Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Ode To My Mother Tongue

(or: when intellectuals talk football)

I have just come across an interview about football with the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, and i am impressed and also irritated by the plethora of terms and phrases he comes up with to describe that game. Just a sample:
  • Torschützenorgasmen
  • nationale Erregungsgemeinschaften
  • atavistisch (to my knowledge one of his favourite words)
  • anthropologische Versuchsanordnung
  • protoartilleristische Jagderfolgsgefühle
  • dieses mysteriöse weibliche Universal der Handtasche (ok, not football-related but too cool to miss)
  • "Ich bin nicht der Maskottchentyp" (no, just iconic?)
  • permanente Überbelichtung (oh really?, i thought ...)
  • Hermaphroditisierung
What a great read, and really prominent among all the ramblings that we are being inundated with in the run-up to the World Cup.

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