h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi!
I just learn how to improve my messages to people I don't know, for somehow I always seem to bore or annoy them. If I should do something like that: please tell me, I'm not aware of it.

I always try to be nice, so: can I offer you some and ?

And now I try to start a conversation by asking: What brought you to hootoo?

OK, that's it, I did what I could.

()

Hi
well you haven't annoyed me yet. I spent a minute trying to work out where I know you from, but I don't, so that's okay!

I appreciate your attempt to reach out, or however you say it, it seems like a nice thing to do, quite friendly of you.

My introduction to h2g2 goes like this, I read the books in High School in about 1998 after the separate recommendations of my English and Religious Studies teachers. The trilogy is totally awesome, and definitely my favourite books (though I haven't read all the books in the world by any measure)

I heard about h2g2 from Douglas Adams when he appeared on Tomorrow's World on TV to introduce it, though I didn't turn up here til 2001. The site is really good! However, I left my account to be eaten by moths, unfortunately, as I'm not really a writer and I hadn't made any new friends there, there wasn't so much to keep me hooked. I came back a couple of weeks ago, 2005, older and wiser, hopefully I'll write some things and meet more Earthbound hitchhikers.

I've probably gone on too long for a first contact, so I'll trail off now and hopefully I'll be hearing more from you.

What brought you to hootoo? (and other questions!)

Neil

Ich moechte ein Bisschen Deutsch schreiben versuchen!

Immer magte Ich Deutsch lernen. In meiner Schule habe Ich Deutsch in der Abitur gelernt. Aber wohnte Ich immer in England, also die Abitur A-levels heissen.

Ich schreibe Deutsch nicht so gut, weil ich seit zwei Jahre gar keine Praxis gemacht habe, und weil ich weder in Deutschland noch in Austria gewesen... Ich bin nur bis Belgium gefahren.

Koenntest du dieses Brief/meiner Deutsch richtig machen?

Mit freundlichen Gruessen!
Tschuess!
Neil

Respekt! Wirklich gut! (I've( /schould have) learned French for 4 years at school, I don't know if I could write like that now)
Bis jetzt habe ich noch niemanden hier getroffen, der Deutsch kann. (I'ts funny to write "normal" German in the Internet, I usually write all mails in dialect)

OK, so I'll try to correct your German:

Ich wollte immer Deutsch lernen.
In meiner Schule habe ich Deutsch für das Abitur gelernt.
Ich wohne in England, wo das Abitur A-levels heißt.
Ich schreibe nicht so gut Deutsch, weil ich seit zwei Jahren keine Praxis mehr habe (,) und weil ich weder in Deutschland noch in Österreich gewesen bin... ich bin nur bis Belgien gefahren.
Könntest du diesen Brief/ mein Deutsch korrigieren?

(My German teacher always said: never use machen, that's something different! (it's the thing you do on the toilet))

I learned English for 8 years and also had it for my Matura (that's how we call the Abitur in Austria), I could have had best grades, if I hadn't made 11 spelling errors on 2 1/2 pages, for the rest of the exam I had the least errors of the whole class. But there was nothing unusual about that, it was the same in German too, but in the Matura I had the best grade, one of the best works in the class.

English is one of the reasons why I came to hootoo, like you in German, I haven't written one word in English after I left school about two years ago. I only read books in English, but that's not the same.

When I was about 14 years old I got the Restaurant at the End of the Universe as a presant, somehow it seems like I didn't really understand it at that time. I didn't like it, it confused me.
About one year later I tried it again and loved it. I realised that it was the 2nd part and of course read all the others too. All of Adams' books are among the best ones I've ever read.
I read about hootoo in a book ( the salmon of doubt?), but didn't come here immediately. In January a friend told me "I've been to the cinema and there was a strange preview. It looked like the book you are always talking about". I found a link to hootoo on the film homepage.
For a few weeks I just watched it and then finally became member.

tschüss
servus
Moni (yes, that's what my friends call me in "real" world)

Liebe Moni

Vielen Dank, über den Brief und . Frühlich meinte ich vielleicht: ,,Ich lernte gern Deutsch'' aber wollte ich noch Deutsch lernen. Vielleicht nächstes Jahr könnte ich Deutsche Sprachstunde in meiner Studium bringen. Ein bisschen sollte ich darüber erzählen, ich studiere Mathe in London. Jedes morgen nehme ich den Zug zur Universität in der Stadt. Leider ist screiben nicht leicht auf den Zug, also ich habe viele Zeit aus Fenster verschwunden.

