Patterico Denied Access to the Maliki Tape
Regular readers will recall that I linked an article in the Columbia Journalism Review about Der Spiegel‘s interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. I said that “Maliki has clearly indicated some level of comfort with something closely resembling the Obama plan” but that “[t]he exact level of agreement has been muddied by the irresponsible secret rewrites of this interview by Der Spiegel.”
However, the interview was taped, meaning it might be possible to know exactly what was said. And the CJR article claimed that Der Spiegel would allow any journalist to listen to the tape:
Der Spiegel has no plans to release the tape (“We don’t see a need to improve upon our credibility by, say, putting the audio on the web.”) but is happy to play it—in person, over the phone—for any journalist interested in verifying.
“Anyone who wants to hear it can hear it,” says Müller von Blumencron. “But no one else has asked.”
I guess I’m not “[a]nyone.” Because I have asked — and have been told “nein.”
I filled out a German-language contact form and requested to hear the tape. This is the response I have received:
Dear Mr. Frey,
we are sorry, but we generally don’t hand out research material.
Sincerely,
Stefanie Jockers
Readers’ Information ServiceSPIEGEL-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG
Brandstwiete 19
20457 Hamburg
Tel: +49 (40) 30 07 – 2686
Fax: +49 (40) 30 07 – 29 66
E-Mail: leserservice@spiegel.de
http://www.spiegel.de
I have written back:
Dear Ms. Jockers,
In an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, your editor said anyone could hear it:
“Anyone who wants to hear it can hear it,” says Müller von Blumencron. “But no one else has asked.”
All I am asking is to hear it, which your editor claimed is possible for anyone.
Patrick Frey
https://patterico.com
If I hear back anything positive on this, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, I’ll just assume that this is another example of Big Media journalistic arrogance, where bloggers don’t count.
But at least don’t try to say that nobody else asked. Because I did.
More proof as to who is in the tank for The One.
Alta Bob (a6d8ba) — 7/29/2008 @ 6:58 amSHOCKA
JD (75f5c3) — 7/29/2008 @ 6:58 amDummkopfs!
PCD (5c49b0) — 7/29/2008 @ 7:09 amPatterico, this is not quite correct. von Blumencron spoke in German, then Der Spiegel then translated his remarks into Arabic. A second employee then produced the English version that you quote.
A better sense of the original statement would be,
There really can be no debate about this–the Der Spiegel editor’s words are unambiguous. If you doubt this, I suggest you listen to the tape of CJR’s interview of von Blumencorn. Anyone who wants to hear it can hear it.
AMac (c822c9) — 7/29/2008 @ 7:29 amSuggested name changes for Der Spiegel:
Der Lügner (The Liar)
Der Betrüger (The Deceiver)
Der Inder Geber (The Indian Giver)
Der Scheiße Sprecher (The Shit Talker)
Der Geknackt Spiegel (from “The Mirror” to The Cracked Mirror)
Der Messias (The Messiah)
Der Linker (The Leftist)
Euroabfall Wöchentlich (Eurotrash Weekly)
Icy Truth (8731ef) — 7/29/2008 @ 8:06 amIrgendjemand Aber Sie (Anyone But You)
Icy Truth (8731ef) — 7/29/2008 @ 8:09 amDemokratisch Partei Propagandist
— All right; enough of that.
Icy Truth (8731ef) — 7/29/2008 @ 8:29 amPatterico, what’s your response to the comment number 4? AMac seems to have a point there. You may be having problem understanding German language (Deutsch) . No big deal about. I dont understand squat about it either.
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 8:51 amlove2008 #8 —
I forgot to add a
AMac (c822c9) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:01 am[/sarcasm]
tag at the end of comment #4…
You shouldn’t have had to do that. Of course there was that episode of Frasier where he needed training wheels in order to ride a bike.
Icy Truth (8731ef) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:07 amAnd I thought the libbs were the only ones accused of being conspiracy theorists?
