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Q: Searching an obscure german sentence ( No Answer,   3 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Searching an obscure german sentence
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Books and Literature
Asked by: drumknott-ga
List Price: $20.00
Posted: 11 Apr 2003 18:38 PDT
Expires: 15 Apr 2003 05:56 PDT
Question ID: 189515
I suppose you should be German to answer this, but feel free to try
anyway :-)
I read a (German, I think) book some time ago which mentioned the
property of the German language to place verbs at the end of the
sentence. As an example it quoted a long sentence, structured in
such a complex way that at its end there were at least eight or nine
verbs in a row, so that it was impossible to understand the structure
and the meaning of this sentence.
In the book I read it was mentioned that this sentence originated in
the foreword (I think, again) of another book, by an author whose name
was familiar to me, so it can't be a complete unknown person.
What was this sentence, who was the author and what book or text is it
from (and, as a bonus, what could have been the book I read this quote
in)?
I know, it's all very vague (with more "I think"s than actual facts),
but that's all I can remember about it...

Clarification of Question by drumknott-ga on 12 Apr 2003 11:27 PDT
Once more: Sorry and thank you for your trouble, justaskscott! I'm
sorry that my question obviously wasn't clear enough...
So to repost my clarifications:
I am looking for an actual German sentence (and its source), in which
this "feature" of the language is used to create a gramatically
correct, but incomprehensible sentence, by nesting sub-sentences in a
way that there is a chain of seven or more verbs at the end (not just
auxillary verbs like "hätte wollen können dürfen müssen", but "real"
ones).

Should you find any sentence matching these specifications (with a
"quotable" source, i.e. published in print or from a public speech,
not just any website), this will count as an answer, whether it is the
one I read or not.

The (German) book I read this sentence in probably used it to
demonstrate the use of a stack in programming languages (each
sub-sentence is "pushed" onto the stack), and the sentence itself
might have originally been from a speech, rather than a book...

I hope this time the question is specific enough...

Clarification of Question by drumknott-ga on 15 Apr 2003 05:56 PDT
I found it - it was from Christian Morgenstern's Galgenlieder (the
book it was quoted in was "Gödel, Escher, Bach"). If anybody's
interested :-) :

"Es darf daher getrost, was auch von allen, deren Sinne, weil sie
unter Sternen, die, wie der Dichter sagt :"dörren, statt zu leuchten",
geboren sind, vertrocknet sind, behauptet wird, enthauptet werden, daß
hier einem sozumaßen und im Sinne der Zeit, dieselbe im Negativen als
Hydra gesehen, hydratherapeutischen Moment ersten Ranges-immer
angesichts dessen, daß, wie oben, keine mit Rosenfingern den
springenden Punkt ihrer schlechthin unvoreingenommenen Hoffnung auf
eine, sagen wir, schwansinnige oder wesentielle Erweiterung des
natürlichen Stoffgebietes zusamt mit der Freiheit des Individuums vor
dem Gesetz ihrer Volksseele zu verraten sich zu entbrechen den Mut,
was sage ich, die Verruchtheit haben wird, einem Moment, wie ihm in
Handel, Wandel, Kunst und Wissenschaft allüberall dieselbe
Erscheinung, dieselbe Frequenz den Arm bieten, und welches bei allem,
ja vielleicht gerade trotz allem, als ein mehr oder minder
modulationsfähiger Ausdruck einer ganz bestimmten und im weitesten
Verfolge excösen Weltauffasseraumwortkindundkunstanschauung kaum mehr
zu unterschlagen versucht werden zu wollen vermag --
gegenübergestanden und beigewohnt werden zu dürfen gelten lassen zu
müssen sein möchte."


Thank you anyway!
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: Searching an obscure german sentence
From: xarqi-ga on 11 Apr 2003 18:43 PDT
 
Can't help you with the specifics, I'm sorry, but I can contribute an
anecdote.

It seems that a certain University lecturer was so annoyed by the
inattention of his students, that he all of the verbs at the end of
the lecture put!
Subject: Re: Searching an obscure german sentence
From: pinkfreud-ga on 11 Apr 2003 18:53 PDT
 
Your question reminds me of this old joke:

A German student spent all night working on his term paper. As the
deadline approached he was still feverishly putting on the finishing
touches. With only five minutes to spare, he shoved the paper into his
briefcase and flew out the door. Moments later, his briefcase popped
open and the last twenty pages flew off into the wind. The student
exclaimed, "Ach, mein Gott! Die Verben!"
Subject: Re: Searching an obscure german sentence
From: justaskscott-ga on 12 Apr 2003 09:56 PDT
 
I am posting this comment in advance of the removal of my answer from
April 11.  Since the text of the answer will not be available, I
should note for the sake of other Researchers that the answer is not
Mark Twain's "The Awful German Language".  Drumknott-ga has indicated
that the question will be rephrased to make it more concrete, so you
might want to wait for drumknott-ga's clarification before attempting
to answer the question.

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