DrKrettin Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 Not to mention "schweinhund"......at least, according to my editions of "Commando" circa 1964 or so....I've never, ever heard a real German say that. I have - I was married to one for 25 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exchemist Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 I have - I was married to one for 25 years.A German? Or a schweinhund? Ou les deux, mon colonel * ? * French joke - can explain if you don't know it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariel33 Posted March 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 No. And they were not wrong not to call each other Marmite sandwiches or rabbit hutches either. Isn't it likely though that had Germans called each other Gods and computers, Hitler would've lost his power? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigD Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 Were people wrong to not call each other Gods and computers during the Second World War?I’m pretty sure that people 1939 to 1945 did on occasion call one another “computers”. During this time, automatic mechanical and electronic computers were expensive and rare, so calculation we now perform with electronic computers were performed by people. So, if a person in, say 1940 used the word “computer”, most people would, I think, assume they were referring to person specializing in this field, such as Dorothy Johnson, who recently became widely-known via of the 2016 movie Hidden Figures. As long as I can remember, we commonly refer to a person who is very good at something as a {name of subject} god, eg: “Neil Gaiman is a literary god”, “Jimi Hendrix was a guitar god.” I’m not sure when this became a common form of euphemism, though, and suspect it would take a good amount of scholarship to answer that question. Isn't it likely though that had Germans called each other Gods and computers, Hitler would've lost his power?Why would you think this is likely, Mariel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKrettin Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 A German? Or a schweinhund? Ou les deux, mon colonel * ? * French joke - can explain if you don't know it... Technically, only a German because she would have been a Schweinhündin. Mais les deux tout de même Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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