Erinnert sich jemand noch an Joachim Heinrich Campe?

 

 

Viele Wörter, die wir alltäglich benutzen, sind Erfindungen eines Braunschweiger Schriftstellers. In 1801 gab er ein Wörterbuch zur Verdeutschung von Frendwörtern heraus.

 

 

Feingefühl, Hochschule, fortschrittlich ... ganz normale Wörter, oder? Alles Erfindungen von Joachim Heinrich Campe! Dazu noch ...

Esslust (Appetit) herkömmlich (konventionell) Randbemerkung (Glosse) Streitgespräch (Debatte) tatsächlich (faktisch) Voraussage (Prophezeiung) Wust (Chaos) Zerrbild (Karikatur)

... und viele andere.

 

 

Es gibt aber auch Wörter, die sich nicht durchgesetzt haben. Oder hast du schon einmal von einer Dörrleiche gehört? Oder wie wäre es mit ...

 

Zwangsgläubiger (Katholik) Freigläubiger (Protestant) Heiltümelei (Reliquie) Menschenschlachter (Soldat)

An PolsterSTÜHLE kann ich mich noch erinnern, aber wenn ich an Schweissgrübchen denke, dann komme ich schon ans Schwitzen.

 

 

In seineem "Lebensbild" schrieb Dr. J. Leyser in 1896 in dem Kapitel "Zur Reinigung und Bereicherung der deutschen Sprache" auf Seite 257,

"Während der Noth und der Schmach der Napoleon' sehen Fremd-herrschaft, damals als ein anderer Held des Geistes, als Fichte mit seinen Gedanken den Kampf rüstete gegen den Helden der Bayonette, damals fasste Campe seine bisherigen Bemühungen zur Reinigung und Bereicherung der deutschen Sprache zu einem grossen Werk zusammen, das, selbst eine patriotische That, in jenen Tagen, als Deutschland verloren schien, wenigstens die vaterländische Sprache retten sollte."

Sein "Wörterbuch zur Erklärung und Verdeutschung der unserer Sprache aufgedrungenen fremden Ausdrücke", herausgebracht in 1815, sollte man eigentlich heute wieder neu verlegen, um die schlimmsten Beispiele vom jetzt vorherrschenden 'Denglish' wieder auszumerzen.

 

 

Natürlich hilft es nicht daß diese Bücher in der alten Fraktur-Schrift gedruckt sind, die unter den Nazis gefördert wurde (und ich noch in der Volksschule zu lesen und schreiben lernte), aber welches die meisten Deutschen heute kaum noch ohne Schwierigkeiten lesen können.

 

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Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

 

 

I keep getting so many messages from friends who have parts of their body breaking or falling off or being operated on or simply hurting badly, that from now I simply send them the link to this song. I want this played at my funeral; and anyone who doesn't whistle along, well, I'll never speak to them again, so try it now.

 

Some things in life are bad They can really make you mad Other things just make you swear and curse When you're chewing on life's gristle Don't grumble, give a whistle And this'll help things turn out for the best And Always look on the bright side of life Always look on the light side of life If life seems jolly rotten There's something you've forgotten And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing When you're feeling in the dumps Don't be silly chumps Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing And Always look on the bright side of life (Come on) Always look on the right side of life For life is quite absurd And death's the final word You must always face the curtain with a bow Forget about your sin Give the audience a grin Enjoy it, it's your last chance anyhow So always look on the bright side of death Adjust before you draw your terminal breath Life's a piece of shit When you look at it Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true You'll see it's all a show Keep 'em laughin' as you go Just remember that the last laugh is on you And Always look on the bright side of life Always look on the right side of life (C'mon Brian, cheer up) Always look on the bright side of life Always look on the bright side of life Always look on the bright side of life I mean, what have you got to lose? You know, you come from nothing You're going back to nothing What have you lost? Nothing Always look on the right side of life Nothing will come from nothing, ya know what they say Cheer up ya old bugga c'mon give us a grin (Always look on the right side of life) There ya are, see It's the end of the film Incidentally this record's available in the foyer (Always look on the right side of life) Some of us got to live as well, you know (Always look on the right side of life) Who do you think pays for all this rubbish (Always look on the right side of life) They're not gonna make their money back, you know I told them, I said to him, Bernie, I said they'll never make their money back (Always look on the right side of life)

 

In extreme cases, I am prepared to send them my copy of Eric Idle's "Sortabiography", which only cost me two dollars at the local Vinnies shop. I almost didn't get it as I walked out having left it on the shelf.