Salmon of Doubt is good! Though obviously not as good as the others because it's nowhere near finished. I liked the 2 Dirk Gently books beforehand, and the 5 hhgttg better. It doesn't surprise me it included h2g2 in Salmon of Doubt because it's got lots of odd little bits in it.

Ich sollte das Film auf den 29. April sehen. Wann läuft das Film in Österreich? Werden Sie bald dafür ins Kino gehen? Kann ich Sie dützen?

Warum heissen Sie Moni?

Tschüß!
Neil

Na toll, jetzt schreib ich das Ganze schon zum dritten Mal, weil ich jedes Mal irgend einen ver*****en Knopf drücke, und alles ist weg. Super Moni , gut gemacht!
Also noch ein Mal:

Natürlich darfst du (ich bin hier unverschämt genug gleich du zu sagen) mich duzen. Es ist unter Studenten absolut unüblich Sie zu sagen.

I drive to uni by train too. I study in Vienna and need about 1 hour to get there from home. During that time I usually read or sometimes learn something for uni. Sometimes I also try to draw some sketches, but I can't do it when there are too many people around, they seem to block my thoughts. So I also loose much time.
As you have certainly found out that I'm from Austria on my PS, you may also know that I study Architecture, but I'm still in my first year, because I've lost one year on an awful technical school. It was horrible. Loads of people (including teachers) with the intelligence of a slice of bread.

I like the salmon of doubt, although it is a bit depressing I think. I like Dirk Gently too, but I think I prefer the Restaurant. I'd love to hear the radio series one time, I've only had the chance to read the script.
In Austria we've got to wait for the film till the 16th of June, that's very unfair. I hope you'll tell me what it was like, when you've seen it.

Warum ich Moni heiße ist weder spannend noch sonst irgendetwas. Moni ist einfach die gebräuchliche Abkürzung für Monika, worauf ich normaler Weise gar nicht mehr reagiere.
Wie ich sehe hast du dir tatsächlich die Mühe gemacht alle ÜÄÖ Pünktchen zu setzen und das ß zu schreiben, toll. I've got special buttons for that on my keyboard. BTW: Do you have any idea how chinese people get their thousands of letters on a keyboard? I've asked myself that question since one year, but don't come to any conclusion. (That may sound a bit silly, but such things are wandering through my mind very often)

tschüss (usually with ß, but ss is my own interpretation)
Moni

Liebe Moni!

,Monika' zu ,Moni' verkurzen ist ganz natürlich, möchtete ich nur versichern ob du Monika heisst. Mein Name ist Neil und es gibt keine gute Abkurzungen.

Now I'm not sure if that makes sense (perhaps it's abkurzen instead), so correct me again, because I'm cobbling together what I remember of grammar and, since my vocabulary is what's lost most, I confess I used altavista for a few words so far, which I will try to avoid! So I want to go over some stuff to see if I understand.

I gather so far you learnt French for four years but don't do it now. I learnt French for 5 years (alongside German, but + 2 more = 7 for German) Ich bin zweimal in Frankreich gewesen.
You mentioned about talking normal German and talking in dialect - is that to say you usually write Deustch in the Austrian dialect, and this conversation is different by being German Deutsch?
After your Matura you went to an awful Technical school where they wasted one of your years, and now you're studying architecture in Vienna?
I'm sorry to hear about the trouble with the h2g2 software. I can't tell what the cause of the problem is, I would hate it to happen again. But thanks for hanging in there for the third time!
One thing that puzzles me about Austria: in latin it seems to mean 'land to the south', but in Deustch, Österreich seems to mean 'realm to the east' - what's even more peculier is Austria is north of Rome (not south) and south of Germany (not east) I guess I'm just being silly but let me know.
I'm afraid I have no idea how chinese people do their letters. Hopefully I can do the Pünktchen ok - but I don't have the keys for them. Alt-0223=[ß], Alt+0252=[ü], Alt+0246=[ö], Alt+0228=[ä] and Alt-0214=[Ö] the others I'll have to work out later. It's quite easy when you get the hang of it, in fact there are hundreds of characters available. µôñî (but we don't need them)

I'm sorry you have a delay before the film, but I will keep in touch.

