Greeting to all from "Behind The Zion Curtain"
 
>This is in response to Edward Lipinski, and although somewhat off topic
>I'd still like to point out that half of the German you use is out of use
>nowadays, as well as misspelled...
 
Well, guess what folks.  As an administrative assistant, I know quite a few
highly educated people who cannot spell if their lives depended upon it, in
their native language.  This is no reflection upon their intelligence, just
a skill that they have not mastered.
 
And think about it.  Languages evolve.  Do people speak the same way today
as they did in our grandparent's time?  Hell, if I speak the way I did when
I was my 18 year olds age, I'd get weird looks.  This doesn't just pertain
to slang, either.
 
And, as we all know, there are different dialects and different forms of
address in all languages.  My husband, who is from Mexico City, laughs
hysterically at the Spanish that we teach in our schools.  (At least in the
schools our children have attended here in Utah........) Yes, it's "proper"
and you can understand them, but Luis says that if someone actually spoke
like that, they would immediately be labeled a tourist even if their accent
and pronunciation were flawless!  My own experience with the German language
was when I lived there while my ex was in the Army 20 years ago.  We lived
"off base" on "the economy".  My German is self-taught and mostly oral,
although I can recognize written words and "get around" I would by no
stretch of the imagination consider myself fluent.  Hell, I'm barely
conversant and way out of practice.
 
But I have a deep admiration for the German people, and am part German
myself (maternal great-grandfather came from a Catholic orphanage in Baden
Baden in the late 1800's.  His wife's family was all from Germany, although
where exactly I am unsure).  I loved the country, the culture and the ways.
Ed Lipinski obviously does too.  And he has stated on more than one occasion
that his German is high school taught, and high school was a few years ago.
There is no insult, slight or anything else meant in what he says that I can
ascertain.  He is admiring something he loves.  And he incorporates his
ferrets, something else obviously near and dear to his heart, into it.  It's
flattering, actually, to my way of thinking.
 
Keep up the good work Ed!  I may not always agree with everything you say,
but it's a joy to have you posting again like you used to.  At least you
give us something to think about!
 
Catherine, Pato, Snowball, Hubert and Elsie
"Behind The Zion Curtain"
 
[Moderator's note: Allowed since it was a rebuttal of sorts, but please
follow up privately, if followups are needed...  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2370]