstehe" = "... because I don't understand anything"?
>
>Doesn't have to be a subordinate clause.  It could be short for "Ich kann
>nichts verstehen."  Not uncommon in colloquial speech (altho 'kann' would
>normally be spoken)
>
> >Or is it pidgin- German with English word order, "nix" = "nicht" ("not") +
> >"forstay" ("understand")?
>Beverly Flanigan wrote:
> >The pidgin link is obvious to me; fronted negative is common, with no
> >subject, in all pidgins.  Cf. "No can do," "long time no see," etc.  The
> >German pronunciation of "nicht" could easily be transmuted to "nix" by a
> >nonnative speaker of German, 'ver' [fEr] may become 'for', [St] in German
> > easily becomes [st], and the final schwa is often deleted by NNSs.
>
>Already explained the lack of subject and word order.  [st] for standard
>German [St] is the rule in some dialects, as is the dropping of final [n]
>on infinitives.  Schwa dropping is also very common in colloquial speech.
>
>Really, this sounds to me more like an an intended attempt by Americans to
>mock German.
>Fritz Juengling

Yes, I agree, though a short-term visitor to Germany might do the same,
without mocking.