Sunday 18 January 2009

German Dictionary

French and Spanish are common courses in school.  Some people do take German in college.  As a result many people have never seen a German dictionary.  There are many of them, however, on the Internet.

German Dictionary

One German dictionary many people know is a translator such as Google's or Yahoo Babelfish.  They both include many other languages.  They can translate from one to the other.  They can even translate web sites.  Many people get use from this.  Google's is superior.

But there's a German dictionary that does the work in both directions with one click.  In other words an English word can be typed in and then both English alternatives and the German translations would appear.  Using it can be interesting.

German Dictionary

Typing nothing into this type of German dictionary brings up a number of English phrases.  One of these is nothing doing.  People say this in many situations.  It's an emphatic way to say no.  It's also uttered as a disagreement.  For example my drunken neighbor wanted to borrow the car – nothing doing.  The Germans say nichts zu machen.  It can also translate to no chance.  The German word nichts means nothing.

The German dictionary shows kleinluftschiff when you type blimp.  Zeppelin is another word for the same thing.  Airships of this type often float over football games.  Many people have heard of the Hindenburg.  In 1937 the Hindenburg caught fire.  It was completely destroyed in about one minute.  Many people died in the disaster.  There's a rather famous clip of the incident.  It featured Herbert Morrison and his famous phrase “oh, the humanity!”  It's on YouTube.

The cause of the fire is still under debate.  No German dictionary lists the reason.  Some people believe it was sabotage.  One theory is that static electricity built up on the skin, igniting the tanks.  Or, it could have been a simple lightning bolt.  Hydrogen in such airships was stored safely.  But during landing hydrogen would be vented where it mixed with air.  Only then could it explode.  The Philadelphia Inquirer carried an article on the 70th anniversary of the accident.  Maybe sparks from engine exhaust ignited.  Whatever the cause, it was a terrible disaster.

German Dictionary

That's only some of what a German dictionary contains.

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