schelgesetzentwurf
some german words are so long that they have a perspective. observe these examples:
freundschaftsbezeigungen.
dilettantenaufdringlichkeiten.
stadtverordnetenversammlungen.
these things are not words, they are alphabetical processions.
generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen.
alterthumswissenschaften.
kinderbewahrungsanstalten.
unabhängigkeitserklärungen.
wiedererstellungbestrebungen.
waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen.
of course when one of these grand mountain ranges goes stretching across the printed page, it adorns and ennobles that literary landscape but at the same time it is a great distress to the new student, for it blocks up his way; ...
- appendix d of a tramp abroad, "that awful german language"
my philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn english (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, french in thirty days, and german in thirty years. it seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. if it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.
- appendix d of a tramp abroad, "that awful german language"
whenever the literary german dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
- a connecticut yankee in king arthur's court
mastery of the art and spirit of the germanic language enables a man to travel all day in one sentence without changing cars.
- christian science
a dream: I was trying to explain to st. peter, and was doing it in the german tongue, because I didn't want to be too explicit.
- mark twain's speeches, 1923
the germans are exceedingly fond of rhine wines; they are put up in tall, slender bottles, and are considered a pleasant beverage. one tells them from vinegar by the label.
- a tramp abroad
[I couldn't agree less! I love rhine wines. but it's clever so I've shared.]
a dog is der hund; a woman is die frau; a horse is das pferd; now you put that dog in the genitive case, and is he the same dog he was before? no, sir; he is des hundes; put him in the dative case and what is he? why, he is dem hund. now you snatch him into the accusative case and how is it with him? why, he is den hunden. but suppose he happens to be twins and you have to pluralize him - what then? why, they'll swat that twin dog around through the four cases until he'll think he's an entire international dog-show all in his own person. I don't like dogs, but I wouldn't treat a dog like that - I wouldn't even treat a borrowed dog that way. well, it's just the same with a cat. they start her in at the nominative singular in good health and fair to look upon, and they sweat her through all the four cases and the sixteen the's and when she limps out through the accusative plural you wouldn't recognize her for the same being. yes, sir, once the german language gets hold of a cat, it's goodbye cat. that's about the amount of it.
- mark twain's notebook
by reading keep in a state of excited igorance, like a blind man in a house afire; flounder around, immensely but unintelligently interested; don't know how I got in and can't find the way out, but I'm having a booming time all to myself. don't know what a schelgesetzentwurf is, but I keep as excited over it and as worried about it as if it were my own child. I simply live on the sch.; it is my daily bread. I wouldn't have the question settled for anything in the world.
- mark twain, a biography
the germans have an inhuman way of cutting up their verbs. now a verb has a hard time enough of it in this world when it's all together. it's downright inhuman to split it up. but that's just what those germans do. they take part of a verb and put it down here, like a stake, and they take the other part of it and put it away over yonder like another stake, and between these two limits they just shovel in german.
- mark twain's speeches, "disappearance of literature"
for more, see this site, or else this one.
freundschaftsbezeigungen.
dilettantenaufdringlichkeiten.
stadtverordnetenversammlungen.
these things are not words, they are alphabetical processions.
generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen.
alterthumswissenschaften.
kinderbewahrungsanstalten.
unabhängigkeitserklärungen.
wiedererstellungbestrebungen.
waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen.
of course when one of these grand mountain ranges goes stretching across the printed page, it adorns and ennobles that literary landscape but at the same time it is a great distress to the new student, for it blocks up his way; ...
- appendix d of a tramp abroad, "that awful german language"
my philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn english (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, french in thirty days, and german in thirty years. it seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. if it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it.
- appendix d of a tramp abroad, "that awful german language"
whenever the literary german dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
- a connecticut yankee in king arthur's court
mastery of the art and spirit of the germanic language enables a man to travel all day in one sentence without changing cars.
- christian science
a dream: I was trying to explain to st. peter, and was doing it in the german tongue, because I didn't want to be too explicit.
- mark twain's speeches, 1923
the germans are exceedingly fond of rhine wines; they are put up in tall, slender bottles, and are considered a pleasant beverage. one tells them from vinegar by the label.
- a tramp abroad
[I couldn't agree less! I love rhine wines. but it's clever so I've shared.]
a dog is der hund; a woman is die frau; a horse is das pferd; now you put that dog in the genitive case, and is he the same dog he was before? no, sir; he is des hundes; put him in the dative case and what is he? why, he is dem hund. now you snatch him into the accusative case and how is it with him? why, he is den hunden. but suppose he happens to be twins and you have to pluralize him - what then? why, they'll swat that twin dog around through the four cases until he'll think he's an entire international dog-show all in his own person. I don't like dogs, but I wouldn't treat a dog like that - I wouldn't even treat a borrowed dog that way. well, it's just the same with a cat. they start her in at the nominative singular in good health and fair to look upon, and they sweat her through all the four cases and the sixteen the's and when she limps out through the accusative plural you wouldn't recognize her for the same being. yes, sir, once the german language gets hold of a cat, it's goodbye cat. that's about the amount of it.
- mark twain's notebook
by reading keep in a state of excited igorance, like a blind man in a house afire; flounder around, immensely but unintelligently interested; don't know how I got in and can't find the way out, but I'm having a booming time all to myself. don't know what a schelgesetzentwurf is, but I keep as excited over it and as worried about it as if it were my own child. I simply live on the sch.; it is my daily bread. I wouldn't have the question settled for anything in the world.
- mark twain, a biography
the germans have an inhuman way of cutting up their verbs. now a verb has a hard time enough of it in this world when it's all together. it's downright inhuman to split it up. but that's just what those germans do. they take part of a verb and put it down here, like a stake, and they take the other part of it and put it away over yonder like another stake, and between these two limits they just shovel in german.
- mark twain's speeches, "disappearance of literature"
for more, see this site, or else this one.