LL-L "Customs" 2002.04.28 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 28.APR.2002 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Ole Stig Andersen <osa at olestig.dk>
Subject: LL-L "Customs" 2002.04.27 (04) [E/Danish]

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

> I take it by "paperclip" you mean (cut-out) silhouette, the ornamental
> type.  (_Paperclip_ betyder "klips".)  What do you call it in Danish?
> It's _Scherenschnitt_ in German.

Well, in Danish it is --- papirklip or papirsklip.
(The [-s-] is a subordination marker used when you compound a word with
a
compound. It could be considered a kind of genitive or izafet. Words of
unDanish phonological form, like "papir", are sometimes treated as
compound
words.)
>
> In this particular context I would probably translate _gæk_ not as
> 'geek' but as 'prankster', 'teaser' or, perhaps best, 'jester', someone
> who pulls someone's leg or pokes fun at someone or something, as in
> 'court jester' (a bit like Modern Danish _skælm_, Low Saxon and German
> _Schelm_), like our Lowlandic Till Ulenspegel (Till Eulenspiegel).

Agreed, and "skælm" is yet another word Danish has got from Plattysk.

> By the way, I would not be too surprised if there was a distant
> relationship between the Danish _gækkebrev_ tradition and the
> old-fashioned, anonymous sending of Valentine's cards (with verses,
> flowers and pretty pictures, in February) in Anglophone traditions.

That's what the books say, yeah. A search on Google on "gækkebrev
valentine"
yields a lot of personal homepages, where people seem to use the two
interchangeably, explain one by the other, etc.

While Gækkebrevet is an older tradition transmitted by the families and
children themselves, Valentine's Day is yet another globalization
assault
from you know where, transmitted to us by massive advertisement,
preproduced
cards, staged commercial "events" in malls and squares, gossip about
celebrities' Valentine and similar "news" hype, etc, all backed up by
the
incessant carpet bombing in TV with you know whose values and traditions
that we have suffered through the last ten years of Cable. In the same
way
we've also got Halloween now.

Maybe Valentine will fuse with or supplant Gækkebrevet, but more
probably
they will live side by side, somewhat like Sinterklaas and his returned
American clone Santa Claus live side by side in the Netherlands. It
shouldn't take Valentine's Day more than a generation to become an
age-old
Danish tradition.

The florist industry also tried to market Valentine's Day in Denmark in
the
50'es, but in vain. They didn't have the media backing then.

Regards,
Ole Stig Andersen
http://www.olestig.dk

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