Glasses in different languages “Lunettes” in French can be traced back to the 13th century, when the suffix -ette was added to lune to make a diminutive noun meaning any object shaped like the moon. “Brille” in German can be traced back to around 1300, when the lenses for monks’ glasses were cut…
Surprises
Typing through the years
Our relationship with the QWERTY keyboard has changed a lot since the 1980s. In that decade huge progress was made with typing machines: manual and electric typewriters gave way to word processors and then PCs. Kids nowadays are good at typing but would probably not recognize a typewriter. Not unless they’ve read this…
Es zieht! There’s a draught.
“Es zieht” and other graphic German words Literally, “Es zieht” means “It’s pulling.” Air is being pulled from outside the building or vehicle and causing a draught. There are so many graphic words in German, especially the compound nouns. Think of “Staubsauger” (vacuum cleaner; literally, dust sucker), or “Handschuhe” (gloves; literally, hand shoes). They’re easy…
A mixed bag of family traditions
In mid-April this year we felt the first strong spring sunshine. From then on we could look forward to about 6 months of longer daylight and warmer temperatures. Annual celebrations like Christmas and Easter punctuate the darker days and colder weather, but then in our family we have birthdays to celebrate in the warmer months. …
Dog Phrasebook
Following on from my last blog post, Dog Language, I’ve put together a short Dog Phrasebook to show some typical dog phrases and their equivalent in English. Our part-time dog, Hamish, helped me with the translations on his last visit. You may remember Hamish from my previous post about dog borrowing and dog names : …
If only she could talk – what would your dog say?
This article includes a guest post by my canine friend Jessica. To start with, she kindly posed for her photo in the garden of the house where she lives with her humans. This is what inspired me to ask Jessica to provide the guest post: The other day the website www.borrowmydoggy.com was advertising a new…
Find your feet: the high ropes and the barefoot trail
The Forêt des Vert-tiges is a fantastic tree top rope course on the northern outskirts of Pau, south west France. We spent October half-term this year in Pau with our friend Jacqueline. What a great play on words: Forêt des Vert-tiges. Yes, it really is a forest of both vertigo and green branches. It’s described…
Family holidays “abroad” in the old days: a car’s story
I’m a Ford Cortina, rescued from the scrap heap many times. My heyday was the 1960s and ‘70s, and my speciality was Family Holidays. Seatbelts were not considered necessary; you just crammed several children and a dog onto the backseat and set off. There were no child safety locks; you just banged the doors hard….
Give a dog a good name
A dog by any other name….? My daughter’s been longing for a dog for years. When she was about 5 she chose a book in a shop in Germany with the title “Ich will einen Hund”, by Helga Bansch. “Ich will auch einen Hund”, she said. It’s a great story about a girl who pleads…
Travel journals – blogging in Germany, 1912
Just for a change, I’ve been traveling in time for this post! How I was given a family travel journal from 1912 When I started studying French and German at university my Grandmother unexpectedly gave me a leather-bound travel journal written in 1912 by her German grandfather, Johann. Until then I had no idea that…