Oiram (983921) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:14 amYes, we can’t.
Vermont Neighbor (31ccb6) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:14 amDo you speak any German, AMac?
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:32 amHe already said he was being SARCASTIC.
No sense of humor whatsoever.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:34 amI’m sure these are the same people who handled the Davos tape in 2004.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:38 amThat tape mysteriously became unavailable too.
Can’t have the un-washed questioning the status and veracity of the great leaders, can we?
Indeed. I’m pretty sure that you’ve done to the German language violates at least two of the Geneva conventions. Personally, I prefer Der Time-Nachahmer, or the TIME-wannabe, which is all that rag ever pretended to be anyway (its outside appearance is not an accident).
Xrlq (b71926) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:52 amlove2008 #13 —
Comment #4 was written for humorous impact. In point of fact, the Columbia Journalism Review did not use a German -> Arabic -> English sequence to arrive at the von Blumencorn quote.
What makes my jab at Der Spiegel so screamingly funny is that the magazine did use an Arabic -> German -> English sequence of translations (IIRC) for the al-Maliki interview. They also added a further editing step prior to publishing quotes. Until pressed, Der Spiegel was opaque about this oddball process. Hence the Bloomberg story where the reporter offered readers an “independent” translation, without being able to specify the language in which the interview was conducted!
AMac (c822c9) — 7/29/2008 @ 9:52 amXrlq –
I’m pretty sure that you’ve done to the German language violates at least two of the Geneva conventions.
— Thank you! I try to violate Geneva Conventions whenever possible; although, if someone wants to show how I mangled the German language, I promise to be an attentive pupil. [Okay, I believe that the proper way (unless I’m mangling it further) to write “The Indian Giver” is “Der Indische Geber”, and “The Cracked Mirror” should be “Der Geknackte Spiegel”, and “The Leftist” should be “Der Linke”; I’m still learning.]
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:09 amOf course it could have been worse — I could have spelled “libs” with two “b”s.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:11 amWhat Obama says: Yes we can. What he means: Yes we can’t. How Spike Lee would respond: Get used to it.
Vermont Neighbor (31ccb6) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:22 amlove2008,
Er war sarkastisch! Nummer zehn Anmerkung ist für Sie ebenso. Drumwaster ist richtig. Sie müssen einen Sinn für Humor entwickeln.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:23 amThis smells to high heaven. Der Spiegel’s Maliki-quotations’ accuracy have been called into serious doubt; then one of their reps announced that the tape could be heard by anyone who wished to hear it; and now they’re refusing.
(Patrick, if they DO change their position and let you have a listen, consider surreptitiously recording it. Of course you couldn’t post the audio, generally speaking, without their permission. But it might prevent them from further lying about what is audible on their own recording.)
Mitch (890cbf) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:24 amизменение мы можем верить в
— That’s Russian for “change we can believe in”. Just wanted to see how it looks in this format (also so everyone will recognize it on the posters).
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:33 amDas is gut, Tovarich!
Another Drew (8018ee) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:38 amHallo freunde, Mein Name ist Liebe2008. Ich bin glücklich, Sie zu treffen.
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:41 amWie geht es Ihnen? Haben Sie einen reizenden Tag.
— They had a corollary to everything in life:
Idle: Top-hole. Bally Jerry, pranged his kite right in the how’s-your-father; hairy blighter, dicky-birded, feathered back on his sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harpers and caught his can in the Bertie.
Jones: Er, I’m afraid I don’t quite follow you, Squadron Leader.
Idle: It’s perfectly ordinary banter, Squiffy. Bally Jerry, pranged his kite right in the how’s-your-father; hairy blighter, dicky-birded, feathered back on his sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harpers and caught his can in the Bertie.
Jones: No, I’m just not understanding banter at all well today. Give us it slower.
Idle: Banter’s not the same if you say it slower, Squiffy.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:47 amIcy Truth, #21.
