Ask a foreigner

[Rose White]

well a little poking around on Google and the hot dog story gets more complicated? The sausage was named after the dog? They used to call them dachshund sausages and then there was an ad at a baseball stadium calling them hot dogs as short for hot dachshund sausages because the artist didn’t know how to spell dachshund?!

And Vienna sausages were called Wiener Wurst and frankfurter Wurst was another kind of wurst. So the Wienerschnitzel guy should have called it wienerwurst—but he didn’t actually care what Wienerschnitzel meant he just thought it sounded weird and cool.

I mean, he’s not wrong. There are a lot of German words that sound weird and cool I think. Schmetterling being one.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

Do people in America think hot dogs are called wieners because they kind of look like ? And does that make the restaurant Wienerschnitzel in the same category as Dick’s Sporting Goods or In ‘N Out (chains with double entendre names)?

(I looked up “companies with double-entendre names” and it was hilarious)

And now that I think about it… calling a burger animal style but also having Bible verses on the bottom of cups is an interesting tension.

When I was a kid visiting Finland there was a guy with a cart selling sausages in a park in Helsinki. Being half Finnish and a never ending stream of Finnish visitors in our home I spoke some Finnish. So I walked up to the sausage vendor and said guma goila (I am sure the spelling is way off) which translates to Hot Dog.The sausage seller looked a bit uncomfortable.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

Anyone fromNew Zealand here? I am thinking about relocating to New Zealand from the States if my wife and I can’t resolve our marital difficulties. My Mother was born there so it appears I have citizenship by descent. I am waiting for NZ to finish processing my citizenship registration. I am curious what resources there are for people like us. I would like to live within an hour of a university for cultural stuff and book stores.I would like to be in a semi rural area but not too far out. I ride dirt bikes and mountain bikes. Being close to nature is the only thing that keeps me semi sane. Any suggestions of areas to look at are very welcome. Wellington looks pretty good but I am concerned about the wind, no fun on a bicycle. Also, up north looksbeautiful, my grandfather had a fishing cabin up there and I remember it fondly.

 

[Rose White]

So I walked up to the sausage vendor and said guma goila

What did you say? Google translate said it was “old lady” in Swedish.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

What did you say? Google translate said it was “old lady” in Swedish.

I am sure my spelling was way off. What I said was literally hot dog. Perhaps those sneaky Swedes were making a canine reference to older women. I can say that as I have a little Swedish blood too. In regards to that, friends kid me that alcohol must have been involved.

 

[Friday]

If I say hamburger, with a soft R, except in the Deep South (USA)? Ham-buhgeh? People “hear” ham-boogie/booger. Which means snot. So I’m either asking for nonsense, or for them to hock a swag of phlegm onto my plate. I’ve gotten both. The burger & the pool of snot.

12 years of speech therapy (because I moved every 6mo or so, speech therapists were always charged with correcting my accent) I’ve gotten both something like 17 different “R’s’. Tapped, Rolled. Breathed. Chewed. <roll eyes> f*ck. R’s.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

Yeah, I talk funny too. Or, maybe it is everyone else. I probably picked up some of my mother’s Kiwi accent. Anyway, was always sent to speech therapy in grade school.

 

[Rose White]

“R’s’. Tapped, Rolled. Breathed. Chewed. <roll eyes> f*ck. R’s.

f*ckin’ R’s! Employing speech therapists for decades!

My kid had speech therapy. The therapist said that R is typically the last sound people develop.

Who came up with that shit? Blame the bloody Normans.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

f*ckin’ R’s! Employing speech therapists for decades!

My kid had speech therapy. The therapist said that R is typically the last sound people develop.

Who came up with that shit? Blame the bloody Normans.

Rs are my problem too, one of my many problems.

 

[Rose White]

I recovered, once, in a German hospital… OMFG. I’ve never had such… complete?… care in my life. Stages 1,2,3 were all ICU/hospital-normal. But then I was prescribed to work in the gardens? To go fishing? To “live on my own” in a flat, IN the durn hospital?!? So I still had 24/7 access to doctors/nurses/physios?!?

German nationals ‍ hi! Are hospitals still like this in Germany?

 

[Friday]

Who came up with that shit? Blame the bloody Normans.

Bloody Vikings

 

[Teasel]

Is excuse myself French as saying in your country? If so what does it mean? (I know what it means here)