Monday, July 26, 2010

No "barefoot and pregnant" in German?

The hipster-chick in line at the bank spoke so loud that I couldn't help but overhear. And soon, I was too repelled and fascinated not to actively listen:
[Speaking emphatically in german]...pregnant. Literally barefoot and pregnant...[More german]... I mean, come on...[Lots more german. Clearly still talking about the same person and not letting a word in edgewise]...Student loan...[More german]...White trash.

Clearly English is better suited for certain descriptions. Ironically, the phrase "barefoot and pregnant" might be ideologically
descended from the German phrase "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" ("children, kitchen, church") coined in the 1800s.

Wikipedia's
code-switching article seems to be the most relevant linguistic definition of this type of language-switching phenomenon.

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