As for the train: I don't drive the train, although I can see some confusion with fahren [to drive, to go] Ich fahre mit dem Zug, richtig? I go by train, you go by train, and I guess it's the same thing. I suppose it probably makes more sense to say fahren than nehmen, I don't know. You can say I take the train, I go by train, I travel by train, I ride the train. Driving the train is the task of railway employees. But it sounds fun anyway.
Gazing out the window is just one of the many ways I waste time.
Tomorrow morning is the first day back in a long time, and I have to write an essay by that time, because it's finally due. I've had a very long time to write it but I haven't done it - because I'm always wasting time.

So I must go.
Tschüss!
Neil

Lieber Neil!

Ich würde sagen: Monika zu Moni abzukürzen; aber eigentlich ist es egal, weil ich ja sowieso (=onehin) verstehe was du meinst. Nur darauf kommt es an.

I have to use my dictionary too, sometimes I'm just not sure, but there of course words I really do not know. But we were always tought at school: you can't know everything, but you have to know where you can find what you need.

Ich war zweimal in Frankreich, aber beim ersten Mal war ich erst 5 Jahre alt. Ja, ich hatte 4 Jahre Französisch, erinnere mich heute aber an kaum etwas. Während der Stunden habe ich meistens gezeichnet (in der letzten Klasse mit Erlaubnis des Lehrers).

German German is defenitely different from Austrian German, I'll try to give you some examples.
OK, the first thing I find is Kissen, what an awful word, we call it Polster. Tomate= Paradeiser, Kartoffel= Erdapfel
With my friends from uni I only write in dialect, which cuts down all words to their most necessary letters and some words you don't even recognise. The sound is very different from how Germans talk too, you don't recognise the single words.
eg: Ge(h) ma ham = gehen wir nach Hause.
i= ich, ea=er, Sie= Se, ihr= eana (ihr Haus= eana Haus), euer= eicha, wir= mia (mia san mia= wir sind wir, meaning self confidence, but a bit too much)
Ein normaler Brief an eine Fruendin würde ungefähr so aussehen:
Hallo!
Sog, hom mia muagn Vualesung oda net? (= sag, haben wir morgen eine Vorlesung oder nicht?)
One of the "most important" centences is: Geh oida schleich di oda i posch da ane! Geh alter schleich dich= verschwinde oder ich gebe dir eine Ohrfeige.

Ja, nach der Matura war ich auf einer HTL (höhere technische Lehranstalt) für Bautechnik, leider war es dort extrem furchtbar und schlussendlich habe ich mich auch noch mit einem Lehrer gestritten. Eine andere Lehrerin hat nichteinmal verstanden, was sie eigentlich unterrichtet und wollte uns das dann beibringen. Es war für mich eine seelische Qual, mein Gehirn hat sich manchmal angefühlt wie Pudding. Darum habe ich dann beschlossen auf die Uni zu gehen.

I didn't have problems with the software. It's bad to delate it once, but to do it twice is pure stupidity.
Österreich means Reich im Osten, it was mentioned for the first time in a paper of 996 as Ostarichhi (I hope I've written it in the right way). At first this was only the name for a small part in eastern Austria.

Of course I don't drive the train, that's the 2nd time I make this mistake! Ich fahre mit dem Zug. Die Bahnangestellten (railway employees) fahren den Zug. Ich fahre mit dem, sie fahren den.

Good luck for your essay, I've got to write something too, I've got to put into the Internet tomorrow evening and I've got no idea what they expect us to write.

tschuss
Moni

Hey Moni,

I'm beginning to see what you mean about dialect. It's really something else. "Ge oida schleich di oda i posch da ane" I don't get, but from the look of the German "Geh alter schleich dich oder ich gebe dir eine Ohrfeige" seems to me to mean "Grow up you creep or I'll give you a slap!" but I guess you say it means verschwinde so it might just be "Dissappear or I'll give you a slap" Anyway, I will watch out for that important one, does it apply to me yet?

In French lessons we didn't draw much, I think Technik was the subject we wasted the most time in, apart from Physik and Kunst, and Informatik. In German we were always running out of time, trying to catch up with learning things which European students would have learnt when they were young. I think English schools are not very good at teaching languages, but the older you get, the better the teaching is. Languages get missed out until age 11, and then they are compulsory and not learnt very well. A-levels was the best though. Have you read Der Besuch Der Alten Dame?

