Auf Deutsch, bitte

Heute möchte ich über dem Artikel in Deutsch sprechen. Die deutsche Sprache hat ein paar Artikel: der, die, das, den, dem, des. Es gibt ein paar Fälle für diese Artikel: Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ, Genitiv. ,,Der Tag” ist ,,den Tag” im Akkusativ, ,,dem Tag” im Dative und ,,des Tag” im Genitiv.
Die Artikel sind ein schwieriges Ding für mich. Wenn das Deutsch seine Muttersprache ist, man lernt sie ohne Denken. Das ist auch wahr in Englisch (aber wir haben keinen Geschlect). Wenn ich ein neues Wort lerne, ich muss ein neuen Artikel auch lernen. Wenn ich die Artikel vergesse, mein Satz klingt ein bisschen fremd.
Aber es gibt ein Ding dass ich mit den Artikel nicht verstehe. Wer gibt den neuen Wörter seinen Artikel? Gibt es ein Grammatikbüro dass die Regeln macht?
Ein Wort wie das ist ,,Nutella”. Nutella ist ein Brotaufstrich für Frühstück (oder Mittagessen oder Abendessen oder …). Jetzt möchte ich Nutella essen, aber Slowrider hat es. So sage ich ihm, ,,Slowrider, kannst du mir d.. Nutella geben?” Ich weiß nicht. Was sage ich? Nutella ist ein Name, wie Kleenex auf Englisch. Hat es ein Geschlect? Slowrider sagt dass ,,das Nutella” ist, aber Slowriderin sagt ,,die Nutella”. Was ist richtig?
Unserer Professor hatte eine Antwort. Sein Freund hat einen Brief mit dieser Frage zum Ferrero gesendet. Ferrero hatte eine interessante Antwort: sie haben keine Antwort! Sie wollen dass die Leute das Geschlect bestimmen. So cool. So kann man ,,das Nutella” oder ,,die Nutella” sagen (nicht ,,der Nutella”, weil Nutella mit einer ,,a” endet. Das ist das nür Ding über das wir vereinbart haben). Für mich habe ich ,,das” lieber, weil ,,das” mein Lieblingswort ist (wie das Skiz!).
OK, so viel Schreiben.

Bis später!

Today I’d like to talk about the articles in Germany. German has a couple articles: der, die, das, den, dem, des. There dare a few cases for these articles: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive. “Der Tag” is “den Tag” in Accusative, “dem Tag” in Dative, and “des Tag” in Genitive.
The articles are very hard for me. If German is your native language, you learn them without thinking. That’s also true in English (only we don’t have any articles). I have to learn a new word AND a new article. When I forget the article, my sentence sounds a little weird.
But there’s one thing I don’t understand about the articles. Who gives the new words their articles? Is there a Grammar Office that makes the rules?
One word like that is Nutella. Nutella is a breakfast spread (or lunch or dinner). Now I want Nutella, but Slowrider has it. So I say, Slowrider, can you give me … Nutella? (this doesn’t translate very well, because the article for Nutella would be ‘the’ in English. But just play along and stop whining). I don’t know. What do I say? Nutella is a name, like Kleenex in English. Does it have a gender? Slowrider says that it’s “das Nutella” but lady Slowrider says it’s “die Nutella”. What’s right?
Our professor had an answer. His friend sent a letter to Ferrero with this question. Ferrero had an interesting answer: they had no answer! They want the people to figure it out. So cool. So you can say “das Nutella” or “die Nutella” (not “der Nutella” though because Nutella ends with an “a”. That’s the only thing we agreed on.). For me, I prefer “das” because “das” is my favorite word (like das Skiz!).
OK, so much writing.

See you later!

Euros, The Currency

100 EUROs on someone's face

Name: Euro
Age: 7
Face Design: Various European architecture styles
Weight: Worth about 1.4 USD
Keys to the game:

• Will change size based on value
• Used in EU and non EU countries
• Considered possibly the next reserve currency of the world
• Lowest bill 5, and highest bill 500
• Uses a battery of coins for less than 5

Game Plan:
The euro may only be 7+ years old, but it’s put a definitive stamp on the world. Alan Greenspan touted it as the world’s next reserve currency, high praise for a relative rookie to the currency scene. Look for the euro to capitalize on its youth and vitality by becoming popular among currency speculators, and by using team speed to beat the dollar downfield. The euro will also utilize its various sizes to present mismatches against the uniformly sized dollar. It also has a greater number of in circulation denominations. Look for the euro to subtly rub that in the dollar’s face, while also putting 8 men in the box to stop the run.

Weaknesses:
High praise and widespread use is still no substitute for experience. The euro has not been exposed to some of the dollar bill’s tricks, like introducing super high denominations, abandoning the gold standard, half cents, and the wildcat. The euro’s recent development played out in front of the entire world, meaning it has few secrets. Look for the dollar bill to break down lots of euro game footage, and also try to start intra-EU conflicts by insulting each of the member nation’s hygiene in various bad accents.

