Did you know… The new pope eats Argentines?
I came across a newspaper article just after the new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was announced as the new head honcho of the Catholic Church.
So… is the new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a cannibal who favors his Argentinian fellow-countrymen as a delicious meal, just like the headline in a German newspaper suggested? Admittedly, I have no idea what kind of diet Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church prefers but I’m pretty sure that he is not after human meat. So you might wonder, why do I ask the question whether Pope Francis craves for humans for supper?
A German newspaper wrote: “Der neuePapstisstArgentinier”, which means “The new Pope eats Argentines”. Actually, (at least I’m pretty confident that’s the case) the writer of this newspaper articles wanted to say this: “Der neuePapstistArgentinier” (“The new Pope is Argentinian”). So, what led to this linguistic accident?
The conjugated forms (2nd and 3rd person singular) of the German verbs “sein” (to be) and “essen” (to eat) share one and the same sound chain, that is, “ist” and “isst” are so-called homophones – the pronunciation of both these forms is identical – but orthographically they mean two totally different things. In order to make sure that you do not walk right into the same trap, here’s an overview of the correct conjugated forms of both the German verbs sein and essen:
| sein (to be) | ||
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | ich bin – I am | Wirsind – we are |
| 2nd person | du bist – you are (informal)Siesind – you are (formal) | ihrseid – you are (informal)Siesind – you are (formal) |
| 3rd person | er/sie/esist – he/she/it is | siesind – they are |
| essen (to eat) | ||
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | ichesse – I eat | wiressen – we eat |
| 2nd person | du isst – you eat (informal)Sieessen – you eat (formal) | ihresst – you eat (informal)Sieessen – you eat (formal) |
| 3rd person | er/sie/esisst – he/she/it eats | sieessen – they eat |
As you can see, German shares one and the same form for English “you”, “she”, and “they”, which is “sie” and “Sie”, respectively. When you refer to your immediate counterpart in personal communication make sure to use a CAPITAL letter in formal address.
Unfortunately, the editor’s mistake is irreversible but one thing is for sure: he or she is most probably a laughing stock in the office and definitely among members of the language police. My final remark: Spell-check can save lives!
Danny Ruch – German Teacher
Latest Comments