Page 4 - GC-Mar-Apr-2023

German Leckerbissen – Part 10

by Daniel Schwarz interested in researching the geneal- code (Ländervorwahl) which is di-
ne of the closest words to ogy or family history of people from aled as +49 or 0049 (for Germany);
tidbit in German is Lecker- the German-speaking part of Europe secondly the city area code (Vor-
Obissen. Literally Leckerbis- who have emigrated over the centu- wahl) XXX, sometimes 4 digits;
sen means tasty morsels or bits. The ries and settled in England, Scot- and thirdly the local individual
following may include some tidbits land, Wales and Ireland (N and S), phone number which can have 4 or
of German culture, foods/drinks, and the neighboring islands.” They 5 digits. When phoning within Ger-
traditions, history, language, and are a self-help group with consider- many, add a zero in front of the area
current events. able expertise and resources includ- code 0XXX, and drop the interna-
Katzenjamma Kids – Do peo- ing a book shop, quarterly journal tional country code. When phoning
ple still read the Comics in the with member articles, and gives op- in Germany within the same city,
newspaper, or as they used to be portunities to seek advice from oth- you can omit the int’l country code
called, “The Funnies”? Perhaps the er members, of which there are and area code, just dial the local
bigger question is, do people still thousands in the UK and world- individual phone number. To save
get the newspaper? Well, many do, wide. Their website is: https:// money on your cell phone bill, there
but are no longer able to read the www.agfhs.com is another option, which is to use the
comic strip Katzenjammer Kids that Phoning to and in Germany – free messaging app WhatsApp,
started in 1897, and ended in 2006. When phoning to a German landline when phoning / texting / videoing
The creator Rudolph Dirks who was (Festnetz), or mobile cell phone from and to a Handy using Wi-Fi.
German, allowed his characters in (Handy) from abroad, there are Germans in Germany almost all use
the comic strip stories to stereotype three parts for the phone number. this app with their Handy, but it is
German accents. He wrote the dia- They are: the international country not available for a landline use.
log phonetically, where the “W’s” Dick Tracy, etc. It has been written das Mädchen, which is the word girl
became “V’s”, for example, and that even during the comic strips’ and is assigned a neuter article Das.
even put in some German slang long reign that began in 1897, many Ugg!
words, such as Dummkopf. Even the found its humor disturbing and even Fear not. There is some logic
title of Katzenjammer is a German offensive. Perhaps eventually this and rules to better understand which
word meaning “cats wailing or cats lead to its demise in 2006, or maybe article has been assigned to each
complaining”. it was just a lack of readership for noun. Here are some basic rules that
The story line was about two comic strips. In any event, this strip should help. If a noun ends in –or,
young mischievous twin boys opened an era of short story comics -ling, -ig or -smus, it is masculine
named Hans and Fritz. They re- that are still being created and print- and prefixed by the article der. If a
belled against authority, mostly ed in newspapers today. noun ends in -ung, -ie, -ei, -keit,
their Momma Katzenjammer, and Der, Die, and Das – In German -heit, -schaft, -tät, -ik or –tion, it is
played pranks on The Captain a sail- grammar, each noun (a person, feminine and is prefixed by the arti-
or, and The Inspector who was a place or thing) is assigned one of cle die. And if a noun ends in –chen,
long-bearded school official. This these three articles. This is a new -lein, -ment, -tum, -ma or –um, it is
does sound very much like an earli- concept for English speakers learn- considered neuter and prefixed by
er German story with two rascal ing German, because we just use das. This should help understand
boys named Max and Moritz. May- “The” for nouns, and the British why Mädchen was assigned the
be they were his inspiration. How- drop articles just because they do. neuter article das. Lastly, Germans
ever, one of the biggest difference Typically in German, nouns have a have many compound words, and
was that Hans and Fritz were pun- gender (soziales Geschlecht) such when they are nouns, the rule is that
ished by their Momma with a as masculine (männlich) which uses the gender is assigned to the last
spanking at the end of each prank. the article Der, feminine (weiblich) word. Oh yes, the plural for nouns is
Since it was the first comic strip, it which uses Die, and neuter die for all genders. So, this takes
set the stage for future comic strips. (sächlich) uses Das. Almost all of care of the nominative cases. That
In 1995 the U.S. Post Office the time it is logical to know which made it easy, right? Hopefully yes.
issued a sheet of 20 different stamps article to use based on the gender of AGFHS - This is the acronym
commemorating historical comic the noun, however, grammatically for Anglo-German Family History
strip classics, which included the the article is assigned to the WORD, Society, which is a genealogy soci-
Katzenjammer Kids, as well as oth- which sometimes is not logical, but ety headquartered in London, Eng-
er popular comics, such as Popeye, it’s the way it is! A good example is land. “It welcomes members