permanent resident
One hazard of living in Germany: gnomes show up uninvited. This little guy has taken up permanent residence on our balcony. I’m afraid to evict him. He is wielding an ax, after all.
whiter shade of pale
One of the quirkiest features of my neighborhood grocery store are the hand-lettered signs in the produce section. It seems it’s not enough to write the price per kilo. The employees also add a cheerful little descriptions: the juciest, super sweetie, delicious, etc. Yet recently, to describe some mushrooms, they had written “a whiter shade of pale” in English. I giggled, taking it for an example of Denglish. But a few weeks later, the phrase turned up in a punk song. And then in a Maureen Dowd column. To think that the Edeka employees were taking a line from Procol Harum cracks me up. I had never understood the lyrics. But now that I do, can’t say I’m any more impressed with the song.
