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To: schurmann

You disagree with me by agreeing with me?


16 posted on 10/13/2018 3:44:16 PM PDT by abclily
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To: abclily

“You disagree with me by agreeing with me?” [abclily, post 16]

Neither.

German doesn’t translate well. No language can: another death knell for the Progressive Left and all bien pensants who yearn for universalism, and the “advances” they hope will happen once they achieve it. They hope in vain.

Germans have made many tech advances, but the German language is full of consonant-heavy spellings and complicated multi-syllabic words that express concepts precisely, but are hopelessly awkward in daily use, and impossible when subjected to military requirements and bureaucratic constraints. A perusal of German governmental and military annals will cause headaches.

“Panzerkampfwagen” = “armored fighting vehicle”, abbreviated “Pzkpfw,” shortened in daily parlance yet further as “Panzer,” began existence in World War One as a jumble of syllables about twice as long. English makes do with “tank.”

“Sturkzkampfflugzeug” = “battle plane that attacks by stooping hawklike on its target” became “Stuka” in routine use. Americans made do with the more prosaic “dive bomber.”

People around the world ought to thank their lucky stars that American English became the world standard for air travel.


17 posted on 10/15/2018 11:30:46 AM PDT by schurmann
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