Thread: WW2 PoW stuff:
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Old 08-22-14, 11:52 AM   #42
Joefour
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eichhornchen View Post
Do you, as I suspect, have a background in linguistics?

People who know languages have much more insight into their neighbours on the planet, I think. So what do you reckon the Germans make of the British and U.S. male's habit of seeming to be able to regard them only in the context of the war? It's often not a negative context, either: when we make models, the most popular tables at shows always seem to be the ones covered in German stuff. And when we were kids playing War, everyone wanted to be the Germans. And one of the most popular comedians over here is a German, because he makes us roar with his own references to the war.

I feel sad and rather guilty as a Brit now when I hear young Germans saying they feel bad about the war, because they weren't there, but it doesn't seem to stop us picking away at this, because we still make shows like 'Allo 'Allo (do you know it?)

Never heard of 'Allo, 'Allo. To answer your question, yes. I suppose you could call me an amateur linguist. Ever since my german teacher in high school, Herr Peerenboom got me interested. I could never understand english grammar until I had studied german. One thing that I find fascinating is word origins, such as curfew-from old french "couvrir le feu", cover the fire, or companion- "with bread", the person you break bread with. As far as how young germans feel about the war, I'm not going down that rabbit hole publicly.
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