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shevy-java • today at 1:00 PM • 3 replies • view on HN

That name is super-strange.

"Der Viener Schlinger".

So ... "Der" is german, we can translate this into "The".

"Schlinger" is a strange word; there is Schlinge in german, which could be translated as loop, snare or, better, a sling. You can see how similar sling is to Schling or vice versa here. To sling ... may also be herumschlingen, a snake may have a similar movement like that; curvy movement aka not linear or so. Makes sense for a sling that throws stuff about, see the slingshot channel or Tod's Workshop. So far this is a bit strange, but not totally strange.

But next comes ... "Viener". This is VERY strange. Where does this word originate? My first impression was it was from Vienna, a city; the german name for the city is "Wien", and if you replace the V here with a W, then it would be "Wiener" (which in english would be viennese, but in local wording). So when I first read the three words, I thought this originated from Vienna ... but that makes no sense. It's from the USA. So Viener must mean something else. But then why it is "Schlinger" rather than "slinger" or sling"? And why the name "Der"? I mean that only makes sense for a german word. Now I am very confused.

I also don't recall any meat cannon as a tradition in central Europe either, so that makes no sense either. Who coined that word here, anyway?


Replies

orangedog • today at 1:14 PM

It's just "The Wiener Slinger" in psuedo-German. The article mentions its origins.

➕ show 2 replies
bityard • today at 3:41 PM

HN never lets me down when it comes to pedantic critiques of obvious humor!

dmtroyer • today at 2:00 PM

bad bot.