Saturday, April 27, 2013

X-beinig

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel I know.  Not only do I really have nothing to say today, I've cheated a bit by just taking as my title a German word that caught my eye for no reason other than it's, well, a bit funny.  Bein is the German word for leg; x-beinig means knock-kneed.  German is a funny old language, so logical and sometimes just so descriptive.  It took me a while to acquire the German taste for making new words by combining words and I have to admit I don't do it often but it is fun.  Especially when I'm just doing it for fun.

The German propensity for combining words does make it somewhat difficult to find words in a dictionary sometimes, as they'll often only be listed by their component parts.  According to an expat blog I found the longest German word in the Duden dictionary (Duden would be similar in status to the Oxford English Dictionary or Merriam Webster) is Grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung (67 letters, check the link for the meaning of it and how it's broken down).

I have to run off and cook spaghetti bolognese for fifty or so people now.  It's the marathon here tomorrow and the Irish Business Network is having a pasta party for those who are running.  I don't do running so I'm helping out with the cooking instead.  Much more my style!

4 comments:

Lucy said...

The German word for Knocked Knee,now that is interesting. But, wow, 67 letters! And, good luck with all your cooking, that is a lot of spaghetti :)
Lucy from Lucy's Reality

Anonymous said...

German seems like it would be a very hard language to learn. Maybe that is just because I don't know any German but it seems difficult. You sure must have caught onto it quickly. I have been involved with spaghetti dinners for big groups like scouts and such. I always enjoyed doing those things. Especially when working with a group it can be a lot of fun. I hope you have a great time and your dinner is a success. :)

Moonwaves said...

It's funny really. I hadn't thought about the fact that I don't like spaghetti (or any of the long, stringy types of pasta) and so never eat it. Which means I've never actually cooked it either. And I just assumed that when I was shown the giant pot that they used last year that it would fit the quantities I was cooking. Turns out that wasn't the case and by the time it was cooked, the water was almost completely gone, the whole lot was terribly sticky and what was on the bottom was simply burnt. Yes. It turns out that it's entirely possible to burn spaghetti. Who knew.

Still, there really was far too much and what came out of the top half of the pot ended up being more than enough and people seemed happy enough with it. Now the sun is shining and it's time to head off into town to cheer on some of the runners.

Anonymous said...

I am glad it all worked out in the end. That is what really matters. I hope it is nice weather for the run today. Have fun!