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:48 amIch habe eine Richtung der Stimmung. I gerade don’ t wissen, wann Sie ernst sind.
Jetzt sprechen wir!
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:51 amLovey, better quit while you’re behind. You’re getting slapped around in two languages…
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:54 amIch kann nicht für AMac sprechen, aber ich selbst bin ernstlich sarkastisch. Ich mag nicht “emoticons” verwenden; ich möchte das Menschenschätzen lieber behalten.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:55 amEs ist ein Wunder! Ich kann Deutsches sprechen.
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 10:59 amSie sind nicht das einzige
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:00 amDrum,
Shall we see how many languages we can slap lovey around in, until Love es Loco en la cabasa?
Now where’s my Klingonese-English Dictionary?
PCD (5c49b0) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:01 amHören Sie bitte nicht auf! Das macht Spaß. [:-)]
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:01 amPatterico is going to log on during his lunch break and will wonder what he hath wrought.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:04 amtoH, tlhIngan Hol DajatlhlaH ‘e’ Da (So, you want to speak Klingon?)
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:06 am#29
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:08 amDrumwaster, das andere Sprache, Sie gehört hier heute? Die einzige Sprache hier ist deutsch und russisch. Verstehen Sie mich sogar?
Nous pourrions parler le français, mais la campagne Obama pourrait être bouleversée depuis la seule expression qu’ils savent est “merci beaucoup”.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:12 amHalten Sie sich die guten Kampf, Love2008
(Keep up the good fight, Love2008)
Peter (e70d1c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:13 amJa verstehe ich Sie. Warum man nicht Klingon erlaubt?
Or even English.
Podríamos intentar quizá español?
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:13 am#38 LOL
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:14 am#35
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:16 amIch bin sicher, dass patterico auf Sie so stolz ist. Sie begannen es.
41, Ditto!
PCD (5c49b0) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:17 amBaracky est une miniature mentale, et des bains de prises de Peter dans Baracky’ ; jus d’amour de s.
JD (75f5c3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:19 am#42 – “They started it!”
They were talking about alternate titles for Der Spiegel (which in English is “The Watch Catalog”).
(If you understood that joke, tell your grandkids I said “Hi!”)
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:21 amSólo espere hasta que él sea decidido y los carteles que le ordenan enseñar su español de niño son presentados.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:25 am#38
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:28 amO podríamos hablar español. Pero eso hará que el país de McCain echa a un lado gente a gritar diciendo, ” Out.” izquierdo;
#41 – That’s “rire à haute voix” to vous!
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:29 amVery true, IT.
I get a headache having to keep translating like that. English is my milk language. It’s hard for me to make jokes in other languages.
In fact, after that, I look at that preceding paragraph and feel that I typed it badly somehow.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:29 am¡No, usted no puede!
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:30 amSI SE PUEDE, maricon !
JD (75f5c3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:32 amNo en mi nación, amigo…
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:34 amComo un residente del estado de casa de John McCain de Arizona, he tenido que aprender mi parte justa del español a fin de tratar con el público en un ajuste de venta al público.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:35 amobtenir en peluche JD 🙂
Peter (e70d1c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:35 amMi español no es muy bueno.
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:35 amjust for this occasion, try changing your name to patrick von frey.
assistant devil's advocate (9b7737) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:36 amNeither is Peter’s. His spelling is no more accurate in Spanish than English, and makes no more sense.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:37 amBasta!
DRJ (0af395) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:37 amSi, Sra.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:38 amYa lub lu pi piva
Ya nizh nayu.
Boos teezee
Mus zubee
JD (75f5c3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:43 amI spell poorly in many languages.
Hi vu bau kwa dayup kwa.
An dut an eea tooey kwa
JD (75f5c3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:44 amPeter #39
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:45 amDank für die Ermutigung Peter.
EARTHQUAKE! 5.6 about 20 miles from where I’m sitting.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:47 amDrum:
That because it’s French.
