Spigel Online article on German fountain pen manufacturers

[Philip1209]

Very interesting. Thank you Google Translator!

[jkenton]

Not aiming to contradict and all that, but an "oder" in the German language (i.e an "or?") at the end of every sentence is also a habit at least in Hamburg (pretty North German) too!

 

Miguel

 

It's no problem if you contradict me, as long as we understand each other correctly. Just so we're clear, I do not mean it in the same way as it is done in Germany (at least the parts I am familiar with) or Ausria. For example, in the versions of German I'm used to, one would say something like "I'm going to go home now, oder." which means, "I am thinking of going home now. Sounds like a good idea, right?" or "The Pelikan 1000 comes only in gold trim, oder." -- where "oder" means "doesn't it?"

 

But in Switzerland, they will add it to literally EVERY sentence sometimes, in a way that I have not heard German speakers from Germany and Austria do, where the statements are definite. For example "Yesterday I went to the store, oder." or "We must submit this document by tomorrow, oder." or "I like your dog, oder."

 

If you are saying people from Hamburg do that too, that is interesting. I have never been North of Berlin, so I've never heard the speech patterns in the North.

 

In my experience, you can put ODER, or GAU (Gell for you Austrian-types) at the end of every sentence. If you intend to contradict the entire meaning of the previous sentence with one word, you can say DOCH (or MOLL in der SCHWEIZ). (I really ran a poor race. Moll, everyone else should have been in the higher division.)

 

We'll go to the corner bar for a few beers, GAU? Then, we'll go dancing, ODER? You are a fantastic dancer. Moll, I'm clumsy.

 

Ah, German. How I love you so, with your never ending prefix and suffix globbing, and the way your verbs accumulate at the end of the sentences....

[FrankB]

A German writer had spent most of the day about town while his housekeeper cleaned the house. When he returned home, he went straight to his study where he had the manuscript of his newest book laid out. He discovered the last page was missing! He ran screaming down the stairs to confront the housekeeper.

 

Writer: "Where is the trash from the second floor?"

Housekeeper: "Here. Why?"

Writer: "You threw away the last page of my manuscript."

Housekeeper: "But it was just sitting by itself. Why is it such a big deal?"

Writer: "It was the verb, dammit!"