I am not a nazi.
October 22, 2015 7:15 PM Subscribe
Meet Bastian, a German WWII soldier collectible doll. Also meet Bastian Schweinsteiger, the 31-year old Der Mannschaft current captain and Manchester United star, who is certainly not amused by the similarities.
from the last Guardian link: Bild called the doll a “dirty Chinese slur"
Um.
posted by koeselitz at 7:27 PM on October 22, 2015 [11 favorites]
Um.
posted by koeselitz at 7:27 PM on October 22, 2015 [11 favorites]
"A representative of the company making the doll told Bild: ‘The figure is based on a typical German. We believe that all Germans look like that.’".
Yeah, so: who is the target market for this doll, exactly?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:28 PM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
Yeah, so: who is the target market for this doll, exactly?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:28 PM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
On the one hand, I don't blame him for being angry. On the other hand, this is one of those situations where making a fuss about something seems more likely to draw attention to it than to hurt it.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:29 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:29 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Things do not become less strange when you peruse the company's other doll designs.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:30 PM on October 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:30 PM on October 22, 2015 [8 favorites]
Things do not become less strange when you peruse the company's other doll designs.
MATT DAMON!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:34 PM on October 22, 2015 [17 favorites]
MATT DAMON!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:34 PM on October 22, 2015 [17 favorites]
So it's also just a total coincidence that Koulikov looks like Ron Perlman, who played a character named Koulikov in the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates?
posted by Sequence at 7:35 PM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 7:35 PM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
"Each and every man under my command owes me one hunnerd Natzi dolls. And I want my dolls!"
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:38 PM on October 22, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:38 PM on October 22, 2015 [7 favorites]
On the one hand, it does annoy me when other countries are clueless enough about European history to produce things like this. I don't see them producing Maoist dolls or Japanese Nanking Soldier dolls - and if anyone in the so-called west did that, I'd be just as annoyed.
On the other hand, when the German tabloid that's raising a stink about this calls it a "dirty Chinese slur," they're not doing their "we aren't all Nazis!" argument any favors.
posted by koeselitz at 7:40 PM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
On the other hand, when the German tabloid that's raising a stink about this calls it a "dirty Chinese slur," they're not doing their "we aren't all Nazis!" argument any favors.
posted by koeselitz at 7:40 PM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
Not saying they should have gone and modelled a life-like Nazi* figurine after him, but Bastian Schweinsteiger does cut a strikingly Teutonic figure.
* or at least, a beleaguered Wehrmacht conscript armed with nothing but two loaves of rye bread.
posted by Flashman at 7:47 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
* or at least, a beleaguered Wehrmacht conscript armed with nothing but two loaves of rye bread.
posted by Flashman at 7:47 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
who is the target market for this doll, exactly?
...
when you peruse the company's other doll designs.
The this-is-not-a-swastika* image for WWII Germany on that page is hilarious, and implies to me that they want the site viewable in Germany.
*(is that the design from The Great Dictator?)
posted by pompomtom at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
...
when you peruse the company's other doll designs.
The this-is-not-a-swastika* image for WWII Germany on that page is hilarious, and implies to me that they want the site viewable in Germany.
*(is that the design from The Great Dictator?)
posted by pompomtom at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
What the heck every single one of those toys looks like someone famous.
Like even the figure with camo facepaint and tons of headgear, could look like anyone, but no, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger.
posted by helicomatic at 7:50 PM on October 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
Like even the figure with camo facepaint and tons of headgear, could look like anyone, but no, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger.
posted by helicomatic at 7:50 PM on October 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm considering picking up Churchill.
posted by parki at 7:51 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by parki at 7:51 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
> Things do not become less strange when you peruse the company's other doll designs.
Um.
posted by brennen at 7:53 PM on October 22, 2015
Um.
posted by brennen at 7:53 PM on October 22, 2015
Things do not become less strange when you peruse the company's other doll designs.
The "modern military" section includes an LAPD SWAT team doll, which seems much less insightful and aware when you discover that it also has two "Chicago Gangster" dolls (one with his own walking stick and Doberman, and I'm thinking just a little about Christmas).
Also the Marine doll comes with his own little plot and tombstone, which probably means something, too.
posted by dilettante at 7:55 PM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
The "modern military" section includes an LAPD SWAT team doll, which seems much less insightful and aware when you discover that it also has two "Chicago Gangster" dolls (one with his own walking stick and Doberman, and I'm thinking just a little about Christmas).
