anybody here read German?

[flowomo]

Howie Kurtz mentioned the Merkel Massage in his column today and linked to a German newspaper. The headline is:

Bush: Liebes-Attacke auf Merkel!
US-Präsident fliegt auf unsere Kanzlerin

Diese politische Liebe ist sprichwörtlich zum Greifen!


Can somebody translate that?

[porphyrian]

1. Yes, but only if it's in English.

However, lucky for us, Google has an online translator...

Dear attack on Merkel! US president flies on our Kanzlerin This political love is proverbial for seizing!

Hmm, I don't know...

[SmokingJacket]

Just a little high school German here, but...

I'd say it's more like "LOVE ATTACK" rather than "dear attack"!

[porphyrian]

8. Damn you Google Translator! Damn you!!! - n/t

[Kikosexy2]

22. Ask Dr. Z...

he's German, no?

[porphyrian]

24. Which one?

This one: http://www.drz.org/

or this one: http://www.askdrz.com/ ...?

[annabanana]

31. THIS one?

[Wonk]

2. Here's what babelfish translates it as

Bush: Dear attack on Merkel!
US president flies on our Kanzlerin

This political love is proverbial for seizing!

http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

[Rosemary2205]

13. self delete - wrong location.

[Cleita]

32. I would translate that first sentence as

a love or affectionate attack on Merkel although it's been forty years since I've done any German.

[Kajsa]

34. World Lingo's

translation was the exact same thing.

"Bush: Dear attack on Merkel!
US president flies this political love
on our Kanzlerin is proverbial for seizing!"

There a lot lost in the translation.

[NewInNewJ.]

3. Google translates it.

[JuniperLea]

4. From Babel Fish...

Dear attack on Merkel! US president flies on our Kanzlerin This political love is proverbial for seizing!

[flyarm]

9. wha???????????

calling all germans..please translate!!

fly

[El Supremo]

5. One on line translator:

This political dear is proverbial for grasping!

[helderheid]

6. I can read Dutch - best I can tell this says

Bush: Love Attack of Merkel!
US President (flew? ran?) ?? ??

This political Love is ??? ?? ??

[Zebedeo]

7. Sure

Bush: Love-attack on Merkel!
U.S. President flies onto our Chancellor
This political love is proverbially for seizing!

[KoKo]

10. A website translated it as "Love Attack on German Chancellor." n/t

[Cornus]

11. Translation

My friend speaks German...he said it translates as: Bush: an attack of love on Merkel! Us President flies at our chancellor. This political love is to be understood as a proverb.

Whatever that means!!!???

[El Supremo]

12. Something is definitely lost in the translation! n/t

[rumpel]

14. Bush love attack on Merkel

US President obsessed with our chancellor

This political love is proverbially tangible

[Bluebear]

15. Bush: Love attack on Merkel! US Prez flies/lands on our Chancellor!

...This political love is supposed to be perceived as a proverb.

[Rosemary2205]

16. It means

Merkel was far from offended and her and Bush have a "thing" -- it implies they get along well politically and romantically. It's a joke.

"love attack" is a double meaning that refers to lovers at play

[flowomo]

17. Hmmmmm.... a new title for Bush: Lord of the Flies

[rumpel]

19. great one! lol

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[flowomo]

25. (taking the conch) thank you.....

(handing it back)

[rumpel]

18. "fliegen" in this sense means to be attracted obsessively!

"fliegen" normally means flying - but it has a double meaning here

or you can also translate it "falls for"

[wryter2000]

20. You're not going to believe this one

It's on the level.

zum Greifen means "prehensile."

Love attack on Merkel! The US President falls for our Chancellor. This political love is strictly prehensile.

[tabasco]

21. Aaaaaahahahahahahaha!!! Good one.

Chimpy might be taking the country down the toilet but he's good for some laughs.

[jmowreader]

23. Don't even try to translate the third line

Some things in German just cannot be translated into another language. You can get all the words right--Babelfish does that fine--but the context?

I translate the first two lines as: "Bush: Love Attack! The US President jumps our Chancellor."

German is a fucked-up language because (1) they use one word for thirteen different things, (2) you're allowed to invent your own words and expect people to know what they mean, and (3) no matter how tender the thing you're trying to say, if you say it in German you always sound like Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann introducing himself to his platoon.

You wanna have a good time mit Deutsch? Translate anything with the word "nachtrichten" in it without knowing the context and see what you get. Nachtrichten means "information." It also translates into "communications," "news" and "intelligence" (the CIA variety of intelligence, not the Einstein variety).

[Kellanved]

29. Twain sends his regards

Point (1) is true for pretty much all languages - homonyms aren't even that frequent in German. Intelligence is a good example, Nachrichten less so - it just means "messages" but is used in many contexts where "messages" wouldn't be used. (2) and (3) are what makes it fun.

[Swamp Rat]

26. Jawol. Here is my translation:

"Bush: Liebes-Attacke auf Merkel!" = "Bush: Love attack on Merkel!"

"US-Präsident fliegt auf unsere Kanzlerin" = "US President lands on (pounces on) our Chancellor!"

"Diese politische Liebe ist sprichwörtlich zum Greifen!" = "This political love is a proverbial grab!" - This third sentence doesn't translate as well into English.

[Kellanved]

27. You're closest

:thumbsup:





"Bush: Liebes-Attacke auf Merkel!" = "Bush: Love attack on Merkel!"

"US-Präsident fliegt auf unsere Kanzlerin" = "US President is smitten by our Chancellorette"

"Diese politische Liebe ist sprichwörtlich zum Greifen!" = "This political love is literally palpable!". (it really doesn't translate well)

[Swamp Rat]

36. "Ich bin ein Busengrabscher!"

:D

Viel danke. :hi:



Bitte, errichten Sie diese Scheiße in Berlin! :D



:D :hi:

[Uncle Joe]

28. My take on it is Bush sucks and what the hell were you Americans

thinking letting him out of the house without his strait jacket on?

:spank:


Of course I may have missed something in the translation.

[hootinholler]

30. I take it this is a different article than the one

Here?

US-Präsident George W. Bush beim G-8-Gipfel in Sankt Petersburg.

Von hinten schleicht er verschmitzt an Kanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) heran, überrascht sie mit einer Blitz-Massage.


Gotta love that: einer Blitz-Massage!

Sounds so Polish invasion.

-Hoot

[Spazito]

33. ROFL! I heard about this thread but couldn't find it till now, it is ...

absolutely hilarious! Am still laughing!

[DanCa]

35. No but he runs the army like Siegfried ran Choas.

Get Smart fans can back me on this.