FIFA World Cup 2010: The 8 starting groups

On Dec. 4, the 8 groups to start the first phase in World Cup play next year will be determined in Cape Town in a ceremony broadcast to the entire world, emceed by one of S. Africa's most notable exports, Charlize Theron. This thread will give readers a chance to comment--I'll start with a preview...

Word of the month: Liebeskummer

A combination of Liebe (love) and Kummer (grief, sorrow) that refers to the state of mind of people whose love life is not going well, especially the sorrow felt by jilted lovers.

Note on pronunciation: The "ie" is pronounced like English "ee", not like English "eye". The "u" is a short "oo" as in "foot".

Word of the month: Angsthase

Word of Month Index

I had a good time two months ago with drawing a Pechvogel and a Glückspilz and decided to add to the series. Angsthase combines Angst (fear) and Hase (hare) and is used to indicate a person who scares easily—a "scaredy cat" would be its English counterpart.

More in my first comment...

[Source: Wild Things in the German Language: Kindle version | iBook version]

More slants on language

In the Sachzwang thread, we ended by briefly talking about Heinrich Böll's critique of language as a tool for overt or covert political propaganda. A reader reintroduced the topic under a more general perspective...

FIFA World cup 2010 in S. Africa: Who is qualified?

I created this thread to keep the soccer fans among my friends up-to-date on the qualifying rounds currently played all over the world. I continue to post updates as soon as new informations comes in. The official FIFA website will give you more details.
Update 11/18: All 32 teams have now been determined--and they include some real surprises. I'll create a new thread on Dec. 4, the day when the 8 groups of four that start competition next year will be set up (through a mixture of seating and random drawing).

Chandler--which novel is the best?

On a different blog, several fans of Raymond Chandler have outed themselves, which motivated me to start a discussion dear to my heart: Which of his half-dozen or so novels is the best?

Word of the month: Lebensgefährte, Lebensgefährtin

Both words mean literally "life companion" (male and female form, respectively--they combine Leben ("life") with Gefährte/Gefährtin ("companion"). The words are used to indicate the person one is sharing ones's life with without being married, i.e. a live-in lover. I do not expect these terms ever to enter English usage, but they are interesting to me because they point to a real difference I perceive in the way Americans and Germans deal "officially" with sexual relations. More in my first comment...