There's a song playing through another wall

[venta]

Following on from yesterday's post, I've just been amused by the label on my new trainers. In an attempt to prevent my already rusty German from oxidising completely, I often read instruction manuals, etc, in German. Not least because there's always a handy crib if I get stuck.

Anyway, on my brand new suede Pumas (£13 including postage, brand new in box, thank you eBay) there is a label which tells me a little bit about a basketball player named Clyde. Apparently he asked for the shoes to be made wider and more colourful in the 70s, and so they renamed the shoe after him.

It then goes on to say:

"Nach drei Jahrzehnten haben sie nichts von Ihrer Coolness verloren."

To which my first reaction was... German: a language so utterly square that they have to borrow a word for cool from the English. Worse, they chose coolness.

Needless to say I have wrestled with the shoelaces and I have now laced my shoes up the proper way instead of the damn silly way the kids do it these days. In just ten minutes I have achieved what Puma has managed to stave off for more than thirty years.

Comments

[marjory.livejournal.com]

You're right, you know! Cool could also be lässig, which would be the equivalent of saying, "Groovy!" without any irony or locker, which is more of a personal, "Hey, I'm easy!" statement. Really people say geil, which means great or horny. I shudder to think what a pair of shoes not having lost their horninness after 3 decades would entail...

Yes, I'm a dweeb.

[venta.livejournal.com]

But a dweeb with a good knowledge of German slang, which is both useful and interesting. Though admittedly less useful where you now live ;)