Euphemisms
Language is a fluid concept, constantly changing, adapting, creating, compensating and inventing itself. Euphemisms are a prime example of that fluctuation and adaptation; successive generations come to know only the euphemism which in turn ceases to be one by that very definition, and which means that new ones will be invented to skirt the issue once again. For instance, there are hundreds of words for smell or stink, yet only a handful of satisfactory synonyms for words like fragrance, simply because hiding the ugly requires far more creativity than hiding the lovely. For that reason alone, writers who fall back on expletives like the highly offensive F-word (a euphemism for, well, you know) are simply lazy in my book; they’re missing a great opportunity for creativity! Interestingly, that word’s meaning has never shifted over time – it’s been in the English language since before the fifteenth century, and even then it was only written in cipher because it was too offensive to record in ink. In my opinion it still is, and one should consider very carefully before offending unknown numbers of readers from continuing to read your book or blog; more than once have I ended reading a book when they used the word several times in the course of the first few chapters, because honestly it says something about the extent of their language abilities and their spectrum (or lack thereof) of creativity.
As a society’s norms shift, so do the euphemisms that they use to communicate. In the Renaissance, corpulent women were considered the height of beauty; curvy, curvaceous, and shapely were instances of positive euphemisms; today they might be used by some idiot in the media to insult a Hollywood starlet who (by any other standard would be considered normal if not a little thin) gained a pound or two. Now idiot might be too strong a word; I could say brain cell-deficient, or someone who has delusions of adequacy. I would like to point out the obvious here: If you’re going to insult someone, at least spell it right… more often than not, you see people calling someone “dumn” or “dumm”, which smacks of the pot calling the kettle black…
For an interesting TED Talk (13:00) on the topic of euphemisms, please click here.
Filed under Articles, Cartoon, Etymology, Grammar, Nuts & Bolts, Writing Exercise
26 Things to Do This Weekend!
If you’re like me, writing can be addicting; I’m in the final phase of two book manuscripts, and when I’m on a roll I can write 10+ hours in a day. When I have such long work days, it’s important to change gears, change pace, and get away from my desk. Here’s a great list of ideas to shake things up! I’ve done quite a few things on this list already (albeit not in the same weekend!), so I can testify to the fact that they refresh tired brains, eyes and hands; they can give a burst of creative energy the next time I sit down to work. Whatever you do in life, remember to take some time out once in a while; God told us to take one day a week to rest, because I think he understands our tendencies toward burnout, workaholism and burning the candle at both ends…
Welcome to another Friday. If you are one of those people who has every minute of your weekend planned then this post isn’t for you. However, if you get half way through your weekend and think “I should really do something this weekend.” This post if for you. Part of living a full life is taking the time to engage yourself in new and exciting things. Enjoy these 26 things to do this weekend.
Attend a life theater performance.
Beach weather will be gone before you know it. Head to the beach.
Clean out your garage, closet or desk.
Dine at a restaurant you have never tried before.
Entertain a family you have been meaning to get to know better.
Farmers Markets are great places to get fresh vegetables and plants.
Gym is usually empty on weekends. Have a great extra workout.
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Filed under Plot Thots & Profiles
Vague Exactitude
Recently I asked my Facebook connections if they could help me with a Latin phrase; the phrase has to do with the computation of days in the Julian calendar (calends, ides, nones, etc.). Here is my exact post:
“Calling all Romance Language speakers (French, Italian, Spanish, etc.): Does the following phrase (any of its words) render something similar in your language, and if so, what do those words mean? The phrase is in Latin, “Principium mensis cujusque vocato kalendas” I understand the first and last words, but am curious about the three middle words… Thanks for any help.”
Quite a discussion ensued; but I still don’t know if there is an etymological equivalent or relative to “cujusque.” One person suggested the connection of mensis (month) with the medical term – which I should have thought of as the German slang term is “Mens” for women’s monthly cycle. But all other entries tried to help me with the first and last word, and I spent more time explaining my request than I saved by asking in the first place.