Player quote:
I’m excited to get the opportunity to go out there and show what I can do against the dollar. Lemme say first that I have the utmost respect for the dollar. He’s the guy that all of us rookies are trying to be like. I mean, I had a dollar bill poster in my room when I was growing up in the minds of EU officials. Sure, I like reading in the paper that I’m kicking the dollar’s ass, and that small countries in Africa I don’t even know about are pegging their currency to me, but I can’t buy in to the hype. I have to go out there and make every play, one play at a time. I also want to respond to the rumor that I get way more chicks than the dollar: I just like to go out there and take it one chick at a time.

My favorite, pt. 2

From Yet to be reviewed Bier

You are definitely allowed to have two favorites. Consider the sentence, ‘one of my favorites’. See, that implies more than one favorite. Anywise, since Catherine and I are doing our farewell tour here in Germany, I’ve been enjoying some old favorites this week. Quick German trivia question: If a case of beer in Germany has 20 beers, how many are in a half case?

Right, 11.

My favorite, pt. 1

From Reviewed Bier

Auf Deutsch, bitte

Am Samstag, sind Dominik, Uli, Catherine, und ich zum Krefeld gefahren. Wir sind zu einem Park gegangen. Ich vergesse den Name des Parks, aber es war sehr schön und es hatte einen See für Wakeboarding.

Ah, Wakeboarding.

Das Wakeboarding ist nicht ein bisschen schwer. Nä nä.

Es ist sehr schwer. Es ist das schwierigstes Ding dass kann ich glauben. Ich habe fünf oder sechsmal versucht, und jedes Mal habe ich gecrasht. Jedes Mal.

Ich denke dass meine längste Fahrt war drei Secunden vielliecht. Schließlich hat Catherine ein Kneeboard genommen, und wir probieren das Kneeboarding. Ah, viel einfacher. Catherine war sehr gut mit dem Kneeboard (aber sie ist noch schmerzend von haltend das Seil). Sie hat der schwer Kurs probiert während ich habe beobachtet (nein Danke). Sie hat nicht gemacht, aber sie war tapferer als ich.

OK, bis später!

Translation:

On Saturday, Dominik, Uli, Catherine, and I drove to Krefeld. We went to a park. I can’t remember the name of the park, but it was really pretty and they had a lake for wakeboarding.

Ah, wakeboarding.

Wakeboarding is not a little bit hard. No no.

It is really hard. It’s the most difficult thing I can think of. I tried five or six times, and I crashed each time. Each time.

I think my longest ride was maybe 3 seconds. Finally, Catherine took a kneeboard, and we tried kneeboarding. Ah, much easier. Catherine was very good on the kneeboard (but she’s still sore from holding the rope). She tried the hard course while I watched. She didn’t make it, but she was braver than I was.

OK, see you later!

Again, 3rd grader style, but gotta start somewhere. Tried to work some more jokes in this one.

das Skiz recipe, the prelude

I plan to do a full, 3 column triptych blog on das Skiz, the drink. But for now, check out the recipe. I would suggest trying one tonight. I mean, there’s no time like the present. And besides, nothing makes a Monday Night Blowout better than some Monday Night Beer. Enjoy!

das Skiz

Photoshop

KDawg saw an opportunity, and he took it. Well done on so many levels. I’m adding a Something/Nothing poll, but I’ll already have voted 5 times for Something by the time you see it.

Sad Skiz

EDIT: The sign is reminding a dejected Skiz that Brett Favre has returned to the NFL

Submit your own photoshop. I hadn’t realized how perfect that picture was for photoshopping.
Click more to see the poll and the certificate of Somethingness

A Picture of a boy and his hat and some jeans in a field near a beach on an island in the Netherlands

Ameland

by Catherine Stocker

I found what!

I found what! (auf Deutsch, ich habe etwas gefunden)

Look at this Euro that I got the other day. It’s made for me. Someone obviously knew that I love drawing stick figures, and made sure that I got one of these. Euros, like American coins, have collectible versions. This one was one of five voted on earlier this year, and it won. So now I have a stick figure on a Euro. Sooo coool.

Sooo Cool

German note: So and Cool translate directly into German. So if you say, ‘so cool,’ it means the same thing in German as it does in English. However, ‘so’ is pronounced like ‘zo’, because ‘s’ sounds like ‘z’ in German. Zo Cool.

Something or nothing?

I like t-shirts.

I think I’m going to start making t-shirts when I get my hands on a screen press. Here’s a t-shirt design.

I’ll explain by saying that, ‘ohne Scheiß’ means ‘no shit?’ in German. However, I feel like it’s much cooler than, ‘No shit?’.

It’s probably about as cool as, ‘No balls?’ which I like to say.

Also, when Catherine and I came to Germany, we wanted to get some cool German shirts with German writing. Unfortunately, we haven’t found many. So this could fill that void.

future t-shirt?

Note: Slowrider(tm) and I had a discussion about the polls. He tried to repeatedly vote in the poll, and I said I had it disabled. He asked why.

You can now vote as many times as you want.

As of September 18th, 2009, this has been declared, Something!

Definitely Something

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