Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Fall to your knees before WISCHTUCH!

German is a beautiful language, dripping with flavor and full of big fat vowels and rumbling, deep-throated rs and phlegm-clearing glottal consonants. Sometimes I learn a new word, and I can hear just the sound of the word, and it conjures a beautiful image in my mind completely disconnected from the word's actual meaning.

Just a few minutes ago I encountered the word Wischtuch, pronounced vish-took, but with the k coming from just south of your diaphragm. It immediately conjured the image in my mind of a mighty Norse god, standing at the head of his centaurian army with a battle axe the size of a villa slung over one mail-clad shoulder.

And then I looked up the word in the dictionary. Wischtuch - moist towelette.

Well, it was better my way.

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