• @GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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      294 months ago

      it is only me_irl in name though, it is a general meme / conversational community with the obnoxious (and over used to death) in joke that is zangendeutsch.

      • qevlarr
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        24 months ago

        Dutchie who speaks German here, I hadn’t heard of the word ‘Zangendeutsch’ before. I get what it means, but why ‘Zangen’? Does it come from tongs or does it have another meaning? Tongs-German makes no sense to me

      • @Samsy@lemmy.ml
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        144 months ago

        “Zangendeutsch” means an aggressive way of removing the influence of english into the german language. But outside of ich_iel we write in english as everyone. Which is obviously a little bit weird, isn’t it?

        • @GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

          What annoys me personally about it (to the point that i blocked the community) is that it is mandatory. That’s not humor, or funny, that is weird performative scripted humor. I often felt reminded of carnival speeches.

          I’d also argue that it isnt very successful in clearing anglicisms from the german vernacular when it is all about making the most incorrect and cryptic literal translation imaginable to the point that nobody could understand unless they are well versed in those anglicisms.

        • @lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          174 months ago

          No, that’s wrong. Zangendeutsch is all about English influence and playfully literal translations even when there are better German words. So you need to translate it back to English and into German again to decode it and that’s the fun about it.

          • @reinei@lemmy.world
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            24 months ago

            So is that the “Zange”? Because you need to go from the things you are holding (the information, in “German”) to the hinge (the literal English translation) and back down again (actual German translation) to understand (aka grasp it)‽

            • @boomzilla@programming.dev
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              04 months ago

              I’m not sure if I understood your deduction. The literal translation of “Zange” would be “tongs”, “pliers” or “pincer”. Hinges are the things that make doors swing and hold to a wall right?

              Multiple source say the origin of the word isn’t documented but the best explanation they come up with is that pliers can be used to bend something into a different form.

              My guess was it has its origin in the proverb “Das würde ich nicht mal mit der Kneifzange anfassen” which translates to “I wouldn’t even touch that with pliers” as in stuff you detest that much that you rather would stay away from it.