Heard on the Olympics broadcast

[Wilson Gray]

Even the foreign languages are making changes that are leaving me
behind. In 1961, my friend, Klaus-Jürgen, chided me gently for
referring to him as "er" instead of "es" after my having already
referred to him as "Kläuschen" as I was speaking to a third person.

BTW, in those days, the women featured in a nightclub's
_Strip-Tease-Schau_ were definitely "(Schau-)Girls" and not
"(Schau-)Mädchen." Of course, this had to do with foreign culture and
not with native grammar. Interestingly - especially to "Ami-Soldaten"
accustomed to the hypocritical pswaydo-morality of the '50's U.S. -
even a joint roughly equivalent to an American corner bar might have a
Strip-Tease-Schau featuring only a single Schau-Girl "dancing" in the
narrow space between the bar and the tables. In reality, the
Schau-Girl was what would come to be known as a "topless dancer" a
dekkid later in the States and by no means a showgirl in the Vegas
sense. But she was plenty good enough for the average GI, who hadn't
seen such a sight since he'd been weaned.

HIER SPIELT ROCK-OLA MUSIK-BOX!

-Wilson

On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 6:07 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on the Olympics broadcast
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The German diminutive suffix -chen (e.g., in M=E4dchen =3D girl) is the =
> determining factor here. The nouns in which -chen appears must all be =
> neuter, regardless of their gender in real life.
> =20
> But the Germans are not unreasonable people, and when talking about a =
> girl they will usually refer to her as "sie" (she), not "es" ("it"; =
> neuter). =20
> =20
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ________________________________
>
> Ron Butters 8/10/2008 3:17 PM, wrote:
>
> <snip> But every high school student who has ever studied German knows =
> that a girl is neuter in that
> language.=20
>
> <snip>
>
> =20
>
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>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

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