"I only know train station"
You having a laugh?
― Moo Vaughn, Friday, 2 March 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
^ versteht nur Bahnhof
― Wes Brodicus, Friday, 2 March 2018 16:34 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxLKS3_QL_M
― Moo Vaughn, Friday, 2 March 2018 16:37 (six years ago) link
"I only know train station" has a Nazi origin, iirc. Nazi soldiers would get orders from their commanding officers over the radio like "march at 6am, destroy the bridge, recon the village, return to camp, then at 11am tomorrow if you survive, go to the train station and you'll be relieved of duty" and the soldier would respond "ich verstehe nur Bahnhof" (I only understand train station), the joke being "didn't understand anything you just said except the part where I go to the train station and go home"
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 2 March 2018 17:00 (six years ago) link
i am here for this kind of talk
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:01 (six years ago) link
Here's a collection of phrases i.e. https://worldgoespassau.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/i-think-my-pig-is-whistling-german-idioms/
My other favourite that I don't see here but is amazing is "life is not a pony farm" which is pretty self-explanatory
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 2 March 2018 17:02 (six years ago) link
The word for pony farm is Ponyhof
It's a great phrase
Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 2 March 2018 17:03 (six years ago) link
Milkshake fucked on I only know train station what a world
― things you looked shockingly old when you wore (darraghmac), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:04 (six years ago) link
Autocorrect fds
fur deutsches sake
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:13 (six years ago) link
I know exactly which bits of my projects give my heartburn, Germans OTM.
So the only ways I can think of to pronounce 'foyer' are:
The correct French way
Irishman saying 'fire'
Is there... a third way?
― Andrew Farrell, Friday, 2 March 2018 17:25 (six years ago) link
FOI-yur
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:28 (six years ago) link
lol which i guess is your Irishman way
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:29 (six years ago) link
Ahem, an Offaly man maybe
― things you looked shockingly old when you wore (darraghmac), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:29 (six years ago) link
Or the lobby as they call it in Scotland.
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:35 (six years ago) link
Have also heard people (possibly me?) pronounce it "foi-ay"
― Colonel Poo, Friday, 2 March 2018 17:36 (six years ago) link
I mis-heard "Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof" as "Das Leben ist klein Ponyhof" the first time my husband said it.
― neutral yogurt (doo dah), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:38 (six years ago) link
i was reading a while back about german humour and why it doesn't translate well
the whole article was so funny and really helped me understand my germanic brothers
(searching for it)
i believe it was this one
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/may/23/germany.features11
― F# A# (∞), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:48 (six years ago) link
sorry that wasn't it
it was this one: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170802-why-people-think-germans-arent-funny
― F# A# (∞), Friday, 2 March 2018 17:50 (six years ago) link
there are several distinct German modes of humor, in my experience
one of my instructors in college was of the "Germans are serious, and when they're being funny, they act EXTRA serious" variety and I would crack up at his jokes when no one else would
― mh, Friday, 2 March 2018 18:31 (six years ago) link
from that first link to the guardian
On my first night in Hannover I had gone out drinking with some young German actors. "You will notice there are no old buildings in Hannover," one of them said. "That is because you bombed them all." At the time I found this shocking and embarrassing. Now it seems like the funniest thing you could possibly say to a nervous English visitor.
yeeeah, this is the mode my instructor was permanently wired into
― mh, Friday, 2 March 2018 18:38 (six years ago) link
Not really tickling my funny bone there tbf.
― Buff Jeckley (Tom D.), Friday, 2 March 2018 18:41 (six years ago) link
That all the different kinds of tea are really the same plant that has been processed/oxidized differently.