Also the Marine doll comes with his own little plot and tombstone, which probably means something, too.
posted by dilettante at 7:55 PM on October 22, 2015 [5 favorites]
(Whoops, missed that Sequence had already remarked on Perlman.)
posted by brennen at 7:58 PM on October 22, 2015
posted by brennen at 7:58 PM on October 22, 2015
missed my edit window to remove "which probably means something, too". Dammit.
And they left the pockmarks off Stalin's face, but maybe Stalin dead is scarier than a German football player alive and lawyered up.
posted by dilettante at 8:02 PM on October 22, 2015
And they left the pockmarks off Stalin's face, but maybe Stalin dead is scarier than a German football player alive and lawyered up.
posted by dilettante at 8:02 PM on October 22, 2015
The tendency is to chuckle at this stuff and say, "Oh, those wacky Chinese!" But I do think shit like this is part and parcel with a political regime that minimizes the value of the individual and fosters a commercial climate in which concepts such as intellectual property and image rights mean little. This is kind of the low end of a much larger issue.
posted by stargell at 8:06 PM on October 22, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by stargell at 8:06 PM on October 22, 2015 [6 favorites]
The this-is-not-a-swastika* image for WWII Germany on that page is hilarious, and implies to me that they want the site viewable in Germany.
It also looks not altogether unlike the Celtic cross variant that white nationalist types have latched onto. I mean, maybe a litttttle bit of a stretch, but, you know, Nazis.
posted by brennen at 8:07 PM on October 22, 2015
It also looks not altogether unlike the Celtic cross variant that white nationalist types have latched onto. I mean, maybe a litttttle bit of a stretch, but, you know, Nazis.
posted by brennen at 8:07 PM on October 22, 2015
Well, airplane model makers have been making Messerschmitts and Heinkels for as long as I can remember, and I probably have a few dozen nazi plastic soldiers from the 80s/early 90s in a tin somewhere. It's not like someone suddenly remembered and said let's be shitty and do a nazi doll. Probably have a few hundred GIs and some British soldiers, too.
Target market? History Channel enthusiasts. (personally, I'd rather have a Giorgio Tsoukalos doll, with wild hair and poseable hands). Some people will eat up anything related to WWII.
The most amusing (YMMV) thing about the doll is that because of the winter clothes and the cheerful smile, I'm imagining Bastian here is someone who lost his mind re-supplying on the western front. Because what reason would anyone have that shit-eating grin in Russia in the middle of the Winter?
(also, if I had to guess, they got their hands on a repository of 3D scanned heads for merchandising purposes, and said "fuck it" to the terms of use)
posted by lmfsilva at 8:21 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Target market? History Channel enthusiasts. (personally, I'd rather have a Giorgio Tsoukalos doll, with wild hair and poseable hands). Some people will eat up anything related to WWII.
The most amusing (YMMV) thing about the doll is that because of the winter clothes and the cheerful smile, I'm imagining Bastian here is someone who lost his mind re-supplying on the western front. Because what reason would anyone have that shit-eating grin in Russia in the middle of the Winter?
(also, if I had to guess, they got their hands on a repository of 3D scanned heads for merchandising purposes, and said "fuck it" to the terms of use)
posted by lmfsilva at 8:21 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
I can definitely see why, if I were him, this would not be funny.
But given that I'm not him, it's pretty funny.
Also, the doll definitely does not live up to the cuteness of the actual Bastian Schweinsteiger. I might be a little annoyed about that too if I were him.
posted by ostro at 8:22 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
But given that I'm not him, it's pretty funny.
Also, the doll definitely does not live up to the cuteness of the actual Bastian Schweinsteiger. I might be a little annoyed about that too if I were him.
posted by ostro at 8:22 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
Der Mannschaft
Does that mean what it sounds like it should mean to an English speaker?
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:22 PM on October 22, 2015 [11 favorites]
Does that mean what it sounds like it should mean to an English speaker?
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:22 PM on October 22, 2015 [11 favorites]
That's not a James Bond doll! It's a... Jack doll... totally not the same.
posted by Naberius at 8:24 PM on October 22, 2015
posted by Naberius at 8:24 PM on October 22, 2015
Does that mean what it sounds like it should mean to an English speaker?