Peter (e70d1c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:48 amSie sind willkommen, Love2008
Peter (e70d1c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:49 amNope. Still doesn’t make any sense.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:50 am#57
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:51 amBasta!
Why DRJ? We are just getting warmed up.
Post vojagxo, Obama potenco ordigi ni al lerni Esperanto.
[Almost certain that I mangled the syntax on that one; although, with Esperanto you can reason it out fairly well without help (e.g. “lerni” sounds like pidgin-Italian for “learn”).]
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:52 amUpgraded to a 5.8 earthquake, felt from San Diego to Las Vegas.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:54 amAnd I just started re-reading The Stainless Steel Rat series, too…
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:55 amApparently the LAT server is down; hopefully none of the people are hurt, but it couldn’t happen to a more deserving computer.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 11:59 amDrum:
Stai zitto. Cretino.
Peter (e70d1c) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:03 pmAnnounced on July 17th:
Harry Harrison, creator of The Stainless Steel Rat and author of the novel that inspired the movie Soylent Green, will be honored as the next Damon Knight Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America during the 2009 Nebula Awards® Weekend in Los Angeles, Calif.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:04 pmLove2008 #66,
Go ahead, it’s fine … but I’m not going to read the rest of the multilingual comments. All this translating is giving me a headache.
DRJ (0af395) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:05 pmIcy Truth #70,
I noticed that, too. I tried to get an earthquake link from the LA Times but the website wouldn’t load.
DRJ (0af395) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:06 pmRouh ya Ayr
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:06 pm#75 was for Peter.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:07 pm#58
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:08 pmHow serious is it? The Earthquake.
#73
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:14 pmbut I’m not going to read the rest of the multilingual comments.
Usted puede sí DRJ. Usted puede sí.
It was a 5.8, just enough to rattle the shelves and swing the chandeliers.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:17 pmI may have spoken early. There is minor damage to one of the runways at Ontario International and another at John Wayne airport.
They are evacuating the rides at Disneyland (as a safety concern in case the computers that run the rides get shut down).
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:19 pmVerdammte Laune, die Erdbeben verdirbt!
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:26 pmLustres! Qu’est-ce qui est vous, arugula fichu le fait de mâcher l’élitiste?
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:28 pm#81 and #82
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:38 pmWhat the heck are you talking about?
For #81, try: “Das verdammte Erdbeben verdarb unseren Schwung!”
#82 is for Drumwaster.
— On another note, “the messiah is only human” translates in Esperanto to “la Messiah estas nur homo”. Gotta be careful with what ya say and how ya say it.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 12:50 pmTengo que ahora ir las diligencias del funcionamiento para mi esposa.
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 1:02 pm#84
love2008 (0c8c2c) — 7/29/2008 @ 1:06 pmSie haben Recht. Lässt so den Unterhalt, der über ihn auf Deutsch spricht.
#75
你應該失控你的房子愚蠢的男子之前，屋頂落在你的頭上你笨牛吃陰道你的母親。
Peter (e70d1c) — 7/29/2008 @ 1:52 pmYeah, I get like that once in a while, Peter, but I usually go take a nap.
Kotimdi syi.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 1:55 pmOiram wrote: And I thought the libbs were the only ones accused of being conspiracy theorists?
Der Spiegel said “anyone” who asked could listen, but nobody had asked. Pat’s exposed that as a lie.
When openness and honesty is promised and not delivered, there is no reason not to suspect a conspiracy.
BTW, Oiram, I figured out your nick. It’s an acronym: Obama Is Really America’s Messiah!
L.N. Smithee (d1de1b) — 7/29/2008 @ 5:15 pmIcy Truth wrote: Harry Harrison, creator of The Stainless Steel Rat and author of the novel that inspired the movie Soylent Green, will be honored as the next Damon Knight Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America during the 2009 Nebula Awards® Weekend in Los Angeles, Calif.
Oh, that’s nice. It should be heartwarming for Mr. Harrison to get out from behind his typewriter and eat the people…I mean, meat the people…you know what I mean!
