Text 9651, 102 rader
Skriven 2006-12-25 13:09:00 av Ruth Haffly
     Kommentar till en text av Dale Shipp
Ärende: Christmas Eve here
==========================
 MSGID: 1:396/45.28 326fd05e
 REPLY: 1:261/1466.0 458f83dc
Hi Dale,

 DS>   Actually, it is now technically Christmas morning (0140).   We had
 DS> our   daughter and family over this evening for our traditional
 DS> Christmas
 DS>   eve gift exchange -- with snacks of cheese and crackers, beef roll,
 DS>   some wraps Gail made, etc. beforehand.

Merry Christmas to you and Gale.  If you don't see my e-mail today, my
MIL says our reunion is set for July 14, meaning that the 28th will work
for the picnic.

 DS>   Our son had sent some gifts from Germany.   There were three bottles
 DS>   that had no English on the label.  Two of them we sort of figured
 DS> out,   but I had to go to the Babel web site to get translations for
 DS> the
 DS>   third and to be sure of the first two.

 DS> First was:
 DS> Chili senf piri piri sehr scharf
 DS> which translated to
 DS> Chili mustard piri piri very sharply

Very sharp, actually.

 DS>   And from the color (a deep yellow-brown) and picture on the label (
 DS>   Thin red peppers), we guessed that this was a mustard with hot
 DS> peppers   in it.

 DS> Next came:
 DS> erdbeere limette tequilla
 DS> which babel sent to
 DS> strawberry limette tequilla

 DS>   I don't see anything that implies this is a jelly or jam, but
 DS> believe   that it is. I could also have guessed what was in it by
 DS> looking at the   pictures on the label. Clearly strawberries and limes
 DS> -- and tequilla   seems to be the same in both languages.

They were prety good on this one, but I couldn't see any jam/jelly in
the basic label either.

 DS>   But the last one was a puzzle.  The contents of the jar are a deep
 DS>   iridescent blue-green color. The picture on the label is of a small
 DS>   car -- not too unlike the English Morris Minor Mini that is now
 DS> being   sold on the US market in a much jazzed up version.   The
 DS> Germans had a   small car, whose name I do not recall, and this is
 DS> most likely that
 DS>   car.  It is a pale blue color.  If I saw that label and had no other

The old East German car, Trabant, or Trabi.  Basically a lawnmower in a
frame, worse than the old Corvair which Nadar said was unsafe at any
speed.  He would have said that the Corvair was much safer than the old
Trabis.  I saw quite a few of the latter when we were in Berlin.

 DS>   information, based on the clues of pictures (recall Jim Weller's
 DS>   recent postings of his Vietnamese friend) -- then I would have
 DS> guessed   that this was a car wax.

 DS> However, Babel says
 DS> deluxe trabi senf himmelblau mittelscharf
 DS> translates to
 DS> deluxe trabi mustard sky-blue centralsharp

Middle, or medium sharp.  But why the Trabi is unknown unless it's a
product made in the former East Germany? And himmel is actually used
more in referring to heaven.

 DS>   and so we have another mustard.   I guess this one is crying for
 DS>   Michael!

That one would go best with sausage--the best with the wurst? (GD&R)


 DS>   I got a somewhat startle response when I first tried Babel on this
 DS>   one.

 DS> I typed
 DS> deluxe trabi senf himmelblau mittelsharf
 DS> which Babel translated to
 DS> deluxe trabi mustard sky-blue by means of-play the harp

 DS>   WOW, what a difference a letter makes. Well, in some way, if you
 think you'll be playing a harp in heaven, it could sort of fit.

 DS>   And a Merry Christmas to you all!

And you as well.  We'll be baking the game hens we bought instead of
smoking them; the grill is going back as it's defective.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchafflyNOSPAM(at)NOSPAMearthlink(dot)net  FIDO 1:396/45.28

... A truly wise person knows that he knows not.

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)