(in my defense I only started drinking tea regularly in the last year)
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 2 March 2018 18:44 (six years ago) link
My favourite German joke, which was actually told to me while driving down the autobahn, had me asking "there are so many arrows saying Ausfahrt" and my German friend replying "yes, it's the biggest city in Germany"
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 2 March 2018 18:53 (six years ago) link
lol
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, 2 March 2018 18:55 (six years ago) link
https://assets.boomkat.com/spree/products/253176/large/original.jpg
― how's life, Friday, 2 March 2018 18:58 (six years ago) link
I've mentioned it before, but the class I mentioned had a number of farmboy types who would try to bait the instructor before class about Germany and he'd keep escalating by stating somewhat provocative things in a very matter of fact way. One day, it ended when he said, "Once the German army starts marching, they are unstoppable"
I almost fell out of my chair laughing
― mh, Friday, 2 March 2018 19:00 (six years ago) link
life is just a pony farmcan you live this pony farm life
― mookieproof, Friday, 2 March 2018 20:49 (six years ago) link
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 3 March 2018 04:28 (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
australians do this, which tbh i thought was a legitimate pronunciation until just now
― reverse-periscoping (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 2 March 2018 22:06 (six years ago) link
also there's an entire thread in the transliterated foreign aphorisms thing, it's brilliant
― reverse-periscoping (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 2 March 2018 22:07 (six years ago) link
it's legit
― mh, Friday, 2 March 2018 22:08 (six years ago) link
“foie gras”
― startled macropod (MatthewK), Friday, 2 March 2018 22:34 (six years ago) link
sometimes foyer pronunciation depends upon for whom i'm code switching tbh
― andrew m., Friday, 2 March 2018 22:55 (six years ago) link
foy-er. "aunt" = ant. robot = robutt
― flappy bird, Friday, 2 March 2018 23:43 (six years ago) link
ok i'm still in 2008, but i've learnt more from this thread than the last year of life, thanks ilx. i still don't know who the fuck sandy shaw is but at least i get the pun.
― Hunt3r, Saturday, 3 March 2018 03:39 (six years ago) link
courtney act is meant to sound like “caught in the act”, apparently everyone knew that except me
― reverse-periscoping (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 3 March 2018 03:48 (six years ago) link
Caught in barn innit
― F# A# (∞), Saturday, 3 March 2018 06:16 (six years ago) link
Caught in the barn innit
― F# A# (∞), Saturday, 3 March 2018 06:21 (six years ago) link
may i reiterate that hawaii is a SIX HOURS away from california
― flappy bird, Saturday, 3 March 2018 06:39 (six years ago) link
Idgi how far did you think it was
― direct to consumer online mattress brand (silby), Saturday, 3 March 2018 06:43 (six years ago) link
it's a me, six hours away from California
― just noticed tears shaped like florida. (sic), Saturday, 3 March 2018 06:47 (six years ago) link
idk like an hour or two? im not from california
― flappy bird, Saturday, 3 March 2018 07:14 (six years ago) link
If you said "foy-yay" instead of "foy-er" in Australia you'd get serious side-eye.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Saturday, 3 March 2018 07:35 (six years ago) link
xp i thought the distance to hawaii was something like that until i had the chance to visit and discovered just how long it would take.
― new noise, Saturday, 3 March 2018 07:46 (six years ago) link
*to get there.
It's been a long time since i flew to the States but I thought Heathrow to JFK was ab0out 6 hours in the 70s & 80s. So the same duration does seem long for what presumably gets counted as an internal flight.Maybe it bolsters the idea that Hawaii should be an independent state not part of the U.S. heard taht the move away from Independence wasn't 100% liked by natives.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 3 March 2018 10:58 (six years ago) link
Its probably more about the distance
― things you looked shockingly old when you wore (darraghmac), Saturday, 3 March 2018 11:41 (six years ago) link
Hawaii should build a wall, and send Dog The Bounty Hunter back!
― calzino, Saturday, 3 March 2018 12:05 (six years ago) link
Alaska is five hours from California by air. Don’t get me started on Guam.
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 3 March 2018 12:38 (six years ago) link
the move away from Independence wasn't 100% liked by natives.
Understatement
― Wyld Scalyns (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 3 March 2018 12:44 (six years ago) link