I've finished the essay but haven't managed to hand it in, I'll have to go in tomorrow instead. Meine aufsatz behandelt eine seelische Fach, und meine Gehirn hat auch manchmal wie Pudding angefühlt. Ich verstehe es ganz nicht, trotzdem ist es fertig! Ich werde ihm bald richtig in h2g2 bringen, weil ich wenige artikeln hier zu schreiben habe.

Erdapfel ist eine sinnvolle wort. Auf Französisch Erdapfel ist pommes de terre, die Kartoffel heisst. Apples of the earth.

Talk to you soon,
Neil

Gehabet Euch wohl, edler Herr!

... sorry, I had a bad day. The doctor had to put the cat to sleep. The one which came to us a few weeks ago.

Verschwinde in this sentance means something like go away. I'd never say something like that to you. I rather say: Seas ouida, (w) gets da?
Servus alter, wie geht es dir?
In fact I don't talk like that, me and my friends only use this kind of very, very "deep" dialect for fun.
Instead of "i posch da ane" (ich pasch dir eine (Ohrfeige)), you could also say "du fongst ane" (du fängst eine), which means exactely the same.

In French we talked about food and Asterix most of the time. Our teacher was a big fan (of both things) and so we even had one lesson learning how the romans tried to take over the village in one of the comics. A special lesson was also the one about food in Asterix comics. But I've got to say: as a child I've watched the Asterix films until the videos were damaged and I still can recite some parts.

I had English lessons at school since the first year on Gymnasium, which was when I was 10 years old. We had a very good teacher, in the last year we had to write essays of about thousand words minimum every week. We had English in the final exam too, where I wrote about 11 pages. So I can say: yes, we did much. Every year we read a book, that may have been the only problem. I usually didn't like them.
But I now know the most boring book in the world, I can't imagine something more boring: John Fowles, The Collector
Have you ever read it? If your answer is NO, do what you can to ceep it like that.

Ich kann mich nicht erinnern, ob wir den Besuch der alten Dame gelesen haben, ich denke aber schon. Wir haben uns aber auf jeden Fall einen Film angesehen, eine Aufnahme von einem Theater glaube ich. Ich weiß noch, dass es mir gefallen hat, aber wir haben so viel gelesen, dass ich mich kaum mehr an Einzelheiten erinnern kann. Ich weiß aber noch ungefähr wovon es handelte.
Dafür kann ich aber noch die erste Strophe des Nibelungenliedes (fast) auswendig:
Uns ist in alten maeren wunders vil geseit
von helden lobebaeren, von großer arebeit,
von fröuden, hochgeziten, von weinen und von klagen,
von küener recken striten, muget ir nu wunder hoeren sagen.

Das ist Mittelhochdeutsch, und der Beginn eines der bedeutendsten deutschen Heldenlieder. Es heißt (frei übersetzt): uns wird in alten Geschichten von vielen Wundern erzählt, von hoch gelobten (?) Helden, von großer/ harter Arbeit, von Freuden, Festen, von Weinen und von Klagen, vom Kampf tapferer Ritter, sollen euch nun Wunder erzählt werden.

I think that's enough German lesson for today. Sorry for getting into literature maybe too much.
Oh, and I've got to correct one of your sentences, the others have smaller errors in gender, but that one is turned upside down: Auf Französisch heißt der Erdapfel pomme de terre.

see you...

... well... rather improbable...

... bye
good night
Moni

Liebe Moni!

Beileid über deine Katze. Wenn du erstenmals in die nähe von mir ist, darfst du meiner Katze treffen, die Tina heisst.

So anyway, I'm sorry you had a bad day. My French teacher was a bit of a maniac. She was also an Asterix fan but not deeply, she had dozens of random objects in her classroom with French labels, and many posters. When we became old enough not to be so scared of her it was more enjoyable. I don't know Asterix very well, but I love history so maybe I should get a lot of them out of the library. Please recite a bit of it if you can remember!

Looking back on German lessons it feels like all we did was listen to tapes and do silly exercises, but I think there was a lot more to it, there was some fun along the way. We didn't write any essays until A-levels. Perhaps I should put those on h2g2!
I definitely never read John Fowles the Collector, and I probably won't now.

Der Besuch ist Theater, aber wir haben ihm nur in Klassenzimmer gelesen. Kissen ist keine furchtbare Wort. Erdapfel ist keine fruchtbare Wort, doch gemüselich.

