fun with grammar, part 1

part of the reason i stay in germany when all else is grim is because of my work colleagues. nevermind their personal qualities of being nice and such. it's a decidedly non-german environment (everyone is 'du') and sarcasm and overall general nonsense abounds and generally rules, while simultaneously switching back and forth between german and english generally creates more fodder for our capers.

it all starts innocently enough, with someone asking me how to say something in english properly, or because they receive an email and understand all of it except for an unfamilar word or phrase or i ask for a word in german. fair enough, but then it tends to wander into slang and side conversations and all heck breaks loose, in particular because my german colleagues always learned 'school english' and are pretty good at it. what they are not good at is the 'casual english' or slang that one gets either from tv/movies or from being in a country.

my german work colleague J. was using 'barking up the wrong tree' in the correct situations for a few weeks having picked it up from someone else, but not knowing what 'barking' meant until last week. that was only because my other colleague M. sent me a note ending with 'or do i go off on a woody way?' umm. say what? so she then types the german 'auf dem Holzweg' thinking that perhaps she mistyped something in english. nope, the english is clear, but what are you saying? when i asked J. he made the link to barking up the wrong tree. so apparently americans bark up the incorrect tree while germans head off on a trail into the woods.

basic enough on the above, but have you ever tried to explain 'booty call' to a german? we are accustomed in the office to not directly translate word to word, but to explain instead because often if it's a difficult or rarely used word in either english or german, then it's easier just to give the definition. gooooood one to try to explain. our favorite learning tool in the office is an online dictionary that also gives common phrases, and we often go to ask Leo but he didn't know this one. apparently Leo doesn't get out much.

the typical mentality is for germans to take apart the english words or to relate to other words, because german tends to be made up of building blocks of words. much easier for an english speaker to pick up german vocabulary than the other way around. for example, if you know 'fahren' = to go by some means other than walking, then it's easy to figure out that 'schnell fahren' = (fast to go, literally) or to speed, 'ski fahren' = (ski to go) or to ski, then you can get the root in other places like 'Busfahrt' = bus ride, 'Busfahrer' = bus driver, and on and on.

so enough grammar, back to the booty call. the first german instinct was to point to the shoe. 'like boot'? um, no. and then the explanation. then the german logic again. 'but why booty?' here we go on another explanation.

and then 'stage three' of the new grammar is a german utilizing the new phrase constantly for about a week after learning it, trying to use it to tweak how the exact usage should be. so a week of 'mrs. x is at lunch with mr. y' 'oh! so is it a booty call?' 'no, there is nothing sexual happening it's only a lunch meeting.' 'ach so.' (sound of pencil on notebook in the background, noting this clarification). 'your boss is late, is he on a bc?' 'is he what?' 'a bc, a booty call-or can you not abbreviate that one? you americans abbreviate things usually' 'well, maybe not that one so much.' 'ok.' (more pencil scratching)

teaching a german a new english phrase: 5 minutes
clarifying this new phrase use over a week: 10 minutes
hearing a german whip out 'booty call' in a perfect context to an unprepared native english speaker: priceless.