February 2010
5 posts
1 tag
3 tags
Inside I’m Dancing: German Greetings
Very few people would describe German as a musical language - it lacks the mellifluous qualities of Italian or the fluctuating rhythm that characterises Norwegian. Like all tongues, German is rich and expressive, and apparently rather suited for singing about unconsummated tragic love, Rhine maidens, legendary spears and other ring-related activities and crypto-Christian imagery. Deutsch is many...
6 tags
Sorry, but I am stranger here myself
“Nationalism is an infantile disease… It is the measles of mankind.” Albert Einstein
“Germany has been called the first postmodern nation and the first postnational society. Those labels refer to the tendency of German intellectuals to reject any unselfconscious German identity and to insist on questioning its nature and Genesis” Brian Ladd in Ghosts of Berlin
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3 tags
Ich denke, dass Berliner freundlich sind
Capital dwellers tend to get a bad rep and are regularly described as hurried, cold and rude. Often all three at once. This is a bit unfair - you try removing all your filters, let the tide of humanity wash over you and watch the Everest of your sanity quickly erode. Prolonged exposure to people can lead to increase chances of misanthropy. The metropolis is a cradle of innovation and...
2 tags
The Classics, Revised
J.D. Sallinger passed away last week, and his demise led to the usual flurry of knee-jerk tributes and in memoriams. I too noted his death by posting one of my favourite quotes as my Facebook status, not precisely an obituary and perhaps a tad phony but well-intentioned nevertheless. This led to a brief exchange with a couple of friends, who just didn’t get Catcher in the Rye and failed to see...
