{"id":35927,"date":"2019-02-18T00:09:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T04:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=35927"},"modified":"2019-02-18T00:20:44","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T04:20:44","slug":"sonderling-sunday-the-party-was-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=35927","title":{"rendered":"Sonderling Sunday! The Party Was Over."},"content":{"rendered":"

Believe it or not, it’s time for Sonderling Sunday<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sonderling Sunday is that time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books.<\/p>\n

But you may well ask, Sonderling Sunday, where have you been? Hasn’t it been almost a year since your last post<\/a>?<\/p>\n

That’s right — it’s been far too long. But in case you hadn’t heard, last year I had this little activity of being on the Newbery Committee and basically that was eating up every minute, forcing me to read children’s books whenever I could find the time. (I know, twist my arm!) But one very good thing that did go by the wayside was Sonderling Sunday.<\/p>\n

And I didn’t even manage to finish going through Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge<\/a><\/em> before I went on hiatus!<\/p>\n

This book, with the original title The Order of Odd-fish<\/a>,<\/em> by James Kennedy<\/a>, is the book that started it all. And I am so close to the end! Last time we left off on page 334 in the original edition, Seite 424 auf Deutsch.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are some fun ones on this page. Surely you can find a reason to say these things, right?<\/p>\n

“fawning psychoanalysts” = kriecherischen Psychoanalytikern<\/em><\/p>\n

“guffawed” = johlte<\/em><\/p>\n

“a venerable therapist” = ein ehrw\u00fcrdiger Therapeut<\/em><\/p>\n

“you hit the nail on the head!” = Sie haben den Nagel auf den Kopf getroffen!<\/em><\/p>\n

“cooed a spinster nurse” = gurrte Eine altj\u00fcngferliche Krankenschwester<\/em><\/p>\n

“Take it down a notch.” =
\nSchalten Sie einen Gang runter.<\/em>
\n(“Switch you a gear down.”)<\/p>\n

Okay, I need to see how they handled this one:
\n“Why, you’re a regular ding-a-ling ding-dang-doodle, Belgian Prankster!” chirped a young doctor. “A first-class, blue-ribbon, dippity-doopity ding-a-ling ding-dang-doodle, and you can take that to the bank! Huh, fellas?”
\n=
\n\u00bbAlso wirklich, Sie sind ein echter Kni-Kna-Kn\u00fcller, Belgischer Scherzkeks\u00ab, zirpte eine junge \u00c4rztin. \u00bbEin erstklassiger, ausgezeichneter Kni-Kna-Kno-Kn\u00fcller, darauf k\u00f6nnen Sie Gift nehmen! Stimmt’s, Jungs?\u00ab<\/em><\/p>\n

(Hmmm. They seem to have translated “dippity-doopity” as Kno<\/em>. Doesn’t seem quite as creative to me.)<\/p>\n

“Esteemed doctors” = Hochgesch\u00e4tzte Doktoren<\/em><\/p>\n

“You got us that time, I’ll give you that!” = Sie uns aber wirklich drangekriegt, das muss ich Ihnen lassen!<\/em><\/p>\n

“zinger” = Hammer<\/em><\/p>\n

“What have you done to them?” = Was haben Sie mit ihnen gemacht?<\/em><\/p>\n

“rigors of the workday” = strapazi\u00f6sen Arbeitstag<\/em><\/p>\n

“at random” = willk\u00fcrlich<\/em><\/p>\n

The German is so much more specific:
\n“She bit her cheek.”
\n= Sie biss sich auf die Innenseite der Wange.<\/em>
\n(“She bit herself on the inside of her cheek.”)<\/p>\n

“empty jest” = hohlen Witz<\/em><\/p>\n

“unnecessary” = \u00fcberfl\u00fcssig<\/em>
\n(“superfluous,” “over-fluid”)<\/p>\n

Let’s finish with that important sentence:
\n“The party was over.”
\n= Der Party war vorbei.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s all for tonight, and I must say, it’s good to be back! One of the things that I think is so much fun about this pseudo-phrasebook is that we’ve gone through almost the entire book — and I’m guessing I haven’t given away the plot at all. I have<\/em> given away how much James Kennedy likes to play with language, though.<\/p>\n

Here’s wishing my readers a Kni-Kna-Kno-Kn\u00fcller<\/em> of a week!<\/p>\n

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