Happy 3rd of October

[dream_labyrinth]

After saying so much beforehand about how I would prefer us to celebrate our National Holiday more like the Americans or the French, I now have to admit I didn't listen to the festivities being broadcasted by the radio.
I simply forgot that they would be on.
But I did put up the two little German flags I made with WindowColor.
Our President, so I have heard, made a very sensible and - lo and behold - really patriotic speech. He even said something along the lines of "God bless Germany", which is completely unusual.
Not that I think that absolutely necessary, but if a President who is Christian asks for the blessing of the higher being he believes in, I don't think it can hurt. Even though some people might see it as being against the separation of state and church. But then, being Christian myself, maybe I don't see this that much as a problem as people who are atheists.
Anyway, his speech seemed to be pretty good, telling people that even though there are a lot of difficult tasks ahead, they could be tackled and solved, provided we were working together. He also said that West Germany was heading towards a lot of problems on their own in 1989, and that they shouldn't blame Estern Germany for everything.
Sure, this sounds like the usual stuff politicians say, but I think in this case it really has meaning. At least I decide that it has meaning for me, and that is all that counts.
Because as long as people don't put any meaning for themselves into speeches of politicians, there won't be any meaning to those speeches.
Every word means something else to everybody.
Simple example, a word like sugar.
Some people hate sweets, and this word will mean something rather disgusting to them. For somebody with diabetes it has a different meaning than to a kid who desperately wants a candy.
So that is why, whatever a politician says, some people will always find their own views backed by his or her speech. I suppose what makes a good politician is making the most people believe that he agrees with their goals.
So, then our President did a good job with me. Not that it matters, as he's not directly elected anyway, so I won't have a say in the matter.
But I like the idea that there actually are politicians who openly say that this country has a meaning to them.

Sidenote: As I didn't listen to the broadcast, I missed about the only chance a civilian has to sing the German National Anthem. So I'm humming it to myself now.

Comments

[angharad.livejournal.com]

"broadcast" is an irregular verb. The past tense is "broadcast", not "broadcasted", and I think in your final sidenote that you would rather say "didn't listen to the broadcast", if you meant the noun, and not the weird-tense verb thing. It's fine for the radio/tv station to say "We are (or will be, or were) broadcasting", but for example "the broadcasting was good" sounds somewhat odd.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll edit that. I wasn't sure whether broadcast also was the noun, and I didn't bother to look up the verb.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Well, I did look up the verb now, and my dictionary says it's regular. I edited the noun though.

[angharad.livejournal.com]

As a native speaker, I'm allowed to say crap like this:
I still say "broadcasted" sounds funny.


That is all.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

*gg* You can say whatever you want. It's just me who needs to be careful. To me, "broadcast" as a past tense sounded strange. But then, all irregular verby I don't use often sound strange to me.

[angharad.livejournal.com]

'Tis true: Irregular Verbs Are Wacky.
And then, there's the wrong-"dialect"-speaking natives who say things like "brang" and "broughten".

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

What I find really interesting is that very common verbs are always irregular. In all languages I know, "to be" is an irregular verb. And it's about the most common one to be used.