I came across this wonderful German word yesterday, and its even more wonderful meaning. It's pronounced - if my long-distant German lessons serve me right - Bark fie fen gay zicked. (Please note, this is extremely approximate!)
Backpfeifengesicht
English speakers have no word for
a face that badly
needs a punch.
The German compound word is
Backpfeifengesicht
Which could
easily seem to mean
a face like a smelly drain
Though transliterally
it’s close to
a back-pipe face, which isn’t
Complementary. And
on the face
of it, the word looks like
Bagpipes make me sick¸ though
since I have
a friend who’s learning
To play the
bagpipes, using
Backpfeifengesicht
In a pretended
translation
seems likely
to bring me to a
Place where I
might well have
a face that badly needs a punch.
11 comments:
Marvellous! Love it! The couplet works well with the progression of ideas and quips. Delightful.
Thanks, again!
The poem has a lot of energy and humor and interest. I think you have a natural feel for German. 'Backpfeifengesicht' could be the first in a really great series I'd like to read.
Well, I do like German as a language, and have learnt it in the past, but I'm not a very good reader of it - and I speak it even less well. I like the way on your blog you present poems in the two languages: that's an interesting way to compare how different language speakers think and write.
As for future poems using German words...that remains to be seen, but it's an interesting idea. Maybe you could suggest some possible German words!
Okay, I'll see what I can come up with. I've always thought that German has great comic possibilities, because of the way compound words can be formed in ways that would be either impossible or impossibly awkward in English. As for having a poem in both languages on the page, it can be revealing. Or make the translator feel uneasy, if he strays too far from his text.
I remember someone saying something profound about poems and translations but I can't find it on any of my quotes, unfortunately. I think it related to the translator 'finding' a new poem while working on the old.
How about 'Nestbeschmutzer', which means 'nestbefouler', used among the Germans to describe someone who is his own worst enemy. It's a great term which can be applied to so many situations in life. But I'll also try to think up something for you that's a bit less graphic. This just comes to me off the top of my head.
Sounds like fun. I'll put it on the brain backburner and see what happens. Brainbackburneren? :)
You see? You have a natural talent for German. By the way, 'Nestbeschmutzer' can also have a range of meanings from 'whistleblower' to 'traitor', in the sense of someone who turns against his own group or organization or country, in addition to the basic meaning.
I drafted something on this word the other day. We'll see if it stands the test of time!
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