I can't remember whether the four lines you wrote are from Besuch, where are they from, and what is a Nibelungenlied? Is it like an epic poem? Also is there anyway you can help me understand what it means. Does it go: "The histories of many wonders will now tell us of heroes of great work, of friends and feasts, of crying and complaining. You are now to be told miracles of the struggles of courageous knights." I'm not sure about that at all. I don't mind going into the literature but now I need some help.

Danke schon edle Dame, für alle ihre Hilfe und ihre freundliche Wörte. Was bedeutet es, "Gehabet euch wohl"?
Tschüss!
Neil

Gehabet Euch wohl!

That's an old way for saying hello, or maybe rather good bye. Euch in this case is not you plural, but singular. Like the king was "Eure Majestät". It's something like es soll Euch wohl ergehen= es soll dir gut gehen.

Das Nibelungenlied ist ein langes Epos, das um 1200 geschrieben wurde. Vielleicht kennst du Wagners "Der Ring der Nibelungen", oder den schrecklichen (recht neuen) Film, den irgendwelche verständnislosen Amerikaner und Deutsche gedreht haben.
The verses mean:
Old tales show/tell us about many wonders
of famous (?) heroes, of great works,
of happiness, parties, of crying and wail,
of the fights of brave knights, you now may hear about wonders.

The whole story is a bit difficult, but I try to tell you a brief summary:
Siegfried von Xanten, a young nobleman, goes away from home. He kills a dragon and takes a bath in it's blood, which makes his skin resistent against every wepon. Only on one place on his shoulder, where a leave lied during the bath, he can be hurt. He then kills a few dwarfs and so gets a cap, which makes him invisible, the sword Balmung and the treasures of the dwarf king Nibelung.
He goes to the court of the king Gunther and his brothers Gernot and Giselher, becomes their friend and finally marries their sister Kriemhild. But a loyal servant, or maybe rather friend of them is also in love with the princess, Hagen von Tronje, but because of his position in society he wasn't allowed to show his feelings.
King Gunther falls in love with queen (?) Brunhild, but she will only marry a man who is as strong as she is. Siegfried has to help Gunhter to get Brunhild. They play tricks on her, because Gunter isn't as strong. Siegfried becomes invisible and helps him, even in the night after the marriage.
Later Brunhild finds out about all that and is of course very angry. She makes an agreement with Hagen. He tells Kriemhild, who wants to protect her husband, that she shall mark the place on Siegfrieds shoulder and he will protect him. She does so and Hagen kills Siegfried during a hunt.
I can not really remamber all the things which happen then, but the essence is that Kriemhild makes a massacre and kills Brunhild, Hagen and everybody else who is in the room even Gunther. The end says something like: and everybody is crying.

What do I know of Asterix? For instance the one where they make fun of the British. They didn't get tea yet, so every day a woman is searving hot water "möchten sie ein Tröpfchen Milch in ihr heißes Wasser haben?" or, a roman soldier to his boss "was sollen wir nur tun? Jeden Freitag verlassen sie einfach das Schlachtfeld und kämpfen nicht mehr weiter. Sie nennen diese Unsitte Weekend". But the best thing is the view over London. They've got everything: Tower bridge, Big Ben, all famous buildings, but they are built of wood.
Another nice thing is Asterix in Ägypten:
"Was ist dieses Licht dort am Horizont?""Dies ist der Leuchtturm auf der Insel Pharos, er zeigt den Schiffen den Weg" "Ein Turm, der den Schiffen den weg zeigt? Die spinnen die Ägypter!"
Obelix breaks the nose of the Sphinx, and all around the place smalle Sphinxes are sold as souveniers, so the shopkeepers take a chisel and start to break the noses of all the statues. You've really got to see it yourself.
Asterix tought me much about history. Maybe I can think of some other examples later.

tschüss
Moni

Gehabet euch wohl edle Dame!

Is the Nibelungenlied an epic poem? Like the Illiad in Greek or Beowulf in English? Ich glaube dass Brunhild in einen Zeichentrickfilm war. Bugs Bunny hat ihre Rolle gespielt.

Ich kenne nicht das Film. Leider kenne ich noch Wagner nicht. Aber kenne ich eine Junge der Wagner heisst, und ihre Freund manchmal nimmt Siegfried für seine Pseudonym. Ich weiss es nicht ob er die Epos kennt, vielleicht kennt er in statt das bedeutung, 'victory peace'.

