Do you eat ice creat the right way?

Summer is coming - or at least so we hope - therefore ice cream needs to be eaten. The right way to eat ice cream is with friends, outside on a hot day, in a Stanitzel like this:


The great linguist Johann Siegmund Popowitsch  (sorry for the article in German, if you want to have details about him in English, please post exact questions below and I will answer them as good as I can) said that it originates from Slovenian: škarnicelj, Croatian: štanicl, respectively škarnicl Serbian: štanicla or Hungarian: stanicli. - I am sure he is right about this!

Stanitzel is a great example for the difference between Austrian German and German spoken in Germany. If you order a Stanitzel in Germany, nobody will understand you. You need to order a Tüte in Germany. However, if you order a Tüte in Austria, you might get into troubles with law enforcement, as you are ordering illegal drugs!

Homework: Look outside the window. If the sun is shining, meet up with friends and eat ice cream out of a Stanitzel. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself and have fun!

Also, post below your favorite flavor of ice cream. Explain, why you like that taste. I am looking forward to your responses!

Comments

  1. MyrtoneMay 08, 2014

    I expected that Austrian, especially in the east, would have some slavic borrowings, like those in Yiddish. Is the word tschotschke known anywhere in Esterreich?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TheAustrianMay 08, 2014

      Hi there, yes, the Austrian language does have a lot of Slavic influence a good example is shown in the post above. In Lower Austria even one of the most prominent peaks has a Slavic name (Ötscher).

      Yiddish is based on the German language and depending on which of the six major dialects is spoken the Slavic influence is bigger.

      I have not heard the word you mentioned above before. First I pronounced it and read it as "Zwetschke" (English for plum, and Powidl will make a great post) but then I looked it up at Yiddish and found Tchotchke is a small bauble or miscellaneous item. Depending on context, the term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability as well as tackiness.

      Delete
    2. TheAustrianMay 08, 2014

      Hi there Myrtone, thanks again for bringing up the "slavic borrowings" in the Austrian language. I have written a post about the Powidl here: http://www.austrianforforeigners.com/2014/05/powidl.html

      Delete
    3. MyrtoneMay 09, 2014

      Isn't Zwetschke Austrian for plum, not English?

      In Niederesterrech, gibt's a Berg mit a slavischer Name, Ötscher.

      If it is a Slavic name, what is the umlaut doing?

      Delete
    4. TheAustrianMay 09, 2014

      Dear Myrtone! You are right! I wanted to say "Austrian for the English word plum" - I guess my brain was faster thinking than my fingers were typing. Thank you very much for spotting and outlining. Unfortunately, I don't find any way to edit comments in the software used.

      The name of the mountain is Slavic (Ötscher is the word for "father" or "old father"). However, when they wrote down the name, they simply used what they had in the German alphabet. As we don't have any acutes, they simply used an Umlaut.

      Delete
  2. MyrtoneMay 09, 2014

    But there is no ö or ü sound in any Slavic language, and even many southern german dialects, including Austrian ones often don't have those vowel sounds, the ones that don't have e where other dialects have ö. Also, the nearest slavic word I could find is Oče (Slovenian for father), which no accent of any kind over the o.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oida!

Image
Today's word is as great as the English “ isn`t it ”. Something that you can easily append to every sentence. However, as we are taking Austrian, so the word must be better, mustn’t it? You can use Oida for everything and this repeatedly! A construct like “ Oida, wos wüst Oida ” is perfectly fine. Originally, Oida would translate to something like old man. However, in no way the person addressed needs to be old (I would even say the opposite is true) or male - remember we Austrians are politically very correct, especially colloquially. So words that imply that they are only male can be applied to females as well. A fine piece of art was produced by the guys from Trackshittaz who made a great song with the mind enriching title “Oida Taunz!” Please have a look at it yourself here:   By the way, the Trackshittaz were Austria’s nomination for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song " Woki mit deim Popo " (the title of the Song would translate to “Shake your
Read more

Servus

Image
As you know, Austrians are very friendly people. Part of being friendly is to have manners. Having manners includes that you greet. You also know, that Austrians are super-efficient. As such, they have multi-purpose words: You can use the same word in multiple situations. One of these words is Servus. The word comes from the Latin servant of slave. According to Wikipedia "The phrase is an ellipsis of a Latin expression servus humillimus, domine spectabilis , meaning "[your] most humble servant, [my] noble lord." No subservience is implied in its modern use, which has the force of "at your service." Servus is the origin of the word serf ." - But that sounds very complicated. Servus is great, because you can use it to say Hi when you meet somebody. You can use it when you cheers with somebody. You can use it to say Good Bye. Or to put it with the words of the late and great Peter Alexander:  Every city has their own  parting words; in Paris you
Read more

Rumkugeln

Image
As it is Christmas, todays entry will be a little bit christmassy: We are talking about Rumkugeln it seams some people like my pictures, I did a Google image search for rumkugeln , and look at these two pictures, it came up with on the first page: and: and on the second page, the search engine came up with: OK, I admit, these pictures don't seam to have something in common (a sweet, a cat and a drunk) but by the end of the day we are talking about Austrian, don't we? :) So, lets start with the Wortstamm again: Rum is rum and the best in the world is still made by the Angostura distillery located on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. And a Kugel is a ball or a sphere. So far, so clear, everybody expected that we have some Christmas-Cookies for this time. But now to the cat: what does it do? It is rolling around on the ground and happy, that life is so nice. And there is the point: rum is not only rum, no it is as well the short form of herum or in English around. Furthermore,
Read more