L.N. Smithee (d1de1b) — 7/29/2008 @ 5:18 pmMake room, make room!
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 5:22 pmSuffice it to say that you are all racists. Especially LN. 😉
JD (5f0e11) — 7/29/2008 @ 5:59 pmI loved the Stainless Steel books, it’s a little like the story of Firefly’s Mal Reynolds, but without the military experience and the crew. His
narciso (d671ab) — 7/29/2008 @ 6:00 pminsights on some things are flawed however; like when he compared Bush’s America to a fascist dictatorship in Putin’s Russia. Irony dialed up to eleventy!
He relies on the Deus Ex Machina too often for my tastes. It’s always, “The situation is dire, and getting worse. Fortunately, I had the plastic explosives already sited and they blew up with such precision that only those arrayed against us were rendered unconscious (not killed, of course, since that would be bad).”
Yeah, they are an entertaining read, but imagine how much better they would be if he had put the kind of thought into his mysteries that Agatha Christie had…
He didn’t even have to rely on modern culture since he had an entire Galaxy to choose from, and a virtual tabula rasa with each new encounter.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 6:11 pm#94
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/29/2008 @ 6:44 pmDid you at any time fear for your life today, Drum?
It doesn’t stand for oral insertion rear-end attack monkey?
Icy Truth (f54eb3) — 7/29/2008 @ 6:51 pmThe last time I actually feared for my life was an automobile accident I had back in 1986.
Canvas-top jeep on a muddy road, and we were coming up and over a curve in the road that curved to the right, while in a gentle rain. That particular model of vehicle was designed for use on sandy terrain so that the tires were slightly canted (the top of the tire was farther away from the middle of the vehicle than at the bottom).
As we came over the top of that little rise, the guy who was driving oversteered and the vehicle started to spin on the muddy road, until we were actually sliding sideways, 90 degrees turned to the direction of travel.
At that point, the vehicle flipped. The driver (I can’t remember his name, it was so long ago) wasn’t wearing his seat belt, and the jeep had no doors on it, so as the jeep dlipped onto the driver’s side, he was slammed to the ground hard, but was left behind as the jeep kept flipping over and over.
Investigation later reported that the jeep had flipped over at least three times, ending up right-side-up, facing back the way we had just come, and 20 yards off the road in the trees.
I lost my glasses and had a vicious headache that only got worse as we had to walk two hours back to the base four or five miles along those dirt roads. In the rain.
But as far as today goes, like I said, I never even got up from my chair.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 7:08 pm*flipped*
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 7:09 pm.
Though the Lost Ark remains unraided, I have at long last acquired the exact translation of al-Maliki’s lap-dog endorsement of the American traitor Barack Osamabama’s timeline for ending the absolute, total, complete and sure-to-someday-win-sort-of wrong turn into Iraq. (I mean, like, where we went and what we did when we really should have been chasing and snuffing actual terrorists rather than chewing on our tail.)
I must say I am reminded of repeated comments by the weekend anchor Chevy Chase’s news reports on Saturday Night Live back in the mid-1970s about the death, or possible death, or lingering death of Spain’s dictator and ultimately nominal regent (king) from 1936-75. (Yeah, Spain.):
“Well, after a long illness, Generalissimo Francisco Franco died Wednesday. Reactions from world leaders were varied. Held in contempt as the last of the fascist dictators in the West by some, he was also eulogized by others, among them Richard Nixon, who said, quote “General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United States. He earned worldwide respect for Spain through firmness and fairness.”
And in followup reports: “Despite Franco’s death and an expected burial tomorrow, doctors say the dictator’s health has taken a turn for the worse.”
The season-running joke hit at U.S. news reports that kept saying for weeks that he was dying but not dead. So after he died, SNL kept him on a joke-ventilator. “Still dead,” as Chevy Chase put it many times. (Ah, you can’t explain humor.)