In diese Epos gibt es kein Welt-happy-End! Es scheint ob viele alte Geschichte Tragödie sind. Aber Tragödie gefallen die Zuschauer von Heutzutage nicht so gut, Komödie immer beliebter wächst. Der Besuch besonders beliebt ist weil es Tragikomödie ist. Er hat das Bestes von beides.

The more I hear about Asterix the more I like it, but I have seen far too little. I guess it has a good setting because Roman history is something all of Europe can relate to. I read somewhere that the Gauls revolted after conquest once they realised they greatly outnumbered the forces who were trying to rule over them. The general feeling from history is that the trouble with fighting the Romans is they are always better organised than you. Austria must be near the edge of where the empire was, did the Romans build Vienna or ever get that far?

Eigenartig, dass so symbolisch von Britische Kultur ist, trotz solche ausländische Herkunft.

Tschüss!
Neil

Gehabet Euch wohl!

The Nibelungenlied is an epic poem, its got rather special verses, spoken like a á a á a á à/ a á a á a á for three lines, the last one is one a á longer in the end: a knight to the king at a big "party":
"Waß waere mannes wünne, / des vreute sich sin lip,
(Was wäre des Mannes Freude, worüber freute er sich,)

eß entaiten schoene mägede / und herlichiu wip?
(gäbe es nicht schöne Mädchen und herrliche Weiber,)

laßet iuwer swester / für iuwer geste gan."
(lasst Eure Schwester für Eure Gäste kommen.)

der rat was ze liebe / vil manegem helde getan.
(Diesen Rat gab er zuliebe der vielen Helden.)

In English: What whould be the pleasure of the man, what whould he be happy about, if there whouldn't be beautiful girls and women? Let your sister come to your guests. This council he gave for the sake of all the heroes.(I took a part which we translated at school)

Bugs Bunny ist wirklich ein guter Hinweis. Wenn sich die Figuren in diesen Filmen auf der Bühne als Opernsängerinnen verkleiden, tregen sie meistens Helme mit Hörnern,... das könnte wirklich eine Anspielung auf Wagner sein. Von ihm sind zum Beispiel auch Parzival und Lohengrin (beides sin deutsche Sagen). The fact that he always took such themes is the reason why Hitler loved Wagner, he was "German".

Yes, the romans built Vienna. At this time it was called Vindobona, so you can already find Wien in it. Somewhere in northern Austria was the limes and we've also got some places where you can see the ruins of roman houses. Right at the moment they reconstruct a house in Carnuntum, maybe the most famous site of discovery in our country. Austria belonged to the provinces Noricum, Pannonia and small part of Raetia.
The tale about the tea in Asterix goes on. In the end Asterix himself brings the tea leaves to the english people. Another nice thing happens in a taverna, where everything is searved with peppermint sauce. The landlord says "Ich habe das Bier schon warm gestellt!"
They are also imprisoned in the Tower, of course ravens are flying around the top.
Of courst the fights against the romans are funny too. On one side is the roman legion, all standing in one row, the commander already sweating, because ge is so scared; on the other side the Gaules, pouring out of their village, uncontrolled like children running to the playground, the grandpa swinging his stick, the mayor standing on his shield shouting:"Gebt mir einen herauf, ich will auch mal (zuschlagen)!"
Nice are also the cenes with Ceasar, all his Gladiators saying "Ave Caesar" Asterix "Hallo Julius". Or a council of Ceasar and his men: "Brutus, spiel nicht immer mit dem Messer herum".
Do you know why Asterix is called that way? We learned it in Fresch, it comes from astair, star. The stars showing an idea (do you know Wickie, the little viking? He also spread stars when he had an idea.)
For the thing with Vercengetorix in Alesia: in Asterix they always pretend that it has never happened. "...und Alesia?" "Alesia? WAS IST DAS: ALESIA? WAS WOLLT IHR MIT ALESIA? WIR WISSEN NICHT WO DIESES ALESIA IST!"

tschüss
Moni

Hey there,

Ich glaube dass ich lieber Mozart als Wagner kenne, aber bei der klassische Musik weiss ich wirklich nicht was ich kenne. Meistens der bekannte Werke gefallen mir.

There were already people living in London when the Romans came, but it makes sense to say they built the city (Londinium) - at least they built the first London Bridge (Although there have been many rebuildings of it since then).

