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Apparently, in the German war movie "Das Boot" in the English version, the captain is called by the crew "The Old Man" (see en article). I looked on the web and found a part of the original German book (used for the movie) from Lothar-Günther Buchheim in the English translation, where the same English term is used. In the German original, the respective term is "Der Alte" (literally "The Old", hence without "Man"). As we are dealing with the military, hierarchy is (abstractly regarded) far more important than age - what I mean is, in German the term "Der Alte" has (which is a subtle, but clear distinction) the connotation of "the eldest man on board" or "the boss", while the aspect of age is clearly ranked lower than hierachy. Hence, one could say that the term "Der Alte" is more of an informal rank expression than it refers to age. This even more so, as the term "The Old Man", literally translated to German as "Der alte Mann", would clearly have a strong connotation of weakness (due to age), would hence also be regarded as disrespectful, and thus would definitely not be used by a crew for their 30 year old captain (which was a typical age). To emphasize this: If one refers to a man of higher age in civil life in German (today, but probably in WWII as well), to literally call him or speak about him as "Der alte Mann" is close to an insult, suitable would be "Der ältere Herr" or so. Differently said, unless there would be some special, e.g. historical meaning in English to "The Old Man" in a military sense - which I do not know as a German - I assume that the expression was just badly translated to E|nglish long time ago. Does all this make sense, or did I make a logical mistake? Pittigrilli ( talk) 17:35, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
State may close Ahtanum View, prison for the old and infirm". [2] -- Lambiam 22:17, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
(This is about words such as "zooplankton" that start with the Greek prefix zoo- meaning animal.)
Is it common today for people unfamiliar with these words to pronounced them zoo and not the prescribed zoh-oh?? Georgia guy ( talk) 17:36, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
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< January 30 | << Dec | January | Feb >> | February 1 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives |
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The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
Apparently, in the German war movie "Das Boot" in the English version, the captain is called by the crew "The Old Man" (see en article). I looked on the web and found a part of the original German book (used for the movie) from Lothar-Günther Buchheim in the English translation, where the same English term is used. In the German original, the respective term is "Der Alte" (literally "The Old", hence without "Man"). As we are dealing with the military, hierarchy is (abstractly regarded) far more important than age - what I mean is, in German the term "Der Alte" has (which is a subtle, but clear distinction) the connotation of "the eldest man on board" or "the boss", while the aspect of age is clearly ranked lower than hierachy. Hence, one could say that the term "Der Alte" is more of an informal rank expression than it refers to age. This even more so, as the term "The Old Man", literally translated to German as "Der alte Mann", would clearly have a strong connotation of weakness (due to age), would hence also be regarded as disrespectful, and thus would definitely not be used by a crew for their 30 year old captain (which was a typical age). To emphasize this: If one refers to a man of higher age in civil life in German (today, but probably in WWII as well), to literally call him or speak about him as "Der alte Mann" is close to an insult, suitable would be "Der ältere Herr" or so. Differently said, unless there would be some special, e.g. historical meaning in English to "The Old Man" in a military sense - which I do not know as a German - I assume that the expression was just badly translated to E|nglish long time ago. Does all this make sense, or did I make a logical mistake? Pittigrilli ( talk) 17:35, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
State may close Ahtanum View, prison for the old and infirm". [2] -- Lambiam 22:17, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
(This is about words such as "zooplankton" that start with the Greek prefix zoo- meaning animal.)
Is it common today for people unfamiliar with these words to pronounced them zoo and not the prescribed zoh-oh?? Georgia guy ( talk) 17:36, 31 January 2024 (UTC)