Posted on 08/26/2007 2:04:22 PM PDT by Dysart
Spoken like a typical American. The languages don't have to die out. They DO have to take second place to English in this nation.
I speak 3 languages and I am a 6th generation Texan. Are you going to be stupid enough to suggest that I have to forget two of them????
Blouse
die Taille — Texas German
die Bluse — European German
Nobody seems to have commented on this, but what a wonderful little historical relic is embedded here. “Taille” is literally “waist” in European German. But at one time (circa early 20th Century), women’s blouses were popularly called “waists” in American English. Short for “shirtwaist” (as in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911 in New York where 146 garment workers died). Apparently “waist” in the sense of “blouse” was literally translated as “Taille” by the Texas Germans when the term was current, and they have called it that ever since even though the European German word was “Bluse” (from French “blouse,” apparently).
Ja wohl! I like the pic of granny hoisting a bier!
Sorry Centurion2000.
People who don’t speak English cannot prosper economically in the USA and eventually become a burden on the rest of us. As for heritage and language abilities. Speaking an obscure dialect or language is nice but not necessary to the development of our country.
I speak 2 languages fluently and my family line landed in the Jamestown Colony in 1607. I don’t know how many generations that would be, but it’s a few.
Nobody is telling you to forget your language talents. It’s just that obscure regional dialects die out. The worst thing in our country is the promoting of diversity. It is a liberal concept that divides people and makes them dependent upon government.
Did you ever stop by Serbin? That was actually a Wendish settlement. I grew up on a farm in Manheim - about 8 miles NW of Giddings. There were nothing but German farmers in that area.
There were actually two German migrations to Texas: one in the earlier part of the 19th century was apparently largely a result of persecution of Catholics in Germany.
The second, in the late 1800s was primarily Germans moving from elsewhere in the U.S. as a result of “developers” luring them here with offers of cheap land and an “ideal climate” in advertisements in German-language newspapers.
There were some VERY disappointed settlers when they arrived in for example Munster and found it to be not the thriving city they’d been told about but a flagpole and a train station!
And the climate...
Even today Munster and nearby Lindsay have more kinds enrolled in the Catholic school than in the public schools.
Coulda been worse: he could have called himself a jelly doughnut!
/equally obscure Camelot reference...
No, I don’t know Serbin. Do you know Dime Box (and Old Dime Box)?
Yes, I know that area fairly well. Dime Box, Lincoln, Leabau (sp), Warda, Smithville, Paige, etc. I lived there until 1973.
Thank you. For some reason I seem to have a mental block concerning the Gotha part.
There was an elderly German lady outside of Deanville who would make quilts for me (back in the same timeframe you’re talking about having lived near there).
She and her “quilting party” ladies would take the patchwork tops I would piece together on the sewing machine and put them up on a big frame outside under the cottonwood trees and hand-quilt them into real quilts for me, adding the batting and the backside fabric. Or, they would make their own designs, which were nice.
These were priceless and I think I paid her a pittance - $10-15. I would go up and take a top to her on a Saturday and the next weekend, I could go back and pick up my quilt! I bought dozens from her for family and friends.
We knew people in Caldwell and Deanville, so I sort of hung out around there from time to time. All around Lake Somerville. Also, Chappell Hill and Brenham. Smithville I remember well, for the smokehouse - must be on the “main drag” to Austin. Also, down as far as Bastrop?
The others were on backroads - Burton, Carmine - oh, and Round Top, of course. The Stagecoach Inn. Very fun places to “meander” on a weekend. Not to mention coming back to Houston via the BlueBell Creamery tasting store (in later years).
We always pronounced blouse, (Phonetically) tall-ge-ah or tall-he-ah or tallg-yah. Anyway In our area it mostly has three syllables.
Gruene is the home of Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas. I know; I have the t-shirt.
Mmmmmmmmm! Y’all made me hungry for spaetzle. Guess I’ll have to make some when I get a chance this week.
I remember a long time ago when one of the frozen food people, like BirdsEye or someone, used to package green beans “mit spaetzle” you just bought at the grocery, in the freezer case.
We ate those at home a lot - but it’s not the same as bowlsful with butter and herbs. I guess that’s like German “pasta with pesto.”
Or with sauerbraten, my fave - so time-consuming to make at home, tho! I still try to keep homemade gingersnaps on hand at all times, “just in case” I need to thicken some gravy or top some cabbage rolls.
I was in San Antonio on business and since I didn’t live in the area I don’t know what came of that restaurant. If it’s no longer in business it’s a shame. I really didn’t have German cuisine as I had a steak dinner. But the food and atmosphere was awesome.
BTW, I grew up in a small predominately German community east and a little north of KC where some of the families spoke German as recently as 40 years ago. However, I don’t believe that’s the case today.
Sure, used to know it well. (I had fat typing fingers yesterday - even misspelled “believe” - you can always count on a typo when critiquing someone’s spelling, even your own!)
Gruene is/was also a well known take-out point on the river road for rafting. Loved that cafe right there on the banks, with all the decking for eating outside and meeting up with rafters and outfitters.
I haven’t been there in quite a while, after visiting there *often* for years - but I’ve heard it has been encroached and is now just “suburbia.”
Many old-timers of the WWII generation could only speak German, Polish, Czech or whatever when they got to school-age. Upon entering first grade, they had to learn English real quick and the hard way. It was very tough for them. Consequently, the old-timers wouldn’t teach their kids, the Baby Boomers, to speak their language because they didn’t want them to be like they were. Hence, the languages are dying in Texas.
I know because my dad wouldn’t teach us Polish because he couldn’t speak English when he got to the first grade. I have some cousins my age that can still speak Polish, but their kids, the grand-kids of the old-timers, don’t speak a word.
My dad had entirely too much fun arguing against bilingual education with the Hispanics he worked with. They were often dumb-founded and had little to argue back. It hardly occurred to these Hispanics that someone Anglo would speak another language besides English and they didn’t know what to say.
I used to work with a couple of German ladies here in Texas that would start speaking German in front of the Hispanics when they spoke Spanish in front of them. Really ticked off the Hispanics. They thought the two ladies were talking about them. They would respond by saying that now they know how they feel when someone speaks only Spanish in front of them. Didn’t change anything, though.
Me, too. Funny you would mention gnocchi, because I had been thinking of that same “manual labor” I use for both. But, hands down, spaetzle is so much easier than rolling little shells on the end of a fork, one at a time!
I haven’t ever made knodel, is the dough potato-based like gnocchi? I love dumplings of any kind, large or small, and I think I know what knodel are, but haven’t fixed them myself.
Thanks much for your input. Texas has a rich and varied history and I find it fascinating.
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