There is a new adaptation of Julius Caesar recently made. I'm not sure where it will be shown or when. The classic-looking Romans are swapped for modern-looking Romans (or Americans, if you like) I've never really been to theatre but I will think about it.

Alesia appears in the computer game Age of Empires. It's difficult: the Romans surround a besieged Vercingetorix and the Gaulish reinforcements surround the Romans. That is, they built a fortress in a ring shape - quite amazing really.

Asterix scheint wirklich komisch. Ich muss etwas zu lesen finden. Bald gehe ich zur Bibliothek. That reminds me, there is a scene in a recent movie, where the lead character is trying to sound intimidating, so he speaks Spanish and says "Dond-esta la Bibliotheca por favor?"

Asterisk(*) and Obelisk(†) implies there may be several meanings, including stars. Of course Getafix, to whom you would probably go for potions, und so weiter...

Tschüss!
Neil

Hallo!

So Getafix is the English name of the druid? In German he is called Miraculix. But most of all I like the names Verleihnix (lends nothing) and Haudraufwienix (means something like: hits easily), who are the fishmonger and the smith. They always quarrel about if the fish is fresh or not.
Our teacher said that the name Obelix comes from the ... I cant find it in the dictionary menhirs(?), the stones he is always carrying around. Because an obelisk could be defined as a big stone too.

I know a bit about music, because I had music lessons at school all 8 years of Gymnasium. We learned much about the history of music and sometimes were asked to hum the melodies of famous sinphonies and things like that.
There are some melodies you can't get out of your head afterwars anymore. For instance The Moldau by Smetana or some melodies of the opera Carmen. Last Thursday, in the drawing course, me and one of my friends started humming all classical things we could remember. We achieved a queer look of the professor, but somehow she seemed to be amused.
She should be happy that Schönberg is too hard to remember. He invented something called Dodekaphonie or 12-Ton-Musik. It is built up on something like mathematical principals, so the composer has very little influence on what it will become. And you can hear that he has no influence! It sounds like somebody has put all notes into a mixer and then called it music.

Mozart has too much violin fiddling sometimes, but he is quite unique. You can recognise a Mozart if you hear it. But (as most people) I like for instance the Magic Flute.

tschüss
Moni

Hi Moni

Yeah I only just found out who Getafix is. He's suitably named because 'to get a fix' means, when you take a substance, that the drug has had its effect.

Menhirs are 'standing stones' as in stone circles and henges. They are a lot like obelisks, but I think obelisks are monuments of a particular shape. The nearest ones to King's College are the one in St George's Circus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George's_Fields and Cleopatra's Needle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra%27s_needle.

I am a bit uncultured sometimes because I don't know how to match tunes with names. Also because I only studied music for three years. I think the time would probably have been better spent reciting rather than composing, since my friends and I never ever came out with anything good. We also did listen to lots of stuff but I can't remember much. One of the early things we did was about the river Vltava. I can't remember the music at all, only roughly what it was about. I think one day I must go to Prague.

Wikipedia plötzlich sagt mir dass Vltava Moldau ist. So ignorant bin ich dass ich, als du Moldau meint, dass sie dieselben sind nicht realisiert?

As for recent German-speaking music, I can only mention Rammstein and Blumfeld. I think Rammstein are good but I only really know ,Ich will'. Blumfeld was introduced to us by the German assistant, semi-seriously. We didn't know what to make of them, but I remember one lyric is ,Ich weiss nicht warum ich lebe, nur dass ich am leben bin'. Which I find at least a bit philosophical.

Talk to you later,
Neil

Hallo Neil!

I thought it must be that way with Getafix, we also call a drug addict Fixer.

I wasn't sure if they were called menhirs in English too, because in German we usually use the funny word Hinkelstein.

In Austria it's nothing unusual to have music courses for so long. We've got a very different school system and can't choose most courses. In my last year I had 14 different courses including arts, psychology/philosophy, history, chemistry, physics, maths, biology and some more.

Blumfeld? No idea who that can be, but I somehow recognize the line you quote. I like for instance Herbert Grönemeyer (I hope I spelled him correctely) and think Die Fantastischen Vier are quite funny sometimes. I dislike Söhne Mannheims, they are too holy, especially in the songs of one of them, Xaviar Nidoo (or however you write him), every second word is god.
Grönemeyer:
...und der Mensch heißt Mensch,
weil er irrt und weil er kämpft,
und weil er hofft und liebt,
weil er mitfühlt und vergibt,
und weil er lacht und weil er lebt,...
Maybe not the best example, but one you can understand without knowing the whole text.

