[Lexicog] Re: Changes in German usage

[Miel Slager]

On Wednesday, August 24, 2005, 7:45:16, billposer at alum.mit.edu wrote:

>
The change in German usage may have a parallel in Dutch.
A few weeks ago I commented to a Dutch friend that the
canonical sign in the Netherlands when I was first there
was: Et is streng verboden op de grasplaats te betreden.
(Pardon any spelling errors - my Dutch is not too good and
this is from memory.) "It is strictly forbidden to walk on
the grass." She responded that this had been true but had
changed in recent years. I can't remember what she said the
current version is. (Perhaps something along the grounds of:
"By all means, have a seat and smoke a joint." :) )

--
Bill Poser, Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~wjposer/ billposer at alum.mit.edu



The Dutch version was actually 'Het is (streng) verboden het gras te betreden', later it probably was 'Niet op het gras lopen' (don't walk on the grass?/lawn?) and now 'Verboden voor honden' (No dogs admitted).

Cheers,

Emile Slager
Prof. Ritzema Boslaan 59
3571 CN  Utrecht
Netherlands

tel. +31 30 271 3689
url: http://home.wanadoo.nl/e.slager
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