Dear Betsy,
yes - it's 'Kontrabass'; it's from a song/rhyme [similar to '10 kleine
Negerlein' (!) - 'Ten green bottles'] - but I know it as
Drei Japanesen mit dem Kontrabass
gingen auf die Straße
und erzählten sich was.
Da kam die Polizei:
Ja, was ist denn das?
Drei Japanesen mit dem Kontrabass.
This is repeated then as: 'Dro Joponoson mot dom Kontroboss', etc, using
all the different vowals.
Ask your exchange students whether they still know it - it would be
interesting to hear whether this song is still surviving.
Martha
At 06:45 AM 11/11/99 +0000, you wrote:
>
>
>Dear all,
>
>I've been asked to translate a diary of a visit to Germany in 1939 (it's
>fascinating) and have come across the following song lyric:
>
>"Drei Juden und drei Chinese mit den Kontrabense"
>
>Does anyone have any idea what a "Kontrabense" might be? It's not in the
>Duden. Could it perhaps be a Kontrabass? And does anyone have a clue about
>what cultural references might be there?
>
>Thank you very much,
>
>Betsy Pennebaker
>
>
>
Martha Worsching
Lecturer in German
[Reviews Editor of the Journal of European Area Studies]
Dept. of European Studies
Loughborough University
LOUGHBOROUGH LE 11 3TU/UK
Tel: 0044-1509-222 998
Fax: 0044-1509-223 917
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Visit the 'Journal of European Area Studies' at:
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/eu/jeas.html
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/carfax/14608464.html
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