Dialects Oddities.
A well-known German dialect is the Bavarian dialect. Bavaria is the fedral state of Germany lying in the south , near to the Alpen (Alps ?) - mountain range. Munich is the capital of it.
The Bavarian dialect is - in its form spoken in rural areas - *very* hard to understand. Even for Germans. Someone who is not capable of the German language is surely lost in rural areas there - at least as long as an person capable of the English language isn’t found.
Well, here I present you two things I thougt which could be of interest to you.
The first thing - or rather word - is the verb „pressieren“. It’s dialect.
If it reminds you of the English word „pressure“ , then you aren’t mistaken. It’s indeeda verb with about the same meaning.
But unlike the English word, it can be used as a verb - like „to press“ trather than with „pressure“ itself.
If I say „etwas pressiert“ , I mean „something presses“. Exactly this meaning. The verb „pressieren“ means „to hurry, to press, performing pressure“. You don’t use it for pressing - I mean flattening - things.
I don’t remember whether the word can be used if you are speaking for yourself, too. I simply don’t remember whether the sentence „ich pressiere“ really exists. I doubt so.
Another oddity connected with that is that the word „Presse“ actually exists in German - and it means the whole „world“ of everything that’s printed : Magazines, Newspapers, sometimes (but rarely used in this sense) even books. „The Press“ = „Die Presse“. I don’t really know where this comes from, but I belive it comes from the same meaning as in the English language : pressing letters to books, newspapers, whatever.
A quick look into my ethymological dictionary says two things : 1. I am right about the „Presse“, 2. „pressieren“ meaning „being in a hurry“ is taken from french presser. I didn’t know that.
The second oddity is the Bavarian Dual.
A Dual is an almost died-out form of pronomen (right word ?)
Normally, we say one mountain, many mountains, or one mouse, several mice. The Dual is another form, explicitely meaning meaning
two of the same kind. It’s like saying „twomice“.
In the Bavarian dialect something of that still has survived : „ess“ and „enk“ are still there , as Dual - substitutes for „their“ and „you“ (plural forms). My mother, who comes from that area, has confirmed it.
Well, that’s what I wanted to write for now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
Alrik.
