Two hours to go till the weekend (a slightly German-infested post)

[mybackup2022]

Yesss. Only 2 hours, which shall be spent doing light, not-too-challenging work.

The Ambassador had the cheek yesterday to make a derogative remark about my style.
Unsurprisingly, this didn't go down well. The Ambassador is the person who single-handedly invented the word Atatürkboulevardverbreiterungsbauarbeiten (my German speaking friends will appreciate it) and writes wonderful with a double l. The Ambassador is also the person whose feminist convictions (which are limited to the surface and therefore pure hypocrisy) prompted her to invent the word - again, for the enjoyment of German speakers - KopftuchträgerInnen.
I'd love to write back something like "Dear Ambassador, I'm so happy that we've finally found some common ground, and I'd be delighted to have an in-depth discussion about style with you" but I'm afraid this would mean taking things a bit too far. She's not the kind of person who understands or, god forbid, appreciates that kind of irony. Certainly not if it's directed against her.

Gabriele has taken three weeks off work, because she needs a break, and because friends of hers will come to visit. So I was alone yesterday at kick boxing - boy, what a difference! Usually there's time to cool off and catch breath while Gabriele does her bit, but yesterday all the instructor's attention was focused on me. My muscles are sore in the oddest places.

Due to exceptional exhaustion, I didn't work on the exchange fic and spent the evening mindlessly watching TV, which was nice for a change. Fic is at 35K. Still no bed in sight.

Dinner tonight with the usual suspects + Gabriele's friends from Vienna (one of whom is Janine's singing teacher, yes, the world is a small place). Tomorrow we're apparently going to Enjoy Nature (eek) and drive to a salt lake about 100 km from Ankara.

Comments

[gypaetus.livejournal.com]

We real have to bring these two women together - your boss and our one - I am sure they would have a lot to chat.

I am always impressed how such psychpathic idiots get such jobs. No matter if its an ambassador or the leader of a university - institute - you do not know what is worse.

AND: I love the word KopftuchträgerInnen - thats real something ;-))) Thank you.

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

Yes, bring them together in an isolated room and then throw in a hand grenade.

If you liked the KopftuchträgerInnen, you might appreciate "Wir werden uns bemühen, die AUA als SponsorIn zu gewinnen"

[ladyjaneva.livejournal.com]

*hält sich die Augen zu*
aba...aba... das macht doch gar keinen Sinn...so grammatikalisch
Autsch

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

V.a. ist es so dumm, weil Sponsor ja aus dem Englischen kommt und daher gar kein Geschlecht hat, jedenfalls nicht, wenn man es auf ein - ebenfalls geschlechtsneutrales - Unternehmen bezieht.

[alienor77310.livejournal.com]

"Atatürkboulevardverbreiterungsbauarbeiten"

*snickers* that sounds like the words I invented when I played Scrabble in German.

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

Yes, but those are the words your co-players hit you on the head for, with all 7 tomes of the Brockhaus.

[alienor77310.livejournal.com]

Truth be told, she was just as bad as me. And it's kind of hard to play Scrabble in German with a French set, we needed all the help ;-)

[ladyjaneva.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, there are so many Kopftuchträger around , right?
*rolls around laughing*
hhmm, the Atatürkthingie reminded me of my post about long German words - very nice *g*

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

You can never be too careful. Cross-dressing muslims might take offence...

[foudebassan.livejournal.com]

She probably thought that the building site helmets the Atatükboulevardverbreitungbauarbeiter wore looked like head veils...

(*loves German*)

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

Sorry to destroy an illusion, but workers here don't wear helmets. Neither do they wear mouth or ear protection when they're drilling etc.

The building next to the embassy is a 25-storey monster, an I watched them put up scaffolding round the first three floors - it was like watching a horror movie, especially when the workers went up and down.

[fourth_rose]

That one almost beats the famous Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän ;)

Btw, the university of Vienna, a while ago, published guidelines for their male staff (something about sexual harrassment, I think) and addressed it to "männliche LehrveranstaltungsleiterInnen".

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

Oh that's a good one! Because one always has to think of transsexuals, too ;-)

But I found a brillinat way of obeying her order and making fun of her at the same time. You know those "Sprachliche Geichbehandlung" bits they now put at the very beginning or end of every law? I slightly modified it and integrated it into the automatic signature of my mails :-)))

[fourth_rose]

*giggles*

Oh, great! My PCness, let me show you it! ;)

[ladyjaneva.livejournal.com]

Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmützenfarbe.

Nur dass wir es sonst mit 'Elbe' vorne benutzen...

[fourth_rose]

Das ist gut! Das längste, was ich hier gehört habe, war Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänskajütenschlüsselbund...

Gibts/gabs wirklich eine Elbedampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft? (Die DDSG gibts, heißt auch immer noch so...)

[ladyjaneva.livejournal.com]

Soweit ich weiß nicht, aber vielleicht gibt es eine auf dem Rhein.

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

Donau oder Elbe - we're all one big, happy family now, aren't we? ;-)))

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

~sulks~ at linguistic exclusion.

[pigwidgeon37.livejournal.com]

So sorry, dear. But it simply defies translation, since English is blessedly gender-less. Well, except for such things as chairman. Chairperson still makes me snigger, though, maybe because to my ears it sounds slightly derogative (Person can be used in a negative sense in German).