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January 24, 2006
it's the darned umlauts!
i tell you, this whole quest to prove (scientifically or no) the stereotype that Germans are unfunny people, or to prove that they are, in fact, completely hilarious, continues to fascinate me. thanks to the ever-alert Ms. Jen, this interesting development was brought to my attention. this time, it's an American professor claiming that the pronounciation of umlauts in German vowels cause the mouth to turn down, and therefore, negatively affect one's mood. no really, i am not making this up. HadashiWorld thinks that the official German response: "We can give no comment on this as it is too scientific," is actually quite amusing, and will continue to document this debate...any other submissions?
in the interest of fairness, when the in-house (scientifically proven) funny German (that would be T.T.) was asked for his opinion, he said, "oh, is that why the Swedes shoot themselves in the wintertime? because their language has more umlauts?"
Posted by hadashi at January 24, 2006 10:28 PM
Comments
Ha! It is the lack of light in Sweden in the wintertime! Ha!
Posted by: Ms. Jen at January 27, 2006 7:08 AM
I wanted to contribute something eloquent and scientific to this debate, but I'm afraid I got nothing. And since I'm a Swede (albeit expat), I will now go shoot myself while repeating å, ä, ö to myself.
(it's dark here in Seattle too, you know)
Posted by: the swede at January 28, 2006 6:19 PM
öh nö, thë swëdë! plëåsë dön't dö ït! jüst drïnk ånöthër ësprëssö ör åt lëäst å cöffëë...
Posted by: hadashi at January 28, 2006 11:13 PM
Ok, crisis averted. I heated up a mugful of water and dropped 15 spoonfuls of coffee grounds in the Melitta filter.
And you have no idea how you messed with me by putting in those umlauts everywhere! It made me pronounce everything weird (in my head, of course. Only those Germans read out loud to themselves. I've heard. Although I have no scientific backing for that.)
Posted by: the swede at January 29, 2006 12:38 AM
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