So last summer when I was having dinner with a friend from WHV she giggled when she heard me speak in what she thought was a very northern German accent, coastal even, when she, after living in Leipzig for 8 years, had pretty much lost her own. But what she really laughed about was when I used the expression, "Ich schmeiß' mich weg." Seems this was a phrase she hadn't heard in many, many years and so I was something like a talking time capsule (like if someone said "tubular" without any irony) from the end of the '80s.
But today I saw it used at Catwalk, so maybe it's not just me. I don't feel quite so archaic now.
[upon closer examination (a google search) I see it all over the place. Was hatte sie denn nur?]
Posted by Heather at October 15, 2004 09:48 AM
Comments
I consider it a general rule of thumb that, as long as my accent is showing, I can't use slang and expect to be taken seriously. Yet slang is the most fun! It's only when I translate it back into English with an accent that I realize people are laughing with me.... but also at me!
Posted by: Libby at October 15, 2004 10:27 AM