Re: Weekly Vocab 6: to know / German

 --- Henrik Theiling skrzypszy:

>    'Kann ich noch ein Bier?'
>   *May   I   another  beer?
I think in certain Dutch dialects that would be possible too.

> is typical.  It's understood, but people outside Westfalia seem to
> find it ungrammatical.
Where are you from? I happen to visit Essen from time to time.

> Dutch is even less rigid:
>
>    'Openbare borstvoeding mag.'
>   *Public breastfeeding may.
Exactly. Remember, that the core meaning of "mogen" is: "to be allowed".
Some years ago, a group defending the interests of smokers against numerous
anti-smoking campaigns produced the following well-known sentence:
"Roken moet mogen".
There is only one problem with it: it is ambiguous. The most obvious meaning
is: "Smoking must be allowed", but it can as well be understood as: "Smoking
should only be allowed on places where it is allowed explicitly."

>    'Dat kann.'
One little nitpick: "Dat kan" (with on 'n', Dutch never allows double
consonants at the end of a word).

> (The above beer phrase is possible in Dutch, too: 'Mag ik nog een biertje?').
That's very typical Dutch, indeed!

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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