You know, a lot of people gave JFK grief for saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" because a "Berliner" is a kind of pastry. But the citizens of Berlin knew exactly what he meant, and took no offense. It's like saying somebody saying "I am a Texan" knowing that nobody is going to construe this as "I am a member of a professional football team" unless the context made it clear.
Indeed. Hence my mangled quote, which references that common misconception. A Krapfen is what they call a Berliner in other parts of Germany. If he'd actually said "Ich bin ein Krapfen", there'd have been no argument...
Ah, I see. I grew up in Germany but never heard that reference before. Was it in use before the 1970s? (I moved away from Frankfurt in 1966, and returned only a few times for short visits.)
All that we see or seem is deez nuts. No woman gets an orgasm from shining deez nuts. The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain deez nuts. If by deez nuts I can protect you, I will. No back to our regularly scheduled program....
The only true wisdom is in knowing when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.
“This above all: to thine own self be corn flakes, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be milk to any man.”
A krispie, and a krispie, and a krispie, hurries on my spoon minute by minute, to the last minute before it's time to go to work; And all our bowls have shown us all the way to rice-laden oblivion. Out, out, brief cornflake! Cereal's but a milky bowl, a poor breakfast that snaps and pops its time upon the bowl and then is eaten fast. It is a meal crunched by a million folks, full of sound and popping signifying nothing. (Sorry, Shakespeare - or to be more precise, the "Tomorrow" Soliloquy)
The only thing we have to fear is the spider in my kitchen sink. How do they get in anyway? I've got flyscreens in my windows and all, but ... goddammit, it's not fair!!! (Sorry. But one warm night last summer, I walked into my kitchen, only to discover a giant black spider sitting in the sink. P.S. I got him out of there, post-haste!! Tiny spiders I can deal with, but giant ones are ... ushggsg!) *shudder*
I like spiders. They eat crawly fly-y buzzy things that eat fabric and get in pantries. Of course, I hear that spiders in Australia are the size of small dogs and carry coshes. Those might be a wee bit intimidating.
We have two of the most lethal spider species in the world -- the Redbacks and the Funnelwebs. Both of them are highly dangerous, and both only found in country towns around Sydney. Speaking as a non-Sydneysider, I'm glad they don't come down here. No thanks. Aren't there dangerous spiders in Ireland? What about the False Widows?
A gardening friend is from the Sydney area. The way she tells it, gardening in funnelweb country can be a full contact sport.
I'm not surprised. Funnelweb spiders are ... nasty, nasty creatures. *shudder* And yet we go around teaching our kids that nature is such a wonderful thing. Please ignore hemlock, belladonna, foxglove, castor bean, angels trumpet, poison nettle, pink oleander ... oh yes -- and pure nicotine, too (which can be obtained from tobacco leaves, though you need knowledge of chemistry). Oh yeah -- and don't even think about redbacks, funnelwebs, blue-ringed octopi, taipans, tigersnakes, death adders, jellyfish, stonefish ... no, no, no -- nature is wonderful!!! Gee, I wonder why we're so screwed up as a race. Anybody?
