One of the greatest ornithologists in the German-speaking world is the Swiss researcher Urs Noel Glutz von Blotzheim (g) editor of the standard research work Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas.
I have no real comment on this fact, I just wanted make everyone aware of the magnificent name 'Urs Noel Glutz von Blotzheim'.
The BBC traveled through Central Texas and explored the phenomenon of Texas German, a dialect created by waves of German immigrants coming to Texas starting in the 1840s. The video is non-embeddable but you really, really should watch it, it's fascinating.
Berlin, they say, is being overrun by Swabians. 'Swabian', one of the most amusing words in English, denotes people from Swabia, a region in South Germany. According to native Berliners, the Swabians are industrious, conformist yuppies. Above, you see the work of extremist Swabians, who have changed street signs into their (IMHO totally awesome) regional dialect. Under their baleful influence, Berlin is rapidly changing from a place where cafes serve breakfast until 4 PM to unwashed, still-hungover 'creative types' into yet another safe, sanitized, mind-shatteringly expensive, tourist-friendly playground for the upper-middle classes and
above (you know, like New York, Paris, and London).
Those parts of Berlin which have suffered an unusually heavy infestation of Swabians are often referred to as Schwabylon, derived from the short-a German word for Swabians. Which brings me to the subject of this post. There once was an actual Schwabylon! The Voices of East Anglia describes it thus:
The colourful Schwabylon shopping and leisure centre had one hundred
shops, a cinema, twelve restaurants, a beer garden, sports facilities,
Roman spa, sauna, solarium, swimming pool and a skating rink. Located
next door was a Holiday Inn which contained a three-story nightclub
named after The Beatles song Yellow Submarine, which was surrounded by a
600,000 litre water tank with more than 30 sharks – What could possibly
go wrong?
Schwabylon is a portmanteau word that blended together
the name of the district in Munich, Germany and the word Babylon. The
pyramid shaped shopping centre with it’s bright red, yellow and orange
rising sun paint work was designed by architect Justus Dahinde and
opened for business on November 9th in 1973.
Although the centre had many attractions it was (almost) windowless
and had ramps instead of stairs, and just fourteen months later the
retailers “shut up shop” and the Schwabylon closed. Parts of the
building were demolished in 1979, however the Holiday Inn and night
club remained – Minus the sharks.
According to Pour 15 Minutes d'Amour, — and why would a website with that name lie? — this is an East German lifeguard cabin on the Baltic coast:
Reminded me of something…
From 1958 to 1989, 'Socialist University', published by the University of Jena, was the premier organ of the East German university system. Its entire archive — also searchable! — is online here. Of course, it's all in German, but I'll try to translate some passages here and there as time permits.
Just a bit of humdrum reality filmed before the fall of the Wall. I love the tram driver's mullet and tram-plant.
Unlike most YouTube comment threads, the one to this video is sort of interesting — people discuss whether the person who made this video could have been punished by East German authorities.
German Joys 