Ask Brazil. Wait, don't.
posted by lmfsilva at 8:25 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Ask Brazil. Wait, don't.
posted by lmfsilva at 8:25 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
On the other hand, I now kind of want an unlicensed Walter Bishop action figure simply because there's really no justifiable reason for the company selling Nazi and Stalin dolls to have taken a brief dip into unlicensed B-list science-fiction memorabilia.
Not that Fringe deserves to be on the B-list, but it is definitely rather niche.
posted by schmod at 8:25 PM on October 22, 2015 [6 favorites]
Not that Fringe deserves to be on the B-list, but it is definitely rather niche.
posted by schmod at 8:25 PM on October 22, 2015 [6 favorites]
> Things do not become less strange when you peruse the company's other doll designs.
Indeed. Check out the section called The Legend.
?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!
Oh god, I just noticed MLKjr is Buddy Christ-ing.
posted by maryr at 8:28 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Indeed. Check out the section called The Legend.
?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!
Oh god, I just noticed MLKjr is Buddy Christ-ing.
posted by maryr at 8:28 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
schmod - that one doubles as a Sleepy Hollow figure! Two B-list sci-fi/fantasy shows!
posted by maryr at 8:29 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by maryr at 8:29 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Anybody who was looking for Matt Damon, here he is. His doll is named "Ryan," because of subtlety.
posted by ostro at 8:35 PM on October 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by ostro at 8:35 PM on October 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
The one that really blows my mind is The Comedy King Of France doll, which is a scale model of Louis de Funes (in two variations!)
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:39 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:39 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Man U may have found the only licencing deal even they won't sign.
posted by jaduncan at 8:42 PM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by jaduncan at 8:42 PM on October 22, 2015 [10 favorites]
Mannschaft is a feminine noun.
posted by Navelgazer at 8:46 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Navelgazer at 8:46 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, so: who is the target market for this doll, exactly?
Mark from Peep Show.
posted by betweenthebars at 8:48 PM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
Mark from Peep Show.
posted by betweenthebars at 8:48 PM on October 22, 2015 [9 favorites]
Mark from Peep Show.
Bastian, are we the baddies?
posted by jaduncan at 8:49 PM on October 22, 2015 [18 favorites]
Bastian, are we the baddies?
posted by jaduncan at 8:49 PM on October 22, 2015 [18 favorites]
Patrick Chan of DiD told Bild that any resemblance to Schweinsteiger was a coincidence. He added: “The figure is based on a typical German. We believe that all Germans look like that.”
Well, fair do's.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:08 PM on October 22, 2015
Well, fair do's.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:08 PM on October 22, 2015
Can't link right now, but is Brig. Gen. Frank masquerading as Ed Harris?
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 9:11 PM on October 22, 2015
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 9:11 PM on October 22, 2015
And Gangster guy is Johnny Depp.
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 9:14 PM on October 22, 2015
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 9:14 PM on October 22, 2015
I mean, I suppose Mao and Tojo don't have the same effect here as they do there...
My friends got married at a "hip" place in DC that had pictures of Mao up on the wall. A few people there brought it up, but they were mostly of the parents' generation.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:23 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
My friends got married at a "hip" place in DC that had pictures of Mao up on the wall. A few people there brought it up, but they were mostly of the parents' generation.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:23 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
This pretty effed up, and I feel bad for (the human) Bastian. OTOH if this company produces a complete set of Archer dolls I will forgive everything.
posted by um at 9:24 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by um at 9:24 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
I, uh, just tried to sell a sci-if flash fiction about this kind of thing happening.
Weird.
posted by The Whelk at 9:55 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Weird.
posted by The Whelk at 9:55 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Why does thier Olivia Dunham doll not look like the actress and indeed not look human?
That HAIR.
posted by The Whelk at 9:57 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
That HAIR.
posted by The Whelk at 9:57 PM on October 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
I just can't stop myself, whenever I hear his name, of thinking "schwanzstucker".
posted by traveler_ at 10:01 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by traveler_ at 10:01 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Why does thier Olivia Dunham doll not look like the actress and indeed not look human?
And I haven't seen all of Fringe, but do they splice Peter's genes with Ray Liotta's at some point in a later season?
posted by Navelgazer at 10:12 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
And I haven't seen all of Fringe, but do they splice Peter's genes with Ray Liotta's at some point in a later season?
posted by Navelgazer at 10:12 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
that one doubles as a Sleepy Hollow figure!
