Tuesday, August 30, 2011

"Ist die Post offen, Otto?" "Nein, sie ist am Sonntag geschlossen."*

I went to the Post Office forty five minutes after the last scheduled pick up time, but fifteen minutes before the store part closed to mail my Netflix tonight. I asked the man at the counter if it was too late to get it out this evening, and he said, "that depends, which movie is it?" with a sinister smile. I answered, "Breaking Bad season 1." And he said, "It'll go out. But let me know when you get to season 3." I said I would. I wonder if postal employees ever do sneak a little peek inside those red envelopes. I wouldn't be surprised.

*When I was in high school German that was one of our dialogues that we would have to say to practice that crazy German intonation. It translates to, "Is the Post Office open, Otto?" "No, it's closed on Sunday." Some of those dialogues were serious fun:

"Fritz, warum bist du so traurig?" Fritz, why are you so sad? 
"Richard ist krank." Richard is sick.  

and 

"Was tust du?" What are you doing? 
"Ich übe Geige." I'm practicing the violin.  
"Bist du müde?" Are you tired? 
"Ja." Yes.

and my all time favorite


"Ute, wo ist der Hut?" Ute, where is the hat?
"In der Stube." In the lounge.



I'm blowing your mind right now, am I right? I know, the German students from AHS were prepared for all sorts of conversation topics auf Deutsch.

12 comments:

Britt said...

walter!!!!

Britt said...

walter!!!!

Wodin said...

Hallo, Joachim! Bist du im Garten? Hahahaha! Oh, German class... Frau Johnson was crazy... Did you have Frau Johnson? (This is Loradona by the way, just sneaking in for a moment.)

molly said...

I had Frau Freeborn, Frau Westfall und Herr Hrable.

joojierose said...

ah germannnnaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

- A said...

werner herzog would be proud.

Bob L said...

I just had to type "Ist die Post offen Otto?" and see if something came up ! Glad to see others remember this as well. VTHS, NJ !

Unknown said...

Vo ist Monika?

En bote mit Peter!

Ben said...

Hallo, Fritz, wo ist dei nbb e swetzter.
Sie gat mein buch.
Wir haben eine matamatik prufung heute.

Ben said...

What was the name of that text book? 40 something years later I'm learning German again. Any help?

Ben said...

Hallo, Fritz, wo ist dei nbb e swetzter.
Sie gat mein buch.
Wir haben eine matamatik prufung heute.

Ben said...

Hallo, Fritz, wo ist dei nbb e swetzter.
Sie gat mein buch.
Wir haben eine matamatik prufung heute.