This is a trend I’ve noticed on the rise on Facebook in particular, but I am aware that it’s also happening across Cyberland; too often people skim over a text and assume they’ve understood it well enough to make an informed contribution to a discussion. It’s harmless when it only has to do with topics of grammar and language; but when it also enters the formation process of people’s opinions in the political or social arenas, society beware. I usually ignore such discussions with a healthy dose of eye-rolling; but sometimes I have to intervene in the propagation of half-baked ignorance, or I won’t be able to sleep at night.
The illustration is a perfect example of this vague exactitude; people took the time to reply, but they did not take the time to properly read, to inform themselves of the actual task at hand. I have only two words to add: STOP IT!
Filed under Articles
On Letting Characters Loose
“If you invent two or three people and turn them loose in your manuscript, something is bound to happen to them – you can’t help it; and then it will take you the rest of the book to get them out of the natural consequences of that occurrence, and so first thing you know, there’s your book all finished up and never cost you an idea.” Mark Twain
Filed under Quotes
The Art of Listening
As a writer I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to improve any of my skills, be they technical, linguistic, goal-oriented (such as the skills it takes to publish a book), or basic. Listening falls into the latter category; it’s something all of us do, yet all of us can improve on. I don’t think I need to mention the fact that we are a generation on information overload; media screams at us to get our attention, whether through the use of power-punching, gut-wrenching headlines, or power-words written in ALL CAPS! with the appropriate punctuation, or flashing ads that give us no peace until we either turn them off or leave the website they’ve invaded. Adds flash at us constantly whether on TV, in shops, on the internet, or driving down the motorway. Eventually we become numb and stop listening. We put in our ear-buds, turn on a song of our choice and try to tune out the rest of the world, at least for a moment.
By improving listening, I am not implying that we toss out our MP3 players and force ourselves to listen to everything in case we miss something important. We must all use discretion about where our “focus energy” goes. But by improving our listening, we can begin to hear the quieter, more subtle elements; we can focus our ears and minds to perceive things that might be more worthwhile than the noise that vies for our attention. Conscious listening creates understanding.
I recently listened to a TED talk by Julian Treasure on five exercises to improve listening; I share them with you here; click on the image above if you’d like to watch the talk yourself:
1) Silence: For at least three minutes a day, try to find a place of complete silence (if not possible, at least aim for very quiet). It helps to recalibrate your ears, so that you can actually hear the quieter things once again.
2) Mixer: In a noisy environment, whether a café or sitting by a stream, practice focusing your ears on one sound, then another; It will improve the quality of your listening. I use this technique with singing students; before they begin rehearsing with a song we will analyse and dissect it instrument by instrument, verse by verse, vocal by vocal. The more they become aware of this process, the better they will understand how their vocals fit into the bigger picture as both a wind- and stringed instrument.
3) Savouring: There’s a “hidden choir” all around you; focusing on such mundane sounds as the dish washer or the coffee machine can reveal rhythms and build an appreciation of the simpler things in life. Sound technicians for films use this as their greatest tool; because they’ve trained themselves in this area, they know they can combine the squishing of an orange, the grating of a cinder block across a corrugated iron sheet and the distortion of their vacuum cleaner’s sound to come up with a monster ala the Balrog of Lord of the Rings, or scraping keys along a piano wire to land Dr. Who’s TARDIS.
4) Listening Positions: This is the idea that you can shift your position (“level” of listening) according to what you’re listening to: active/passive, reductive/expansive, critical/empathetic. These adjust certain filters that we all have, such as culture, language, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations and intentions, which increasingly focus our listening from all “sounds” down to things we specifically listen to.
5) RASA: An acronym for Receive (i.e. paying attention to the person), Appreciate (giving verbal feedback such as small sounds of agreement or interest), Summarize (feedback of what you’ve understood), and Ask (ask questions afterward). Practicing RASA will improve not only how we listen, but our retention of information.
Listening is one of our five senses, and one that’s worth exploring in writing; when a reader can become absorbed in the sensations of a scene – hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling and tasting the environment through well-chosen words – they will be invested in the story, and care about what happens next.
Filed under Articles, Videos, Writing Exercise
Toe the Line vs. Tow the Line
Recently I used the title’s idiom, and to be honest I don’t know if I’d ever used it before in writing; I’ve heard it said onk-times, but never had much use for it so far in written form. Then came the question, is it “toe” or “tow”? Actually the original phrase is nautical; but that could still be either spelling. I did a bit of research, in both etymology dictionaries and a book of naval slang, online and in my library. The consensus, I present here.