They should sell a Wood and Oil expansion pack to get the LOTR bucks. ("Bring your own high surface!")
posted by Rhomboid at 10:30 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
They should sell a Wood and Oil expansion pack to get the LOTR bucks. ("Bring your own high surface!")
posted by Rhomboid at 10:30 PM on October 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
A representative of the company making the doll told Bild: ‘The figure is based on a typical German. We believe that all Germans look like that.’
At least they didn't pick Sergeant Schultz.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:01 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
At least they didn't pick Sergeant Schultz.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:01 PM on October 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's driving me nuts trying to figure out who Gangster II is. I know I've seen that guy in a movie before.
posted by dirigibleman at 11:17 PM on October 22, 2015
posted by dirigibleman at 11:17 PM on October 22, 2015
This man certainly has one of the all time sporting names; right up there with Christian Knees.
I would take either name over their compatriot's, Stefan Kuntz.
posted by biffa at 11:24 PM on October 22, 2015
I would take either name over their compatriot's, Stefan Kuntz.
posted by biffa at 11:24 PM on October 22, 2015
But I do think shit like this is part and parcel with a political regime that minimizes the value of the individual and fosters a commercial climate in which concepts such as intellectual property and image rights mean little.
Uh, this is a company based in Hong Kong (with a Japanese director). And I really don't understand how action figures with the likeness of real world celebrities be indicative of what you said. Especially how small companies in the US do something similar by printing the likeness of a famous person (either as a celebrity or depicting a fictional character they play) onto something like a t-shirt.
posted by FJT at 12:11 AM on October 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Uh, this is a company based in Hong Kong (with a Japanese director). And I really don't understand how action figures with the likeness of real world celebrities be indicative of what you said. Especially how small companies in the US do something similar by printing the likeness of a famous person (either as a celebrity or depicting a fictional character they play) onto something like a t-shirt.
posted by FJT at 12:11 AM on October 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's driving me nuts trying to figure out who Gangster II is. I know I've seen that guy in a movie before.
posted by dirigibleman at 2:17 AM on October 23 [+] [!]
Robert de Niro in The Godfather Part II.
posted by ZaphodB at 1:04 AM on October 23, 2015
posted by dirigibleman at 2:17 AM on October 23 [+] [!]
Robert de Niro in The Godfather Part II.
posted by ZaphodB at 1:04 AM on October 23, 2015
In case anyone was wondering about his surname:
posted by kersplunk at 2:44 AM on October 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
The first part of the name means pig, the second stems from the verb for "to climb". But don't bashfully avert your glance just yet. Explaining names is as much a science as it is sheer guesswork, and while I'm not 100% sure about Schweinsteiger, I have a hunch I consider solid enough. Family names often go back to a local place of residence. And centuries ago, "Steig" or "Stiege" usually meant a narrow and steep path. So I'd venture there once was a man who lived near a path that was used to herd pigs from one field to another.I prefer the "hog lifter" explanation myself.
posted by kersplunk at 2:44 AM on October 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
So it's also just a total coincidence that Koulikov looks like Ron Perlman, who played a character named Koulikov in the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates?
A few more lookalikes who just happen to have the same name as the dolls:
Michael Wittman
Major Achbach
Thomas
Sophie
‘The figure is based on a typical German. We believe that all Germans look like that.’
Yep, all Germans named Bastian who come up on the first page of a Google image search.
posted by rory at 3:11 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
A few more lookalikes who just happen to have the same name as the dolls:
Michael Wittman
Major Achbach
Thomas
Sophie
‘The figure is based on a typical German. We believe that all Germans look like that.’
Yep, all Germans named Bastian who come up on the first page of a Google image search.
posted by rory at 3:11 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Get yer Daniel Craig doll here, just in time for Spectre!
posted by rory at 3:17 AM on October 23, 2015
posted by rory at 3:17 AM on October 23, 2015
I'm pretty blown away by how much they do look like the people they're (pretty clearly, to me) copied from. Then again, I grew up with Cher and Donny and Marie and especially this mind-scratchingly-not Suzanne Somers.
posted by Mchelly at 4:13 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 4:13 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yeah most of these are clearly using famous people's images, but that certainly isn't the British Bulldog.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:23 AM on October 23, 2015
posted by Literaryhero at 4:23 AM on October 23, 2015
It's strange--they know the history and what he did, but he does not seem to represent "evil" in the same way Hitler does in the West.
