Re: [Enigma-devel] thank you!!

[Andreas Lochmann]

Hi,

Ronald Lamprecht wrote:

> > > > I'm now stuck on the "advanced tutorial" level, but I've finally
> > > > figured out why the spoon could be a good thing.  (Though I have no
> > > > idea why a spoon would kill you when you drop it.)
> > >
> > >
> > > That's a German wordplay. We say "den Loeffel abgeben" ("to give the
> > > spoon
> > > away" meaning "not to eat anymore") as a circumscription for "to die".
> > >
> > > And ... what symbol is more non-violent?
> >
> >
> > Thank you for clearing up the significance of the spoon for us Brits.
>
>
> Well I fear the German wordplay is not as non-violent as Andreas told 
> you. I never heard his modern wordplay but am very sure the ancient 
> word play has its origin in the language of hunters.
>
> The German word for the ears of rabbits is "Loeffel" ("spoon") due to 
> their shape. In the hunters language dead rabbits have given away 
> their ears - called spoons. And thus it got the common German habit to 
> recommend each other not to give away the spoon.


That explanation again is new to me - sounds logical, but then it
would rather be "die Loeffel abgeben" (plural) instead of "den Loeffel
abgegen" (singular)? Like in "die Loeffel steif halten" (hold the spoons/
ears upright).

And, Wikipedia gives an explanation similar to mine, refering to the Duden:
 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_L%C3%B6ffel_abgeben
They say, that in medieval times, each person owned their personal,
often self-carved spoon, and never gave it away. Until they die.
And wikipedia is always right! ;-)

A fourth, more speculative explanation is given in the corresponding
discussion-page. Here, the spoon is related to certain drugs ...

Greets,
Andreas