English
Like kitsch, schnauzer and – to a lesser extent – gemütlichkeit*, schadenfreude is one of those excitingly guttural expressions that has hitchhiked its way from Germany into English-speaking countries such as Australia.
The loanword is a combination of Schaden (harm) and freude (joy), and describes pleasure taken in other people’s misfortunes.
It’s a phenomenon which can be observed with increasing frequency on internet sites such as failblog.org which revels in human error, embarrassment and outright idiocy.
Continue reading "Laughing at misfortune of others a big moral dilemma" »
The expulsion of an Israeli diplomat this week took me back more than a quarter of a century, to the expulsion of the Soviet “diplomat” Valery Ivanov in 1983. Ivanov had been fingered as a KGB spy, and he was being thrown out for attempting to influence a senior A.L.P. figure, David Combe.
Surrounded by media at the airport, he gave a brief statement in Russian. As he turned to go, a voice rang out: “Could you say that again in Australian?”
Ivanov didn’t bother – he was gone. But the question stuck with me for one reason: it was the first time (though by no means the last) that I was to hear the language we speak referred to, not as English, nor as “Australian English”, but as “Australian”.
Continue reading "Ostraya, a lucky winner of the linguistic lottery" »
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Feral Wombat says:
verdiman You are correct. I had thought that the Belgians had control of Rwanda both before and after the period of German colonisation but apparently I was mistaken. Read more »
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verdiman says:
to Feralwombat. Germany did not nick Rwanda from Belgium. The Belgians conquered it from Germany in WWI. The Germans also had Tanganyika (todays Tanzania). Read more »
Another arrival from the crowd that brought us this indecipherable press release, but this time the gobbledegook’s even worse.
SAP Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) today announced the availability of hosted offerings from its channel partners for midsize companies, providing a new delivery channel for SAP solutions for mid-size customers in ANZ.
SAP integration partner CIBER is the first ANZ partner to offer hosting as an alternative to the traditional on-premise deployment option. The hosted offerings allow midsize companies to implement and run SAP® Business All-in-One solutions without the need to hire and train dedicated IT staff to implement and manage the software. SAP Business All-in-One is comprehensive and flexible software for midsize companies with deep industry best practices built-in.
My eyes.
Over to you: translations please?
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Chris says:
From my experience, I can assume this was a release written by an SAP representative outside of Australia for global distribution, which was meant to be localised. However SAP Australia’s comms team and external PR agency have dismally failed to do this - instead just pasting ‘ANZ’ into several parts… Read more »
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Trolldoll says:
Basically it means that if you have a decent internet connection for your buisness, these people will store the information for you buisness and make sure it’s running so you don’t have to sully your hands with Geeks, BTW I am a Geek. So if you don’t mind running up… Read more »
This just landed in The Punch’s inbox. Can anyone explain what it means?
To meet a growing demand from companies of all sizes for software-as-a-service (SaaS) business intelligence (BI) tools that are easy to use, SAP Australia New Zealand today announced the local launch of the SAP® BusinessObjects™ BI OnDemand solution.
Targeted at casual BI users currently under-served by products on the market, the solution will deliver a complete BI toolset in one flexible offering. Leading local on-demand services and solutions provider Sqware Peg is the first local partner to offer customers the new solution, which will provide analytics capabilities for customers using core on-demand solutions.
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iansand says:
Whatever it is it is likely to dissolve, so be careful. All those solutions. Read more »
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Jenni says:
*like* good job Matt ... you’re not in advertising by any chance? Read more »
It really is the best invention, ever.
A company in the US has dreamt up a bit of punctuation to indicate that you are being sarcastic.
As if you ever going to need it.
Continue reading "Punctuation mark for sarcasm a brilliant idea" »
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papachango says:
There are already plenty of acceptable ways of showing sarcasm in the written form. Try emoticons like and the ‘rolling eyes’ one or even a /sarc tag if you’re geekisly inclined. Even inverted commas can do the trick, so that we don’t need this ‘incredibly useful’ invention… Read more »
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papachango says:
True the Amercians sometimes struggle with sarcasm and irony - which explains the Wayne’s World craze of ending a sarcastic sentence with ...NOT! Just to be sure that it is actually sarcastic y’know… You do realise that, while Alanis Morissette shows a similar inability to grasp irony, she is in… Read more »
Are you a fan of The Wreckers? Do you reckon we’re out of the woods? Have you got your Julia Gillard Memorial Hall yet? And crucially, it is “fair suck” or “fair shake” of the sauce bottle?
The Macquarie Dictionary has opened its word of the year competition and there are six nominations in the political category. But we reckon there should be a few more than that. Some suggestions of phrases from 2009 that can be permanently added to the Australian political lexicon are below - add yours in the comments.
Detailed programmatic specificity: Appears to mean, er, a plan. But when you’re Kevin Rudd, why say it clearly in one syllable when you can say it confusingly in 11?
Continue reading "Call for entries: additions to the Punch political dictionary" »
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Sam says:
“I am the Leader” - What Malcom Turnball kept saying just before he got rolled. Sounded more like he was greeting aliens than authoratively asserting his leadership status. Read more »
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Travis says:
Hockeyed: when a candidate loses a formerly two-way a ballot as a result of an unexpected third player. Can also be referred to (from the US) as ‘Nadered’. Read more »
WHEN mounting an argument sure to rub some people up the wrong way - such as, say, listing reasons to love the English on the first day of The Ashes - it can be useful to start by invoking supporting words of wisdom from a unifying, popular figure.
Step forward, Donald Rumsfeld.
The former US Defence Secretary - not exactly of Ghandi-esque stature in global public opinion - had a favourite phrase: that America would be vindicated in “the great sweep of human history”.
In the great sweep of sporting history, the English have been the objects of increasing ridicule. They deserve much of it, especially with their tragi-comic efforts in soccer and cricket during the 1990s. But with the 2009 Ashes series beginning this evening, Australian time, we’re sure to be in for weeks of tiresome jokes about whingeing Poms, underachievers, chokers, yob fans with beer bellies, along with general mirth at moments of English failure.
When Mitchell Johnson gets the ball in hand and eyes off Andrew Strauss in Cardiff before starting his run-up, it might be worth him - and Australians everywhere - pausing for a moment to reflect on England’s place in the great sweep of human history. For England, possibly more than any other nation, deserves respect.
[More Ashes: Luke Foley on English elitists | Phil Hillyard’s photo secrets]
And as one of the 10 reasons below argues, respecting England just might help Australia win The Ashes.
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Mike Bune says:
What a difference eighteen months makes. Australia now has its first female Prime Minister and, what is more Welsh. Your East Coast is awash after torrential rain and costing lives. To cap it all a National Disaster, you did not even get a sniff of the ashes. Still, you still… Read more »
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SULLY says:
Talking of inventing Cricket, the Barmy Army also invented the cricket song. Naked Comms in the UK launch a soundtrack to the forthcoming tour. You can hear it at: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/917277/Naked-launches-Barmy-Army-single/ Matt Jagger, the agency’s head of entertainment, has written, recorded and produced the single, called Hey, Hey, Ricky, which taunts… Read more »
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From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012
marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
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