Grateful Dead

Good to see you back Bob - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://spanishsunshinedaydream.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=633338979 Spanish Jam

Since I've lived in Germany since 2003 I thought I should ask around. My friend who is a teacher has never heard the name before nor have I. Apparently it doesn't have a meaning in German. Perhaps it did in some long ago past. Such is the way language develops and changes over time. It sounds German in some sort of way, to me at least. Although it could be a Germanificated name of a family that emigrated to Germany from somewhere else. Many Jewish names are such. With such a small number of occurrences of the name in Germany they are probably all related to u! Isn't that fantastic! If you know the name(s) of the forefathers who came from there, where they embarked from (the port, probably Hamburg), and what year, you could really find out a lot. The Mormon church has a data base on the internet u can use to find out about your family tree. If u google it u will find it. It's free, u just type in the family name, easy! Churches in Germany and much of Europe have recorded births and baptisms going back many centuries. The Mormons scanned all these records. I found out about the website when I was in Denmark checking some of my family stuff at their national records library. There is a new museum in Hamburg on the theme of emigration. They have, or are setting up an online database of those records of passengers who left from here. That should be handy! Another possibility for this unusual name is that it could be from a small minority, Germanys only native ethnic minority. They live around the Lubben and Lubbenau area in eastern Germany. They are called the Sorbs and are of Slavic decent. East Germans are lovely down to earth people if I may generalize. They are not so money focussed as many in West Germany. East Germans are called Ossies. It means easterners kinda, ost means east in German. There are jokes about Ossies, and Friesians and etc... as u get in every part of the world. The Germans do have a sort of sense of humour believe it or not. I once taught English in a top secret Tank design facility here and asked the students if they thought Germany has a good reputation for tanks. We were talking about marketing product. They replied in the affirmative. I said, "even after losing the last two world wars?" with a chuckle and they were laughing quite a bit. ;) Are you kind?

....:-)(-:

After looking up all meanings of "spit (out)" in my dictionary, I am not sure if your post starts with a compliment for parts of my previous posts. If it does, I am not sure whether to thank you or not. For reasons as follow. I never ever make jokes about somebody's name, except I am very sure the person, who's name I am joking about, won't get her/his feelings hurt. And I won't start to argue, whether 573 times is a lot for a family name in a country with ... no I won't google the exact number, but it will be a bit less than 15,000 times 573 citizens. Nor do I know how many family names in total are used in this country. So I can't say whether 573 times is average, next to nothing or among the top 100 names of such a list. I also did not write something with a "little irony" about people from former East Germany in my back and forth of posts with BobbaLee. As I know next to nothing about these Germans first hand, I would never do so. And well, the few jokes, I know about East Germans, first of all tell me a lot about the prejudices, lack of understanding and respect of the people telling them. And that is a part of human behaviour, I will never ever accept. As a poet and storyteller I am serious about what to say/write which way, even when I am in the funny mode. So when communicating in English. I edit quite a lot. For example to erase everything I don't mean (even "between the lines"). And I know that I sometimes fail with this. But such is life. So ... Now I could wonder about what has been "just delightful" to you. But well, I just don't. have a nice day, peace (to me starts with true understanding), andré

andre,its wonderful how u spit out one good joke after another concerning somebodys name(which in germany exists 573 times,so it moght not b vietnamese)and the little irony about easr germans,thats just delightful..keep on keepin it on!!:-)(-:peace Frankly

Glad to "see" you again. "If the forms of this world die, which is more real, the me that dies or the me that's infinite? Can I trust my habitual mind, or do I need to learn to look beneath those things?"

Just noticed is a chat room. How long has that been there? ********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens

Am here sporatically, and in spirit more often. Just don't have too much to say at the moment.********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens

TL! Phone home! We miss you!

Bobba Lee, Now it is plain to see, that I know little about former East Germany. But as you have relatives there, one of them might know, what this name means and where it comes from. I am 6'3" and until the end of the '76 summer holidays I never had encountered people taller than me. I was 20 and there was this 15 or 16 year old, who was more than one head taller than me. Within a short period of time, I saw some more of these lantern like people. And my system had to adjust to this. And well, the road goes on forever .... andré