“Toe the line,” according to Naval History & Heritage, comes from the practice of waterproofing between deck boards with a layer of oakum, pitch and tar, thus creating a striped deck; when the crew was ordered to fall in at quarters they would line up at their designated area of the deck, toes to the line to ensure a neat line for inspection. Toeing the line was also used as a form of punishment for lighter misdemeanours aboard a ship, such as younger crew members talking at the wrong time; they were made to stand at the line for a specified amount of time to remind them to behave. A logical leap later and we have our idiom, because the young lads were warned to “toe the line” – they were to mentally toe the line to avoid getting in trouble.
However, “Tow the line” could be seen as a malapropism, a mondegreen, or an eggcorn. A malapropism (also called Dogberryism) is the substitution of an inappropriate word or expression in place of the correct and similarly-sounding word. Example: “Officer Dogberry said, “Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons” (apprehended two suspicious persons). A mondegreen is an error arising from understanding a spoken word or song text incorrectly. Example: “The ants are my friends, blowin’ in the wind” (the answer my friends) – Bob Dylan. An eggcorn is an idiosyncratic (but semantically motivated) substitution of a word or phrase for a word or phrase that sound identical, or nearly so, at least in the dialect the speaker uses. Example: “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes”. Depending on your view of things, “tow the line” could fall into any of those categories. But it has so often been misused that it has begun to develop its own connotation independent of the original idiom: While “toe the line” indicates a passive agreement or adherence to a particular regulation or ideology, “tow the line” implies more of an active participation in the enforcement or propagation of that “line” whether political, social, or business policy, as towing an object is not passive, but participative.
Filed under Articles, History, Mistranslations, Nuts & Bolts, Research
Obscurities: Darkling
The use of Darkling over time. Source: Google
Darkling comes from Middle English derkelyng, and the verb darkle is a back formation thereof. As a noun it means either darkness or a (fantasy) creature that lives in the dark. It can also appear as an adjective meaning dark or darkening, or something that is obscure, unseen, or happening in the cover of darkness. As an adverb it means in the dark or obscurity.
There is a Darkling Beetle, and a poem by Thomas Hardy called The Darkling Thrush, though the more usual use of the word is to be found in Science Fiction, e.g. in Star Trek Voyager, Marvel Comics, and a wide range of fantasy characters on the dark side of the fence.
According to the Urban Dictionary, you are a darkling if you are more sarcastic than charming, or if you are a geek, but a cool one. Another application might be a portmanteau word from dark and darling.
Filed under Etymology, Obscurities, Writing Prompt
The Eddic Poems (Poetic Edda)
In the course of research for the novel I’m currently polishing, I developed a taste for obscure literature; among other manuscripts I’ve read is the Poetic Edda, or Eddic Poems. What I find fascinating in the poems is not just the language itself, but encapsulated within the language is always a glimpse into the mentality, humour, and mindset of a people.
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Norse poems and mythology, mainly preserved in the medieval manuscript Codex Regius which was written in the 13th century, though the poems and tales are centuries older, having been oral history passed on by the skalds for generations before they were written down. The poems were originally composed in alliterative verse (the alliteration may have changed from line to line, such as “Over beer the bird of forgetfulness broods / and steals the minds of men”), and kennings were often used (a compound noun used instead of a straight-forward noun, e.g. “wound-hoe” for “sword”), though they were not as complex as many skaldic poems were. For a far more detailed history on the collection, click here.
I’d like to share a few gems with you; the reference “EP#” is the page number embedded in the Kindle manuscript. These gems are either sayings, kennings, customs, or historical trivia. Enjoy!
EP17: “The wolf that lies idle shall win little meat, or the sleeping man success.”
EP20: “Hard is it on earth / With mighty whoredom; axe-time, sword-time / shields are sundered, wind-time, wolf-time / Ere the world falls; Nor ever shall men each other spare.”
EP30: “A faster friend one never finds / Than wisdom tried and true.”
EP31: “Less good there lies / than most believe In ale for mortal men; / For the more he drinks / the less does man / Of his mind the mastery hold.”
EP35: “To mankind a bane must it ever be / When guests together strive.”
