Humo[u]r
Reinhold (Rey) Aman
-- Luftwaffles!
--
Reinhold (Rey) Aman, Philologist
AUEer Emeritus & Eremitus
Charles Riggs
<am...@sonic.net> wrote:
>What do German Air Force officers eat for breakfast?
>
>-- Luftwaffles!
Where you been lately, man?
CB
"Reinhold (Rey) Aman" <am...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:41186C92...@sonic.net...
> What do German Air Force officers eat for breakfast?
>
> -- Luftwaffles!
>
fighter pilots.... CDB
Reinhold (Rey) Aman
> Reinhold (Rey) Aman wrote:
> > What do German Air Force officers eat for breakfast?
> >
> > -- Luftwaffles!
> That sounds interestingly like an adaptation of a US war joke.
> What do fighter pilots.... CDB
Merci, mon vieux. I got this witty riddle a few years ago and had no
idea that it's a variant of a WW II riddle (as per Google).
Reinhold (Rey) Aman
> Reinhold (Rey) Aman wrote:
> > What do German Air Force officers eat for breakfast?
> >
> > -- Luftwaffles!
> Where you been lately, man?
Just fuckin' around (= BrE "sodding about," "arsing about").
CB
> CB wrote:
>
> > Reinhold (Rey) Aman wrote:
>
> > > What do German Air Force officers eat for breakfast?
> > >
> > > -- Luftwaffles!
>
> > That sounds interestingly like an adaptation of a US war joke.
> > What do fighter pilots.... CDB
>
> Merci, mon vieux. I got this witty riddle a few years ago and had no
> idea that it's a variant of a WW II riddle (as per Google).
>
just sounds like a less angry example of the kind of joke used to keep
spirits up on the home front (though googling does confirm the aggressively
humorous usage).
ObAUE: By my fault, I didn't phrase it unambiguously, "sounds interestingly
as if it might be...". Sorry. CDB
Jitze Couperus
<am...@sonic.net> wrote:
>Charles Riggs wrote:
>
>
>> Where you been lately, man?
>
>Just fuckin' around (= BrE "sodding about," "arsing about").
>
Curious that you should choose to cite the BrE variant of
"sodding about". I myself would have cited the more common
(I think) variant of "buggering about". Interesting that both have
roots in the alleged behavioural preferences of the residents
of Sodom in one case and Bulgars in the other.
I have a sneaking suspicion that while the latter is truly British
in origin, the former expression may have been picked up through
maritime trading with the Dutch - "Aan het sodemieteren" denotes
similar aimless behaviour but usually with a specific object or
activity specified e.g. "Met de wagen aan het sodemieteren"
means to be buggering around with the car.
The Dutch also use this word in the wider context of nagging,
fiddling, or other irritating forms of behaviour as in "Hou op met
dat gesodemieter" - Stop that <irritating> behaviour.
This is distinct from "donderjagen" (thunder chasing) which
could be the subject of a whole thesis on its own - the many
and eloquent ways in which the word "donder" is used
in Dutch to carry different semantic payloads.
Jitze (just booggerin' abaht...)
Reinhold (Rey) Aman
> Reinhold (Rey) Aman wrote:
> > CB wrote:
> > > Reinhold (Rey) Aman wrote:
> > > > What do German Air Force officers eat for breakfast?
> > > > -- Luftwaffles!
> > > That sounds interestingly like an adaptation of a US war joke.
> > > What do fighter pilots.... CDB
> > Merci, mon vieux. I got this witty riddle a few years ago and had
> > no idea that it's a variant of a WW II riddle (as per Google).
> Does Google confirm it? Delightful. I didn't find it there; still can't.
I plead guilty to sloppy Googling and possibly misunderstanding the info
from this site:
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=131538
"Is it true that German flyers in WWII ate only Luftwaffles?"
Now I'm not certain whether this is a fairly recent riddle (circa 1997,
as I assumed) or whether it circulated some 60 years ago. My above "a
variant of a WW II riddle" is also ambiguous, as it could refer to
either situation.
> It just sounds like a less angry example of the kind of joke used to keep
> spirits up on the home front (though googling does confirm the aggressively
> humorous usage).
>
> ObAUE: By my fault, I didn't phrase it unambiguously, "sounds interestingly
> as if it might be...". Sorry. CDB
S'alright.
Bob Cunningham
<am...@sonic.net> said:
[...]
>"Is it true that German flyers in WWII ate only Luftwaffles?"
Never before had so many luftwaffles been eaten by so few.
Ben Zimmer
>
> CB wrote:
>
> > Reinhold (Rey) Aman wrote:
> > > CB wrote:
> > > > Reinhold (Rey) Aman wrote:
> > > > > What do German Air Force officers eat for breakfast?
> > > > > -- Luftwaffles!
>
> > > > That sounds interestingly like an adaptation of a US war joke.
> > > > What do fighter pilots.... CDB
>
> > > Merci, mon vieux. I got this witty riddle a few years ago and had
> > > no idea that it's a variant of a WW II riddle (as per Google).
>
> > Does Google confirm it? Delightful. I didn't find it there; still can't.
>
> I plead guilty to sloppy Googling and possibly misunderstanding the info
> from this site:
>
> http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=131538
>
> "Is it true that German flyers in WWII ate only Luftwaffles?"
>
> Now I'm not certain whether this is a fairly recent riddle (circa 1997,
> as I assumed) or whether it circulated some 60 years ago.
The essayist Roger Rosenblatt wrote a piece for the Washington Post in
1979 entitled "New Year's at Luchow's" (recently reprinted in his 2003
collection _Anything Can Happen: Notes on My Inadequate Life and Yours_,
searchable on Amazon). Rosenblatt tells the story about how in the
mid-'60s his brother kept getting misdialed calls for Luchow's, a famous
German restaurant in New York (and reputed ex-Nazi hangout). Eventually
he and his brother started taking reservations from the callers:
We then began to push things a bit, in part to test the
limits of human credulity. We asked people if they wished
to be seated in the Himmler Room or if they wanted to try
our special "Luftwaffles" instead of the rolls.