A Schwein is a pig and a Hund a dog. Put the two together and you have a word designating someone who might be called a "bastard" in English. But the meaning can vary considerably depending on context, with a trace of admiration mixed in at one end and a completely derisive, contemptuous connotation at the other end.I experimented with several ways of drawing the creature in question and show the two I considered the most successful ones—one illustrating the easy approach, where the animal is split into two halves crosswise, and one illustrating a more difficult approach, where the animal is split lengthwise. I have not tried what appears to me to be the most difficult approach, to draw a creature that would result from mating a pig with a dog. One problems is that some dog breeds already look as if they resulted from that kind of union—how does one draw a cartoon of a cartoon? But I haven't given up yet...
In any case, I have run out of words that could lead to the kind of drawings I have been showing every second month, and unless I come across new possibilities—or someone can suggest some—the current drawing concludes that mini-series.
As to spelling: The e between the two constituent nouns is optional and can be added to make the transition from n to h easier to pronounce.
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4 comments:
I love them both. The look on the dog's face is priceless.
Ooh, my brother always called me this when I was small. I never forgave him for calling me a pig dog.I understood the other connotations as well as the literal translation...not that this made it any better. Grr :p
Hmm--I've never heard the insult applied to someone of the female persuasion...
I think my brother was happy to apply any insult he could think of, whether or not it was appropriate! :p
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