EP36: “Love becomes loathing if one long sits by the hearth in another’s home.”
EP36: “Away from his arms in the open field a man should fare not a foot / For never he knows when the need for a spear / Shall arise on the distant road.”
EP39: “No great thing needs a man to give / Oft little will purchase praise. / With half a loaf and a half-filled cup / A friend full fast I made.”
EP41: “To question and answer must all ready be / Who wish to be known as wise. / Tell one they thoughts, but beware of two / – All know what is known by three.”
EP44: “Wealth is as swift / As a winking eye, / Of friends the falsest it is.”
EP45: “Give praise to the day at evening, to a woman on her pyre, to a weapon which is tried, to a maid at wedlock, to ice when it is crossed, to ale that is drunk.”
EP45: “From the ship seek swiftness, from the shield protection, cuts from the sword, from the maiden kisses.”
EP48: “Wise men oft / Into witless fools / Are made by mighty love.”
EP71: “If a poor man reaches / The home of the rich, / Let him speak wisely or be still; / For to him who speaks / With the hard of heart / Will chattering ever work ill.”
EP167: “Drink beyond measure / will lead all men / No thought of their tongues to take.”
EP250: “On the gallows high / shall hungry ravens / Soon thine eyes pluck out, / If thou liest…”
“Welcome thou art, / for long have I waited; / The welcoming kiss shalt thou win! / For two who love / is the longed-for meeting / The greatest gladness of all.”
EP277: “In the hilt is fame, / in the haft is courage, / In the point is fear, / for its owner’s foes; / On the blade there lies / a blood-flecked snake, / And a serpent’s tail / round the flat is twisted.” (Runes carved on a sword)
EP296: A “breaker of rings” was a generous prince, because the breaking of rings was the customary form of distributing gold.
EP299: “There was beat of oars / and clash of iron, Shield smote shield / as the ships’-folk rowed; Swiftly went / the warrior-laden Fleet of the ruler / forth from the land.”
EP300: Raising a red shield was a signal for war.
EP304: “Helgi spake: “Better, Sinfjotli, / thee ‘twould beseem Battle to give / and eagles to gladden, Than vain and empty / words to utter, Though ring-breakers oft / in speech do wrangle.”
“…For heroes ’tis seemly / the truth to speak.”
EP305: “Swift keels lie hard by the land, mast-ring harts* and mighty wards, wealth of shields and well-planed oars.” (*the ring attaching the yard to the ship’s mast.)
“Fire-Beasts” = Dragons = Ships: Norse ships of war, as distinguished from merchant vessels, were often called Dragons because of their shape and the carving of their stems.
EP349: “The word “Goth” was applied in the North without much discrimination to the southern Germanic peoples.” “The North was very much in the dark as to the differences between Germans, Burgundians, Franks, Goths, and Huns, and used the words without much discrimination.”
EP368: “Combed and washed / shall the wise man go, And a meal at morn shall take; For unknown it is / where at eve he may be; It is ill thy luck to lose.”
EP369: the “Bloody Eagle” was an execution for a captured enemy, by cleaving the back bone from the ribs and pulling out the lungs.
EP373: “Few are keen when old age comes / Who timid in boyhood be.”
EP374: “When one rounds the first headland” means, “at the beginning of life’s voyage, in youth”.
EP378: “Unknown it is, / when all are together, / Who bravest born shall seem; / Some are valiant / who redden no sword / In the blood of a foeman’s breast.”
EP379: “”Better is heart / than a mighty blade For him who shall fiercely fight; The brave man well / shall fight and win, Though dull his blade may be.”
“Brave men better / than cowards be, When the clash of battle comes; And better the glad / than the gloomy man Shall face what before him lies.”
EP382: “There is ever a wolf / where his ears I spy.” This is an Old Norse proverb that basically means, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.
EP398: “I rede thee, / if men shall wrangle, And ale-talk rise to wrath, No words with a drunken / warrior have, For wine steals many men’s wits.”
EP399: “I rede thee, / if battle thou seekest With a foe that is full of might; It is better to fight / than to burn alive In the hall of the hero rich.” “The meaning is that it is better to go forth to battle than to stay at home and be burned to death. Many a Norse warrior met his death in this latter way; the burning of the house in the Njalssaga is the most famous instance.”
