The bride's skin is like cabbage
I once found some pages from a German language course book from the fifties with almost surreal scenarios in the exercises. For example: Meine Hände sind kalt, aber meine Fäuste sind warm. Der Arzt sagte: 'Die Haut der Braut ist Sauerkraut.' Niemand lachte. Er hatte keine Macht und die ¹ó°ùü³¦³ó³Ù±ð seines Lebens waren bitter. Which translates as: My hands are cold, but my fists are warm. The doctor said: 'The bride's skin is like cabbage.' No-one laughed. He held no power and the fruits of his life were bitter. Eh?
Sent by: Peter
Comments
I'm from Germany and to me the scene also seems taken from a piece of absurd theatre.
I think James is right. It's an exercise. The first sentence is obviously an example of opposites - cold and hot. The second one rhymes twice: sagte and lachte; haut - braut - sauerkraut. I can't figure out the didactic goal of the last sentence - it's probably got something to do with pronouncing the second syllable - in that case, the last word bitter rhymes with hatte, keine and ¹ó°ùü³¦³ó³Ù±ð; and the final s in seines ties up with Lebens.
I don't think one needs to translate Sauerkraut but if one must it would be "Pickled cabbage". Cabbage in German is Kohl.
I'm from Germany and think Peter's translation is correct. And even to me the German sentences are absolutly nonsense!
This is very interesting. I find the word order rather confusing, but that's what makes German so attractive.
I've been speaking German for many years now, and I agree that the translation makes absolutely no sense. However, I suspect it's more of a lesson in the pronunciation of the letter A in most of its guises. It's probably meant to be repeated over and over (think Eliza Doolittle reciting, 'The rain in Spain ...').
That, or the author's wife really needs to see a dermatologist.
Actually 'Die Haut der Braut ist Sauerkraut' means 'the bride's skin is cabbage'. Otherwise the doctor would have said 'Die Haut der Braut ist wie Sauerkraut'.
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