Sayings Of Endearment

Is Michael Lewis's writing rolling downhill?

WHEN you read journalism about something you know very well, you often note how journalists simplify. Worse, you might see them make poor calls of judgment or outright fact mistakes. If it's bad enough, it makes you lose confidence in that source of journalism generally. So it saddens me to say that while I've always admired Michael Lewis's writing on so many different topics, his take on Germany —which relies on language, among other things—is full of something. 

And that something, dear reader, is a swear word. If you don't want to see it repeated numerous times, now is the time to close this post.

In short, Mr Lewis thinks that Germany is obsessed by shit.  And he recruits an analysis of the German language to support this idea. Specifically, he discusses the work of one anthropologist and folklorist, Alan Dundes, of the University of California at Berkeley. Here is Mr Lewis's gloss of Dundes's 1984 work on scatology in German folklore: 

He then proceeded to pile up a shockingly high stack of evidence to support his theory. There’s a popular German folk character called der Dukatenscheisser (“The Money Shitter”), who is commonly depicted crapping coins from his rear end. Europe’s only museum devoted exclusively to toilets was built in Munich. The German word for “shit” performs a vast number of bizarre linguistic duties—for instance, a common German term of endearment was once “my little shit bag.” The first thing Gutenberg sought to publish, after the Bible, was a laxative timetable he called a “Purgation-Calendar.” Then there are the astonishing number of anal German folk sayings: “As the fish lives in water, so does the shit stick to the asshole!,” to select but one of the seemingly endless examples.

Dundes caused a bit of a stir, for an anthropologist, by tracking this single low national character trait into the most important moments in German history.

Tender Russian Phrases: Terms of Endearment: Sayings for ...

The format of the vocabulary on this article will be English, then Russian, and then a phonetic guide to pronunciation. Stresses are indicated by a capitalization of the syllable involved. This is not a perfect guide to pronunciation, as there are many sounds in the Russian language that simply don't exist for speakers of English. Your best bet is to seek out audio recordings on the Internet of real Russians saying love phrases , or find a native Russian speaker who can guide you through the pronunciation in person. Russian romance traditionally involves love with a variety of other emotions, from sadness to joy, making it a richly emotional aspect of the culture. The Russians tend to be a deeply passionate people, and revel in outcries that might embarrass Westerners. So, the below vocabulary might seem like overkill to many readers, but it's the expectation of many Russians to be a bit on the wordy side. Want to practice this all? The best way is to play pretend (or not, depending on who you're working with.) Partner up with someone else and take turns trying out these sweet somethings on each other. It's either a good thing to laugh about between friends, or a cute way for two couples to get closer. Either way, it's a good way to learn some Russian in a fun, practical way.

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