Felix Schloemp. Das unheimliche Buch, 1914

The spooky book

hope this guy gets to have a lot of sex with the people of his choice.

Impressive

Du kannst nicht "Geschlecht" ohne "schlecht" buchstabieren

i would post this joke in english but it doesn't translate very well

no i think it translates just fine actually

Fun Facts

In German, the translation for birth control pill is antibabypille.

In Switzerland there is a pregnancy test called Maybe Baby available in vending machines.

And some Welsh folks call their microwave a Poppity-Ping… which has nothing to do with pregnancy products, but it was also in the reddit thread I was researching and too adorable not to include here. 

You’re about to have a whole bunch of Welsh people in your inbox, my dude.

I swear to fucking god, it is bad enough having that stupid fucking “popty ping” lie around, but now apparently people aren’t even spelling the only correct and accurate Welsh word in it right. I can 100% assure you that literally no person on this entire planet has ever referred to a microwave as a ‘poppity-ping’.

Can people please stop being condescending fucks towards an endangered language and culture, thanks

Sorry about that. The person in the thread claimed to be Welsh and the first few google entries seemed to confirm it. Looking again, I think I might have mistaken urban dictionary for an actual dictionary. So that’s my bad. The third entry was from a Welsh website but it looks like it was actually just a clickbait post. I was tired and had taken a lunesta to help me sleep. It really did seem legit at the time when I was chasing that magic sleep butterfly.

It looks like popty microdon might be a thing, but not ping. I can assure you that I had no intention of being condescending or insulting. I thought it was a funny language thing. Like how in America some folks call a turtle a cooter. And that we have an actual cooter festival. Which some people get disappointed about when they realize it is about turtles. Though I’m not sure why, cuz turtles are pretty cool. Okay, I am digressing big time here. 

Again, I am sorry. Joking aside, I really am. I had no idea. I love the Welsh. You made my favorite dog. I’d ask that you forgive my error, but if you want to yell at me some more, that’s fine too. I’ve let the internet trick me twice in the past few weeks and I am usually not easily duped. I’m not sure what is going on with me. Hopefully I can do better in the future. 

Sigh. I was actually just coming back to this to apologise to you - that one hit a nerve today, but that’s not your fault, and given how widespread the whole popty ping myth is, I’m not surprised you were taken in.

So, to clarify: the word “popty” is real, but it means ‘oven’. Literally, it means ‘baking house’ (from pob + tŷ), because something that is true of Welsh is that we think any building is a house, apparently, even if it’s a three-foot square box. The actually word for ‘microwave’, which real Welsh speakers will actually use, is “meicrodon”, which is roughly pronounced Make-roh-don with a rolled r, and sounds like a dinosaur.

‘Popty ping’ means ‘ping oven’, and is used as often - and in the same context - as an English speaker would use the phrase ‘ping oven’, i.e. it’s not unless someone might decide with a child to use a funny name. A quick analogy I can think of, actually, might be ‘moo cow’ instead of ‘bull’. You might use it with a child if you were being saccharine and overly cutsie, but you wouldn’t say that the English word for a bull was a ‘moo cow’.

And the problem that comes in is that there is a whoooooolle country of people next door to us (hi, England) full of avowed monoglots who variously either view Welsh-speakers in patronising, head-patting terms OR as a hated reminder that they didn’t, in fact, manage to conquer us completely, and both groups are, for whatever reason, very invested in spreading the idea that the Welsh language is a thing of ridicule with its fake, childish words. The idea that Welsh doesn’t have any words for modern things (as popularised by Decaying Harridan Janet Street Porter, who told the world that we don’t have a word for ‘television’ and trades off having a Welsh mam for validity in her crusade) is actively dangerous to us, because it encourages the idea that Welsh is not endangered, but dying, and a millstone holding us back.

It’s also, by this point, so pervasive that non-Welsh speaking Welsh people have absorbed it and will happily spread it, which seems to be what you fell prey to here. It’s really not your fault, so I am sorry I snapped. Bad day, but that’s not on you.

To make amends, here is a picture I drew of a corgi made into a Pokemon (I’m guessing that’s your favourite dog)

No amends necessary, but I do appreciate it nonetheless. And I appreciate you being understanding of my mistake. So, it’s all good. No worries. 

Also I am grateful for the detailed information about the Welsh language. Before this all I really knew about was a lengthy road sign. This put things in a much better perspective and I actually learned a lot. Thanks for that. 

And, yes, the corgi is my favorite dog. That is an awesome pokecorg drawing. I’m not sure you realize how much of a peace offering that actually is for me.  

You see, I love corgis so much that I decided to raise my very own stumpy mischief maker from a tiny pup.

Meet Otis the Corgi! 

I LOVE HIM TELL HIM I LOVE HIM

Hey, you probably already know this, but did you know that in Welsh folklore corgis (or corgwn, to use the Welsh plural) were the chosen steeds of fairy warriors? 

I will relay the message of love to Otis.

And I actually did know about the fairy warriors and their stumpy steeds. In fact, when I helped a kickstarter for an art book get funded, they drew me as an honorary fairy warrior complete with corgwn mount.

Hey in case anyone missed it this is a great thread.

This is one of the greatest threads: humour, misunderstanding, conflict, reaching out, rapprochement AND CORGIS! Applause for all involved. And ruff scruffs for Otis, who is beautiful.