Stichwörter (Keywords):
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- Category: Writing German
Discussions begin, lawyers are called, and lawsuits are filed. All of it is about a comma. (See what I did there?)
The Oxford comma is so important to people that spouses actually have discussions about it. They've talked about everything like where to live, how to manage their finances, and how many kids to have, but years later they find out only one of them uses the Oxford comma. [Cut dramatic music.] It's like now the real stuff of marriage has come to the forefront:
to use the Oxford comma or not?
In English class I was taught the following: when you write a list of three or more items and the list needs differentiation, or might sound confusing, then you insert the comma before "and." Ergo:
Maria asked Bartholomäus, her teacher, and husband if she should use the Oxford comma.
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- Category: Speaking German
Es war einmal…that I called my German Landlord to ask to get something fixed in the apartment. Although I was in a fantastic mood that day, it only took about 20 seconds for that phone call to change my German speaking habits forever…here’s why:
Nicole: Hallo, Herr Müller!
Herr Müller: Hallo, Frau Warner!
Nicole: Wie geht’s Ihnen denn?
Herr Müller: Ach ja, wissen Sie, nicht so gut. Am Wochenende habe ich im Garten gearbeitet und etwas hat mich am Fuß gestochen! Die Stelle ist angeschwollen—es war riesig! Und mit Eiter gefüllt* war’s auch. Aber jetzt war ich beim Arzt, ich habe eine Spritze bekommen und es wird schon besser!*
Nicole: (inner reaction): Oh Gott, oh Gott! Warum hat er mir das erzählt! Das wollte ich alles gar nicht wissen!
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- Category: German culture and food
If you've been hanging around this blog for a while, which some of you have, you'll know how excited I get when it's German week at ALDI. Apparently it just was, but I missed it, as there was no more regular Frischkäse when I arrived, only the Meerrettich kind, which I don't like. Schade.
This week I did a huge Einkaufstour and went to ALDI and filled up the cart. Käse, Champignons, Paprika, Toilettenpapier, Taschentücher, Bratwürste--ich habe echt alles eingekauft.
When I reached the check-out there were only two people ahead of me, and one, a young man, was carrying only three items. In his hands he held a package of blueberries, a package of raspberries, and a huge stack of styrofoam plates.
"I'm just going to hold my items," he explained, "so go ahead and use the whole belt."
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- Category: German vocabulary
Americans take a staycation und die Deutschen machen Urlaub auf Balkonien!
Although Germans are legally entitled to a minimum of four weeks of vacation per year (many have five, and some six), not everyone takes off to the mountains, to another city, or to another country. Many Germans have Urlaub zu Hause, or more aptly put: Sie machen Urlaub auf Balkonien!
When you take the word "Balkon" and add the "-ien" ending to it, it sounds like the ending of places that you'd like to take a vacation in. Spanien, Kalifornien, Brasilien, Mauretanien...Balkonien.
It doesn't take much to create a beautiful space at home to enjoy your own piece of Balkonien this summer. If you're not going anywhere, take a few tips from the Germans!
Pflanzen Sie Pflanzen!
Plants make everything nicer, and Germans are so good at the container gardens. They're good at all the gardens. (Seriously, have you seen the National Garden Show, the Bundesgartenschau? It'll knock your socks off.) So put your balcony and your time auf Balkonien to good use and plant a Kräutergarten like I did this week:
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- Category: German culture and food
This year is the Reformationsjubiläum, the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, which was a key event for the Reformation. This day now symbolizes the beginning of the Reformation and the far-reaching effects that have reached around the globe. All year long there are activities all over the world to celebrate this anniversary, most especially in Germany.
They're celebrating the life and work of Martin Luther: the man who lived secretly under the name "Junker Jörg," gave us the word Rotzlöffel, and translated the New Testament into German.
Rotzlöffel
This descriptive insult translates literally to "snot spoon," and correctly translated, it gives us "snotty-nosed brat." How Luther helped this word get into better circulation, I have no idea, but you can find out more in Mit Feuereifer und Herzenslust from DUDEN.
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