Always looking on the bright side of life, I thought to myself it'll still be there next time I visited Vinnies, and sure enough, six days later there it was, still in the same spot I had left it. Who said life is a piece of shit?

 

For a book preview, click here; for an audiobook preview, click here

 

If none of this helps, and even Lifeline puts you on hold with a recorded message of this song, try this Korean version, courtesy of Kim Jong Un.

 

 

There ya are, see? Keep it in mind next time you're chewing on life's gristle.

 

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Eine Geschichte zum Einschlafen

 

 

Als sehr schlafloser Mensch brauche ich immer etwas um einzuschlafen. Pillen will ich nicht; Tee mit Honig geht manchmal; aber wenn all das nicht hilft, dann höre ich mir wieder "Erika" oder "Der verborgene Sinn des Lebens" an.

Die Geschichte von der Betty kenne ich schon auswendig, wie sie da so vor den Weihnachtsfeiertagen diese Bilanz zieht: "Es war, als hätte ich zu leben vergessen". Und wie ein riesiges Plüschschwein namens Erika ihrem Leben wieder einen - wenn auch verborgenen - Sinn gibt.

 

Zum Mitlesen, drücke hier

 

Davon erzählt Elke Heidenreich in ihrem gleichnamigen Buch, und keiner kann ihren melancholisch-versöhnlichen Ton besser ins Bild setzen als Michael Sowa. Und dazu noch dieser hervorragende Vorlese-Onkel!

Ich glaube daß Elke Heidenreich mächtig stolz sein sollte, so einen hochbegabten Vorleser für ihr Buch gefunden zu haben. Danke an die Autorin und danke an den Vorleser! Und jetzt gehe ich gleich sclafen!

 

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Once Upon A Time In The West

 

 

Remembering the haunting "Man with a Harmonica" theme from the spaghetti Western "Once Upon A Time In the West", I searched YouTube for a copy of the movie. The algorithms must have me down as a country yokel because, instead of bringing up Sergio Leone's 1968 epic, they took me to an audiobook preview of "Once Upon A Time In The West ... Country", written by the very same Tony Hawks who also wrote "Round Ireland with a Fridge".

 

Read the book online at www.archive.org

 

I didn't mind! After all, I had already seen the movie "Once Upon A Time In The West", but I had never heard of the book "Once Upon A Time In The West ... Country", which turned out to be the hilarious story of how a series of events led Tony and his wife Fran to uproot their city lives for a rural alternative in deepest Devon. It's full of Tony's trademark mixture of humour, hope, adventure and absurdity, as it charts their journey from the relative ease of city life to the vagaries of a village community. It almost took me back to the time when I tried to settle into Nelligen, except that some of my neighbours weren't as charming.

 

 

This may well be the first time that Tony's heartwarming and hilarious tale has been read to the haunting tune of the "Man with a Harmonica".

 

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Another morning in Paradise

 

 

Even on a cool day, these beautiful mornings at "Riverbend" are hard to beat. Although I'm not so keen on all those houseboats slowly creeping up on us. It wasn't all that long ago when we had the river all to ourselves but now there are eight new houseboats moored diagonally across from us (and another dozen around the bend in the river towards the bridge).

 

 

After lots and lots of rain which muddied the river so much that the oyster farmers could no longer harvest oysters, "I can see (the seagrass) clearly now, the rain is gone; I can see all obstacles in my way."

 

"Stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back" (by another German nihilist)

 

I've had my porridge, ate my mango, and am halfway through my cup of cocoa after which I go for our walk through the village. See you soon!

 

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