6/10/2006

The Swine and his Tiger - Guest Blog

Yesterday, I heard that Costa Rica's National Team considered "the Man with the 7" to be the most dangerous one in the German team. Who? They couldn't pronounce his name (probably this makes him even more peculiar ...).

This morning, I read an interview with Pelé, and he spoke about a young player with a name sounding like a whiskey-brand. He seems to have heavy problems with the pronunciation of the name and meant Swine's Tiger! So, that way it is correct: Sebastian Schweinsteiger. Still probs? Just call him Sweiney. That's what we Germans do as well.

Stevie, Guestblogger

7 comments:

Rob said...

Why is it that Germans can have surnames such as Cabbage and Pigmounter?
Having said that, I know of a Mr Hogsflesh, and my prmary school headmistress was Mrs Bottom.

francessa said...

:-) nice examples! What about Mr Swan, Mr Thistle, Ms Mountain, Mrs Scattergood?
I think we could go on and on ... in both languages.

Rob said...

Swan sounds very normal to an English ear...
Can't say I've ever come across Thistle as a name. Scattergood is quite common.
Some random ones that come to mind that a foreigner might find odd: Armstrong, Barker (very common) Blow, Kettle, Fazackerley, Grime, Hardcastle, Hockenhull, Igoe, Kerfoot, Lovelady, Niblock, Onions, Poon, Quick, Rice, Speirs, Stack, Voss, Whitwham...all taken from the staff list of the university where I work!

Anonymous said...

An english name I personally find quite odd is Nicky Butt, have to say this.

But Schweinsteiger is regarded as an odd name in Germany as well.

francessa said...

This is funny! I love Onions! Now a few Austrian names: Umschaden, Verwuester, Schwein, Schneckenreiter, Schmutz, Sausack, Sarg, Polster, Opferkuh, Feuerstein, Knaller, Meise, Arsch, Erbse, Eisenzopf, Durchschlag ...

Rob said...

Arsch!
But we have Ramsbottom - quite a common Northern name, and the name of a place near Manchester.
I always thought Schoen was odd - it would seem bizarre to have an English person called beautiful - but we have Truelove, Wellbeloved, Loveless, etc usw...

Anonymous said...

3:1 ! Not too bad, Swiney !!!

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