But I digress. Here is the exact translation of al-Milaki, from the original recording by der Spiegel, as rendered by my landscaper who speaks Arabic as a fourth, or maybe fifth language, but he’s really good and trustworthy and right, as in far of center: “That, we think, despite what a less than infinitesimal number of you will read in the gotcha-and-never-let-go-because-it’s-all-I-got fantasies of Patterico, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of changes.”
And I will not translate the half-dozen or more follow-up comments on this from John McCain, in which he tries to totally assume that timeframe and pretend he always has – because he never flips. He never flops. He might flounder, but hey, he’s our guy because we’re stuck with him now, even if he IS crazy. And when Barack hit that three pointer, it was a camera trick. And, uh, and, uh……never mind.
Sorry guys, there is no there there. Or no here there. This flap ended in the real world before it began.
Larry Reilly (d11f9a) — 7/29/2008 @ 7:33 pmSorry about the state of affairs in virtual reality.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say the world is not holding its breath in anticipation of Patterico securing both an actual copy of the recording and a secret decoder ring so he can, uh, Pontificate.
Though you all might ask Republican donors to finance your noble effort to debunk, uh, that which McCain has now embraced in as many ways as he can get his little arms around.
Huh?
My thought exactly.
So many words, so little truth.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/29/2008 @ 7:42 pmDo you speak any German, Larry Reilly?
AMac (7c37ac) — 7/30/2008 @ 4:53 amAMac – Not sure about the German, but it is fluent in moonbat.
JD (75f5c3) — 7/30/2008 @ 5:21 amNot quite. Others wiser than myself have said that only idiots translate idioms, but ignoring that for the moment, a word-for-word translation of “Indian giver” would be “Der Indianische Geber,” as “indisch” (adj.) and “Inder” (n.) both refer to people from India, not to American Indians (“Native Americans”). I like Der Geknackte Spiegel, though, not so much for its literal meaning as its idiomatic one (roughly speaking, “the crappy mirror”).
The one that sparked my snarky remarky was “Irgendjemand Aber Sie,” which translates the wrong sense of “but.” A better translation would be “Alle bis auf Sie” (lit. “all but you”) or perhaps “Irgendjemand, nur nicht Sie” (lit. “anyone, just not you”).
Xrlq (b71926) — 7/30/2008 @ 5:45 am#98
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/30/2008 @ 8:05 amWow. I have had some scary moments of my own but nothing like yours. You must have been really really scared.
Was geschah meinen deutschen und Französisch sprechenden Kameraden? Wo sind sie?
love2008 (1b037c) — 7/30/2008 @ 8:07 amIt was over too quickly to be scared, and I didn’t even get a scratch. Just lost my glasses and had a whopper of a headache. I also found out about a weird condition where one of my irises (the colored part of the eye) is about 1/3 to 1/2 of a millimeter larger than the other one. Barely noticeable, even with one of those flashlight-on-a-lens things they shine in your eyes, because the doctors couldn’t agree whether it was actually there or not, and not at all noticeable to casual glances. Hell, I had been looking in those same eyes for the preceding decades and had never noticed it.
You should have seen the battery of physical and psychological tests they put me through before they realized that it was not an indicator of a problem, just another way in which I am mildly weird. I didn’t get any sleep at all that night.
Being weird isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. It lets me know I’m me. 🙂
As for your #106: Sie gingen weg, weil es nicht Spaß mehr war.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/30/2008 @ 8:26 amKorrektur: sie gingen weg (oder besser: sie sind weggegangen), weil es ihnen
Xrlq (b71926) — 7/30/2008 @ 9:58 amnichtkeinen Spaß mehrwarmachte.Look, you’re lucky I know that much. I studied Greek in high school.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 7/30/2008 @ 10:04 amI know, I just felt like providing a real life example of why it doesn’t make Spaß anymore. It never does when some pedantic jerk shows up correcting everyone else’s grammar.
Xrlq (b71926) — 7/30/2008 @ 11:02 am