Author:
Boyd Percy
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Date Posted: 23:33:05 11/07/12 Wed
>>>The term was learned from her Grandmother.
>>>Consequently would be from a more formal generation.
>>>
>>>Wexwiz
>>>
>>
>>Wexwiz, the point is that no one fluent in German
>>would use it colloquially, irrespective of
>>generational barriers. It just sounds artificial. In
>>any case, the actual expression is "Alles in Ordnung"
>>(you don't need the "ist").
>>
>>Don't take my word for it, just ask a native German.
>
>Or in fact, read what this native German has already
>commented on that topic.
This interesting conversation has prompted me to recall two older books by Wes. No profound observations though.
In "Absent Friend", six men from Spearfish Lake return to Vietnam in 1990-91 to search for the remains of Henry Toivo, the dead fiancee of Susan's mother. They are accompanied by a Vietnamese-American woman,Binky Augsberg who goes as an interpreter. While in Vietnam, one of Vietnamese helpers the group hires remarks to Binky that she speaks Vietnamese with an American accent though it is not as bad as her American husband, Steve.
In "Blue Beauty", Trey arrives in Florida driving a car with Kansas license plates. Buddha, who has a good ear for dialect, is a little confused by Trey's speech. He detects a Kansas dialect overlaying someone from Indiana or Ohio.
It makes one wonder how much the German accent of Susan's grandmother was corrupted by all the American English and Yopper going on around her.
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