GRGR (17): german samples

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

  "tiergarten" (359) - "animal garden". park & forest area in west central   
  berlin.

  "klar, entlüftung, zündung, vorstufe, hauptstufe" (361) - "clear, ventilation, 
  ignition, first stage, main stage".

  "der meistersinger" (361) - must be the plural form "die meistersinger" (this 
  mistake is, according to weisenburger, corrected in the bantam edition). 
  refers to Wagner's opera "the master-singers from nuremberg" [1868 (not, as   
  Weisenburger says, 1863)].

  "'was ist los, meinen sumpfmenschen?'" (362) - "what's up, my swamp-people?"  
  (in standard german it would have been "...meine...").

  "der fünffachnullpunkt" (363) - "the quintuple zero".

  "grosser stern" (365) - "great star". street through the   tiergarten.

  "säure" (365)- "acid". weisenburger adds "(as in vinegar)" & goes on: "thus   
  emil is an 'acid bummer', american sixties slang for an unpleasant experience 
  while under the influence of lsd." isn't this characerization a little   
  unfair?! true, he never really stops thinking about business. but in general  
  emil bummer is one of the more likeable characters in this novel, no? 

  "tauschzentrale" (366) - "central exchange".

  "'raketemensch!' [screams säure]" (366) - don't want to cook up this one     
  again, but as a native speaker emil would probably use the correct form       
  "raketenmensch".

  "kerl" (367) - "fellow" or "guy".

  "wilhelmplatz" (370) - "place of wilhelm" (the last german emperor, who went, 
  after ww 1, into dutch exile, where he, really late in life, started to smoke 
  hash).
 
  "kaiserstrasse" (371) - "emperor street".

  "berliner luft" (372) - "berlin air" (not, like Weisenburger says, "berlin   
  sky"). there was a popular song, probably from the 20s, that went: "das ist   
  die berliner luft luft luft/ mit ihrem ganz besonderen duft duft duft" ("this 
  is the berlin air air air/ with its very special smell smell smell"), which   
  itself is probably inspired by a german proverb that, historically refering to 
  feudalism, says: "stadtluft macht frei!" (about "the city's air makes free").

  "winterhilfe" (373) - refers to the "winterhilfswerk" ("winter relief         
  project"), a part of the nazi's social politics.

  "der springer" (376) - "the knight" (in chess).

  "glück" (376) - "(good) luck".

  "stiefeln, bitte" (377) - "boots, please" (standard german would have been   
  "stiefel").

  "stimmt, herr schlepzig" (378) - "correct [or: right], mr. schlepzig".

  since i'm not a "motorist" you probably know better about "porsche" (380) &   
  "bmw" (380).

                                              kfl