EP400: “I rede thee, / that never thou trust The word of the race of wolves, (If his brother thou broughtest to death, Or his father thou didst fell;) Often a wolf / in a son there is, Though gold he gladly takes.”
“Battle and hate / and harm, methinks, / Full seldom fall asleep; / Wits and weapons / the warrior needs / If boldest of men he would be.”
EP405: Eating snakes and the flesh of beasts of prey was commonly supposed to induce ferocity.
EP409: The actual mingling of blood in one another’s footprints was a part of the ceremony of swearing blood-brother hood.
EP418: “Borne thou art on an evil wave” i.e. “every wave of ill-doing drives thee”. A proverb.
“Flame of the snake’s bed” = Gold, so called because serpents and dragons were the’ traditional guardians of treasure, on which they lay.
EP452: “As the leek grows green / above the grass, / Or the stag o’er all / the beasts doth stand, / Or as glow-red gold / above silver gray.”
EP455: “On the tapestry wove we / warrior’s deeds, And the hero’s thanes / on our handiwork; (Flashing shields / and fighters armed, Sword-throng, helm-throng, / the host of the king).”
EP457: “In like princes / came they all, The long-beard men, / with mantles red, Short their mail-coats, / mighty their helms, Swords at their belts, / and brown their hair.”
EP458: “Heather-fish” = snake
EP468: The punishment of casting a culprit into a bog to be drowned was particularly reserved for women, and is not infrequently mentioned in the sagas.
EP513: “Thou hast prepared this feast in kingly fashion, and with little grudging toward eagle and wolf.” = “You’ve been generous in the men you give to die in battle today.”
EP524: “Full heedless the warrior / was that he trusted her, So clear was her guile / if on guard he had been; But crafty was Guthrun, / with cunning she spake, Her glance she made pleasant, / with two shields she played.” In other words, Guthrun concealed her hostility (symbolized by a red shield) by a show of friendliness (a white shield).
EP546: “The dawning sad / of the sorrow of elves” (i.e., sunrise – the Old Norse belief was that sun killed elves).
Notes from The Poetic Edda (Snorri Sturluson), translated by Henry Adams Bellows. Kindle Edition.
Filed under Articles, History, Research, Translations
The Jabberwocky and the Totemügerli
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are you’ve heard of Alice in Wonderland; at the least your curiosity might have been piqued enough to read it after seeing The Matrix, or be mistaken in thinking that you don’t need to read the book if you saw Tim Burton’s film with Johnnie Depp. The sequel to Lewis Carroll’s most famous work (mentioned above), called “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There“, written in 1871, contains the famous nonsensical poem called the Jabberwocky, which I present here:
“Jabberwocky”
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Many of the nonsensical words are what Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) coined 
as “portmanteau words” meaning the combination of both sound and meaning of two words into one; e.g. frumious being “fuming” and “furious”. Some of the words have since made it into the English language, such as galumph or chortle, while some were words he revived, such as gyre and beamish. And personally I think some of his words deserve wider use, such as brilling, slithy, snicker-snack and Bandersnatch! Click on the photo to the right to hear the poem read.
Now… “what is the Totemügerli,” I hear you ask? It is the Swiss-German version – not a translation, but an original story by Franz Hohler, a Swiss cabaret performer; Bernese German, to be more precise. Bern is the political capital of Switzerland, and historically has one of the richest, most colourful dialects of all the Swiss German dialects; I am fluent in the Zürich dialect, and can understand all the other Swiss-German dialects, including Walliserdïïtsch, which is the oldest of all Swiss dialects; and I can guarantee you that the Totemügerli story is 90% nonsense, and yet tells a clear tale! For those of you interested in the text, here it is:
Ds Totemügerli
von Franz Hohler
Gäuit, wemer da grad eso schön binanger sitze, hani däicht, chönntech
vilicht es bärndütsches Gschichtli erzelle. Es isch zwar es bsungers
uganteligs Gschichtli, wo aber no gar nid eso lang im Mittlere
Schattegibeleggtäli passiert isch:
Der Schöppelimunggi u der Houderebäseler si einischt schpät am Abe,
wo scho der Schibützu durs Gochlimoos pfoderet het, über s Batzmättere
Heigisch im Erpfetli zueglüffe u hei nang na gschtigelet u gschigöggelet,
das me z Gotts Bäri hätt chönne meine, si sige nanger scheich.
