Heiligenschein
What happened to the halcyon days when sixth graders almost learned to spell guarantee and rhythm - and then went out and played - or, if it was raining, made a diorama?
The last few rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee sounded more like a Dusseldorf Nietzsche festival than an American spelling bee. Austausch. Ursprache. Diamondhacks felt a bout of weltschmerz coming on well before it was badly misspelled by Canadian interloper, Finola Hackett.
And then there was heiligenschein.
Leave it to der Germans to coin-bine some impossibly pretentious duplicate of a simpler, existing descriptor. It means "halo". The halo around a head. OK, on a dewy morning at a certain angle, but it's still a halo. Only the half-baked poiesis of a teutonic sadist from Heil could beget heiligenschein - and only insufferable pedants would ever dare use it. Isn't there someone at Merriam Websters whose job it is to politely but firmly say, "No"?
"No. I'm sorry Herr Scheinola, but you'll have to continue to say "halo" like the rest of us have since the time of Christ. Thank you for understanding. The rappers and surfers have been waiting patiently behind you, volunteering colorful words with some utility. Please, kindly step to the rear of the line."
There ought to be a law protecting what is de
ar to us, our children, our traditions, from such inflated coinage.
American traditions like baseball, by God.
Is it really OK if western civilization's joy in seeing Bob Melvin fail casually morphs into bomelfreude? Or if excessive glare from the cross dangling below Lastings Milledge's neck becomes ubermilledgeschein?
In the best interests of baseball, help Diamondhacks preserve our common language from this supercilious affront.
From this Anschluss.
From The Los Angeles Heiligenscheins of Anaheim.
Nice Post, I believe being 22 years of age, i still couldnt spell half of those words possibly all of them. Now Diamondbacks, please beat of the bravos for us, it will be appreicated and well return the favor next week against the dodgers. Go check out my blog regarding barry juicehead bonds.
http://allthewrightstuff.mlblogs.com/
Report any abuse or spam
Matt,
Your indignant tone is priceless. You should write for The Onion(if you dont already).
Canadian interloper. Like the rest of us have since roughly the time of Christ. Ubermilledgeschein.
--Bob
I'm still laughing as I write this.
Report any abuse or spam
I don't think the Germans would find it pretentious, since they're speaking, y'know, German. If they were speaking English, fine. I guess everyone is supposed to fix their language to suit the American ear? Literally translated, it means "holy (or "hallowed") shine". German nouns are often very descriptive compound words, which is not really a bad thing. If there are actually Americans out there who use it instead of their own word, I fear that they are the pretentious ones.
Sorry, but I'm not getting your point at all. It really sounds like the typical American arrogance that makes the rest of the world hate us so much.
Report any abuse or spam
AZ SW,
If it "sounds like the typical American arrogance that makes the rest of the world hate us so much",that's our cue to crow, er, "Mission Accomplished" ;-)
We dropped several rather large breadcrumbs along the trail, a la Hansel & Gretel,to guide readers to the satirical nature of the piece. Perhaps Bob ate them on his way out.
There may be serious points to be raised regarding the Nat'l Spelling Bee's evolution - we weren't trying to do that here.
Thanks for reading and sharing your views!
Report any abuse or spam