Re: German Seen Spatially


"Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim" <Jdibrahim@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1134852890.173404.220920@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sometimes after shopping when I ask my German wife: Where shall I leave
> the shopping bags? She answers by saying: da wo Platz ist, literally
> put them anywhere you find space. Space seems to play a very important
> role in German: just look around, don't hesitate but take it when you
> find it.

So, let me get this straight ---- you're taking your wife's suggestion to
put the groceries down wherever there's space, and you're generalizing this
into a German propensity for taking space when it's found??

There are countless examples where English perceives things as
> a point or surface as in: at the moment, good at German, on TV, on the
> radio; German in contrast sees them spatially: im Moment, im Fernsehen,
> im Radio.

No pun intended, but I don't quite get your point ---- just how are the
English prepositions "on" or "at" any less "spatial" than the German
preposition "in" ?? I fail to see the "contrast" you're talking about.
Please elucidate.

>
> On the other hand for one little German word "Platz" there are at
> least seven English words depending upon what they refers to:
> Place, space, room, seat, square, pitch, court. Apart from the word
> "Raum: room" German labels them all "Platz". The metaphor of
> spatial orientation and journey as evident in the preposition "to"
> (again of Germanic origin) is very powerful in English.

Forgive me if I fail to grasp your point, but since the word "to", used as a
*preposition*, would seem to imply spatial orientation as well as movement,
just what is so "powerful" about this? Is there some deeper level I'm
unable to plumb?



.

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