«Na ei so schlöözige Blotzbänggu am Fläre, u i verminggle der s Bätzi,
dass d Oschterpföteler ghörsch zawanggle!»
«Drby wärsch froh, hättsch en einzige nuesige Schiggeler uf em Lugipfupf!»
U so isch das hin u härgange wie nes Färegschäderli amene Milchgröözi,
da seit plötzlech Houderebäseler zu Schöppelimunggi:
«Schtill! Was ziberlet dert näbem Tobelöhli z grachtige n uuf u aab?»
Schöppelimunggi het gschläfzet wie ne Gitzeler u hets du o gseh. Es
Totemügerli! U nid numen eis, nei, zwöi, drü, vier, füüf, es ganzes
Schoossinjong voll si da desumegschläberlet u hei zäng pinggerlet u
globofzgerlet u gschanghangizigerlifisionööggelet, das es eim richtig agschnäggelet het.
Schöppelimunggi u Houderebäseler hei nang nume zuegmutzet u hei ganz
hingerbyggelig wöllen abschöberle. Aber chuum hei si der Awang ytröölet,
gröözet es Totemügerli:
«Heee, dir zweee!»
U denen isch i d Chnöde glöötet wie bschüttigs Chrüzimääl dure Chätschäbertrog.
Düpfelig u gnütelig si si blybe schtah wie zwöi gripseti Mischtschwibeli,
u scho isch das Totemügerli was tschigerlisch was
pfigerlisch binene zueche gsi. Äs het se zersch es Rüngli chyblig u
gschiferlig aagnöttelet u het se de möögglige gfraget:
«Chöit dir is hälfe, ds Blindeli der Schtotzgrotzen ueche z graagge?»
Wo der Schöppelimunggi das Wort «Blindeli» ghört het, het em fasch
wölle ds Härzgätterli zum Hosegschingg uspföderle,
aber der Houderebäseler het em zueggaschplet:
«Du weisch doch, das men imene Totemügerli nid darf nei säge!»
U du si si halt mitgschnarpflet.
«Sooo, dir zweee!» het ds Totemügerli gseit, wo si zum Blindeli cho si,
u die angere Totemügerli si ganz rüeiig daaggalzlet u hei numen ugschynig ychegschwärzelet.
Da hei die beide gwüsst, was es Scheieli Gschlychets ds Gloubige
choschtet u hei das Blindeli aagroupet, der eint am schörpfu, der anger a de Gängertalpli.
Uuuh, isch das e botterepfloorigi Schtrüpfete gsi!
Die zwee hei gschwouderet u ghetzpacheret, das si z näbis meh gwüsst hei,
wo se der Gürchu zwurglet.
Daa, z eis Dapf, wo si scho halber der Schtotzgrotzen
uecheghaschpaaperet si, faht sech das Blindeli afah ziirgge u bäärgglet mit
schychem Schtimmli:
«Ooh, wie buuchet mi der Glutz!»
Jetz hets aber im Schöppelimunggi böös im Schyssächerli gguugget.
Är het das Blindeli la glootsche u isch der Schtotzgrotz abdotzeret,
wie wenn em der Hurligwaagg mit em Flarzyse der Schtirps vermöcklet hätt.
«Häb dure, Münggu!» het em der Houderebäseler na naagräätschet;
u de het er nüt meh gwüsst.
Am angere Morge het ne ds Schtötzgrötzeler Eisi gfunge, chäfu u tunggig
wien en Öiu, u es isch meh weder e Monet gange,
bis er wider het chönne s Gräppli im Hotschmägeli bleike.
Totemügerli u Blindeli het er keis meh gseh sis Läbe lang, aber o der
Schöppelimunggi isch vo da a verschwunde gsi.
S git Lüt, wo säge, dass sider am Schtotzgrotzen es Totemügerli meh desumeschirggelet.
If you’d like to hear it read out by Franz Hohler himself, in a cabaret show recorded during the ’80s, just click on the image below.
Stephanie Huesler 