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"Challenge" to German native speakers... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4773 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 1 of 11 12 December 2013 at 3:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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A friendly "challenge" to German native speakers, or expert 2nd-language German
speakers, or more of an invitation, really, to get your creative juices flowing, or to stir your memory: No, not a TAC sort of challenge. I'm looking for an equivalent German expression for the northern English (usually associated with Yorkshire) expression: "Eh by gum", usually pronounced something like "eeh bah goom" (and often used when people want to imitate Yorkshire speakers). Now, there are some qualifications I have to add here: - It should also have 3 syllables - It can be dialect (doesn't matter which, so long as it's recognisably German) - can be humorous (humour welcomed, in fact) - should not be offensive, blasphemous, etc. - should be authentic, but doesn't matter if it's old-fashioned / out of fashion - doesn't matter about the exact meaning, but EBG is usually used as an expression of surprise or if something is remarkable, and can be positive or negative, depending on the circumstances (I imagine it came from "By God" originally, and became a euphemism for people who didn't want to blaspheme). OK, this may sound a bit crazy, but this is for a sort of leaving tribute party for someone with both strong Yorkshire and German connections, and it's for part of a German equivalent for a Yorkshire song that uses that expression. So the German equivalent has to fit in with the metre (doesn't matter about the rhyme - that can be worked around) of the original, and also have something of the same flavour. Alles klar? So, Meine Damen und Herren: that is your mission, should you choose to accept it... :-) Edited by montmorency on 12 December 2013 at 3:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5265 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 2 of 11 12 December 2013 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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To be honest, I've never heard "eh by gum," and I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to translate it without some usage examples.
What are some typical situations in which you'd use it and what would be the closest neutral English equivalent? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4789 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 3 of 11 12 December 2013 at 4:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm just as clueless as Doitsujin. What does "Eh by gum!" mean in the first place?
EDIT: I reread your post, montmorency. If I understand correctly, the closest German translation with three syllables would be: "Oh mein Gott!" Edited by Josquin on 12 December 2013 at 4:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4773 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 4 of 11 12 December 2013 at 5:51pm | IP Logged | ||
You've got it. That is to say, I am assuming that it was originally used in place of "oh my God" (which might have been a bit shocking at one time), but has long ceased to have that literal meaning). "Eh" or "eeh" doesn't really mean anything ... just like a version of "oh...". But in any case, literal translations are not what this is really about, and "oh Mein Gott" is a bit too strong for what I was after. Oh, you asked how would it be used: It's an expression of surprise, mild or otherwise, or interest, or maybe of disgust...it can be both positive or negative. A pretty girl goes past: "eeh bah goom, she's a nice lass" (someone might say to a friend"). "eeh bah goom, the price of a pint of beer is going to double after the Budget...". Slight variation: "I've got a new car" "O h, have you, by gum...". A lot of the time, it's just used as a filler, really. Could also mean something like (if told something interesting): "Well, just fancy that". i.e. doesn't mean much at all, really. Don't know if this helps, but: Ee by gum Edited by montmorency on 12 December 2013 at 5:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4466 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 5 of 11 12 December 2013 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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The 3 syllable requirement makes it hard.
The rough equivalent in Austrian German would be "gehleck". This comes from "geh leck mich am Arsch", which could either be a profanity or an expression of surprise, astonishment etc. "gehleck" has only retained the latter meaning. To make it to 3 syllables, you could add a filler: "mah gehleck". This expresses even stronger surprise/astonishment though. Not sure if this expression is being understood by Germans. Maybe in the South... Edited by daegga on 12 December 2013 at 7:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4174 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 6 of 11 15 December 2013 at 9:14am | IP Logged | ||
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I've never heard "gehleck" so far (I'm from Cologne area). Here, a colloquial expression would be similar though: "Leck mich fett" (in Cologne, we would say "misch" instead of "mich"). Like Daegga, I am not so sure if this is just regional.
I think, however, it is only used to express positive surprises. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4773 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 7 of 11 16 December 2013 at 1:46am | IP Logged | ||
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Looks like I'm going to have to show more of my hand than I'd really like to in order
to give the full context. Here is one rendition of the original song that I'm hoping to pastiche, and the specific part is the chorus (don't worry about the verse), starting around 1:18 My Girl's a yorkshire Girl and the chorus goes: "my girl's a Yorkshire girl Yorkshire through and through My girl's Yorkshire girl Eh by gum, she's a champion! though she's only a factory lass and wears no fancy clothes I've got a sort of a Yorkshire relish For my little Yorkshire Rose" And it's that "eh bah gum" that I'd like an equivalent of. But without profanity, suggestiveness, crudity, etc, etc. In this case, it's clearly being used as an intensifier...yes, she's really a champion, no doubt about it.....sort of thing. If you (can bear to) listen to the original, you'll get an idea of what you can fit in. Maybe it could be made to work with a different number of syllables. By the way, I don't claim this is a great song or great songwriting.... ....it was a song from the music-halls, when people's tastes were simpler, and there wasn't all that much (cheap) alternative entertainment..... :-) But that chorus (a version of...) just fits what I need, and will be instantly recognisable by the person for whom it's intended..... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4773 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 8 of 11 16 December 2013 at 1:58am | IP Logged | ||
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@daegga:
When I think about it, rhythmically, "mah gehleck" would fit beautifully. Thanks. I haven't come across "mah" as a filler before.... ....I see that dict.cc gives "Schau ma mal" as an Austrian usage for "let's see", so I guess ma / mah are the same. ... (I'm still open to other offers though.....slightly afraid that the "lech mich ... ...." connotation might be too apparent to some people, and I definitely don't want to cause offense). @Suzie: thanks for the "mich"/"misch" information. I'm always interested in knowing about local / regional variations. (Are you by any chance a fan of BAP? I don't know that much about them but I have heard one of their albums, which I believe they sing all in Kölsch). 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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