"They blew up the Hitler building! Now where are the children going to go to see Hitler memorabilia?"
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:55 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
"They blew up the Hitler building! Now where are the children going to go to see Hitler memorabilia?"
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:55 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
And I haven't seen all of Fringe, but do they splice Peter's genes with Ray Liotta's at some point in a later season?
Hey, now, spoilers!
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:19 AM on October 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hey, now, spoilers!
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:19 AM on October 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I always thought Sweinsteiger meant Pigsticker. I stand corrected.
posted by trif at 5:40 AM on October 23, 2015
posted by trif at 5:40 AM on October 23, 2015
I always thought it meant Pigstager: a person who grooms and beautifies thoroughbred pigs for competition.
posted by Flashman at 5:48 AM on October 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Flashman at 5:48 AM on October 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's driving me nuts trying to figure out who Gangster II is. I know I've seen that guy in a movie before.
Roman Moronie
posted by candyland at 7:30 AM on October 23, 2015
Roman Moronie
posted by candyland at 7:30 AM on October 23, 2015
That "Not a swastika" icon for the WWII section looks a lot like the 'not a swastika' from the enemies from Metal Slug
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 7:53 AM on October 23, 2015
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 7:53 AM on October 23, 2015
The one that really blows my mind is The Comedy King Of France doll, which is a scale model of Louis de Funes
I didn't know who Louis de Funes was, and for one beautiful, hilarious moment, I thought that they had just designed a generic model of a "Funny French Guy," and gave him the title of The Comedy King Of France, made even more baffling due to it presented in between Martin Luther King, Jr., the British Royal Guard, and Stalin. The presentation reminded me of the old 'boss battle' index pages from games like Mortal Combat.
I'm sure "the man of 40 faces a minute" is quite talented and funny, but something tells me that, at least for me, that moment when he was just an abstract Frenchman I had to defeat in the process of thwarting Stalin's plans might be his most funny moment ever. I just hope MLK and his subsequent doppelganger were defeated in some nonviolent manner, perhaps by a discussion about his employer and why he's standing up for him, so then the three of us can join forces and take on the Royal Guard together and kick asses all they way to Stalin.
posted by chambers at 9:20 AM on October 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
I didn't know who Louis de Funes was, and for one beautiful, hilarious moment, I thought that they had just designed a generic model of a "Funny French Guy," and gave him the title of The Comedy King Of France, made even more baffling due to it presented in between Martin Luther King, Jr., the British Royal Guard, and Stalin. The presentation reminded me of the old 'boss battle' index pages from games like Mortal Combat.
I'm sure "the man of 40 faces a minute" is quite talented and funny, but something tells me that, at least for me, that moment when he was just an abstract Frenchman I had to defeat in the process of thwarting Stalin's plans might be his most funny moment ever. I just hope MLK and his subsequent doppelganger were defeated in some nonviolent manner, perhaps by a discussion about his employer and why he's standing up for him, so then the three of us can join forces and take on the Royal Guard together and kick asses all they way to Stalin.
posted by chambers at 9:20 AM on October 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
So disappointed. I clicked on the Not-A-Swastika link thinking I would be taken to a line of their Close Window Dolls.
posted by lagomorphius at 9:30 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 9:30 AM on October 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
And Winston Churchill looks like he might have had a few too many before he went on the air there.
posted by lagomorphius at 9:33 AM on October 23, 2015
posted by lagomorphius at 9:33 AM on October 23, 2015
There was Hitler, sandwiched in between Audrey Hepburn and Albert Einstein. It's strange--they know the history and what he did, but he does not seem to represent "evil" in the same way Hitler does in the West.
True, but it's not like the West doesn't have The Producers, Downfall parodies, Hitler vs Vader Epic Rap Battle, Inglourious Basterds, that one Monty Python sketch, the times he appeared on The Simpsons, The Great Dictator, and probably a bunch of other stuff. I think it's more likely for a typical non-American to watch or have watched one of those and get the perspective that Hitler is a bad person, but also kind of comical.
posted by FJT at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2015
True, but it's not like the West doesn't have The Producers, Downfall parodies, Hitler vs Vader Epic Rap Battle, Inglourious Basterds, that one Monty Python sketch, the times he appeared on The Simpsons, The Great Dictator, and probably a bunch of other stuff. I think it's more likely for a typical non-American to watch or have watched one of those and get the perspective that Hitler is a bad person, but also kind of comical.
posted by FJT at 9:59 AM on October 23, 2015
And Winston Churchill looks like he might have had a few too many before he went on the air there.