How can I make a link? I wasn't able to find that out.

But I don't know much about modern music, I never know who sings what and I haven't bought any CDs since I was 14, apart from the LOTR soundtrack. And I've got two CDs of the german comedian OTTO (I've lend the 3rd one to somebody and never got it back) and a tape with Monty Python songs. I just listen to what they play on the radio, only sometimes I have to switch it off for a song.


tschüss
Moni

Liebe Moni!

Hinkelstein is a funny word, but not as funny as Winkelmesser. (We had a lot of emphasis on stationery in early school German.) I had 10 courses until age 16, then I only had 4. Now I only have one or two. Not sure whether that's a good way of doing it, maybe.

If Moldau really is the same as Vltava then tell me more about the music. We listened to to it at 11 years old, and drew pictures of the course of the river. Starts in the mountains, passes through some interesting things, including some nymphs, and finally passes under Wenceslas Bridge in Prague. But surprisingly the tune did fall out of my head even though I heard it!

As for Schönberg, I think people should be careful about getting mathematics to write their music for them, sounds like it didn't really work.

I don't know the Söhne Mannheims. The fantastic four are comic-book heroes. Unless you mean the Beatles, though I think they were called the Fab four. I'm afraid I don't know Grönemeyer, but his lyrics sound good.

I have a total of 8 CDs, but only a few of them are real, and I only bought 3 of them. 2 of which are by a band called Muse. The other one is a comic relief single. To make a link you just type the full url: http://www.comicrelief.com/ and it comes out blue.

Monty Python sind Super. Welche Liede kennst du? Haben sie etwas von Monty Python gesehen?

See ya,
Neil

Lieber Neil!

Winkelmesser, yes, an iche word, but have you ever heard about Straßenbegleitgrün? That's the official name for the grass next to the road.
In his book A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain wrote an appendix about "die schreckliche deutsche Sprache". Very funny.
He says: Manche deutschen Wörter sind so lang, dass man sie nur aus der Ferne ganz sehen kann.... Freundschaftsbezeigungen, Dilettantenaufdringlichkeiten, Unabhängigkeitserklärungen

I've still got very different courses like physics, theories of architecture and courses where we have to draw and/or build models.

The Moldau is Vltava, of course I can't tell you what it sounds like. But you are right, it has different parts, I don't know if I can remember all of them, but some are: Quellen, Stromschnellen, Jagd, Bauernhochzeit and Einzug in Prag. It is some kind of Programmusik, which means, that it isn't just Symphony number thatandthat, but that the different parts shall produce particular images and not just anything undefined.

Schönberg's Zwölftonmusik worked like that: the composer had to set a row of 12 different notes, after that he has no influence anymore but has to follow the rules of moving the notes to other places.
His pupil was even more strict and also put the length of tones, volume and such things into the system.

Die fantastischen 4 is a german band, they make some kind of hip hop, but with funny texts.
MfG- mit freundlichen Grüßen
die Welt liegt uns zu Füßen denn wir stehen drauf,
wir gehen drauf, für ein Leben voller Schall und Rauch,
bevor wir fallen, fallen wir lieber auf
(one of the more famouse ones, so I know it)

Official Grönemeyer page: http://www.groenemeyer.de/
go to Mensch, the funny things which fly around there are different songs

OK, let me think which Monty Python songs I know, I've got the texts too, but I don't think that there is any chance to find them now... oh, they were in fact lying in front of me. Buried by loads of paper.
I've got eg: Finland, Money song, always look on the bright side of life (ok... I'll sing it the whole night now), Oliver Cromwell, Lumberjack song, knights of the round table, every sperm is sacred,... oh, all things dull and ugly

They didn't show any Monty Python on TV for a long time now, I can remember some scetches I've seen as a child, and I know Ritter der Kokosnuss, but they didn't show that for some years now too.
My favourite german comedian is Loriot, today he doesn't do anything anymore, but his scetches are still wonderful. You can find two Loriot quotes on my PS, I've built up a "quote buffet" there, but it's still very incomplete. Maybe I can find a good link to a Loriot page one day, for now the best thing I can get is http://www.loriot.de/.

bye
Moni