So...like Winston Churchill?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:09 AM on October 23, 2015 [6 favorites]
So...like Winston Churchill?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:09 AM on October 23, 2015 [6 favorites]
I guess it's "pig-stepper" or something. I don't really want to know what his forefather did for a living.
Then this:
...when the German tabloid that's raising a stink about this calls it a "dirty Chinese slur," they're not doing their "we aren't all Nazis!" argument any favors.
Why, indeed! In my long life, I have not seen the Bildzeitung do anyone any favors ever, apart from themselves and their purses after, each day again, selling their crap to the meek and drooling masses. It's literally (and nigh-illiterately) the worst.
Finally, it is "die Mannschaft" (the "die" not capitalized), yes, but at that spot of that sentence, were it a German one, it should be genitive, which makes it in fact "der Mannschaft." So I see where that may have come from. However, snippets from one language that are wedged into another language's structure normally get the grammar-reset-button.
So you wouldn't say "the news we hear from der Volkswagenfabrik is shocking" (even though it should be dative, and "der" is correct even here) but rather one of these:
"The news we hear from die Volkswagenfabrik is shocking," or more elegantly (hum):
"The news we hear from the Volkswagenfabrik is shocking."
posted by Namlit at 10:42 AM on October 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Then this:
...when the German tabloid that's raising a stink about this calls it a "dirty Chinese slur," they're not doing their "we aren't all Nazis!" argument any favors.
Why, indeed! In my long life, I have not seen the Bildzeitung do anyone any favors ever, apart from themselves and their purses after, each day again, selling their crap to the meek and drooling masses. It's literally (and nigh-illiterately) the worst.
Finally, it is "die Mannschaft" (the "die" not capitalized), yes, but at that spot of that sentence, were it a German one, it should be genitive, which makes it in fact "der Mannschaft." So I see where that may have come from. However, snippets from one language that are wedged into another language's structure normally get the grammar-reset-button.
So you wouldn't say "the news we hear from der Volkswagenfabrik is shocking" (even though it should be dative, and "der" is correct even here) but rather one of these:
"The news we hear from die Volkswagenfabrik is shocking," or more elegantly (hum):
"The news we hear from the Volkswagenfabrik is shocking."
posted by Namlit at 10:42 AM on October 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Der tag, on the other hand, is wrong.
Surely if any expression is dative, it must be der tag.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:11 AM on October 24, 2015
Surely if any expression is dative, it must be der tag.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:11 AM on October 24, 2015
Surely if any expression is dative, it must be der tag.
Ho, I made a mixed language quip with an added emphasis, to further muddy the waters...
"Der," italicized, translates into "that (specific)," and the tag (not German for "day" but English, "tag") I was addressing is "dermannschaft," which really should be "diemannschaft" because there isn't any grammatical context to begin with in a tag, and Mannschaft is a feminine noun, going with "die."
Or, simply: "That tag, on the other hand, is wrong."
Now about whether the word "tag" goes with der, die, or das: In my head I'm hearing "tag" in its germanized form as a masculine noun, no idea whether that's true. The nominative form would be "der." In this case, the dative doesn't come into it (and if it would: the dative of "der tag" would be "dem tag").
No true depth, to be sure. Just another facet of the German tendency to make simple matters complex--allowing for hours and hours of blissful conversation during long and beery winter nights.
posted by Namlit at 7:56 AM on October 24, 2015
Ho, I made a mixed language quip with an added emphasis, to further muddy the waters...
"Der," italicized, translates into "that (specific)," and the tag (not German for "day" but English, "tag") I was addressing is "dermannschaft," which really should be "diemannschaft" because there isn't any grammatical context to begin with in a tag, and Mannschaft is a feminine noun, going with "die."
Or, simply: "That tag, on the other hand, is wrong."
Now about whether the word "tag" goes with der, die, or das: In my head I'm hearing "tag" in its germanized form as a masculine noun, no idea whether that's true. The nominative form would be "der." In this case, the dative doesn't come into it (and if it would: the dative of "der tag" would be "dem tag").
No true depth, to be sure. Just another facet of the German tendency to make simple matters complex--allowing for hours and hours of blissful conversation during long and beery winter nights.
posted by Namlit at 7:56 AM on October 24, 2015
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