German has several words for woodworkers, e.g.:
- Zimmermann (carpenter, perhaps with an indoor-finishing slant; "Zimmer" is a room)
- Tischler (joiner)
- Schreiner (cabinetmaker)
While looking into the above (in response to a question about my surname) I recently found the enigmatic aphorism:
| Einen Zimmermann erkennt man an den Spänen. |
which translates more-or-less into:
| A carpenter is known by his chips. |
... whatever that means!
(cf. MarkZimmermann, ...)
TopicLanguage - TopicHumor - TopicPersonalHistory - 2005-06-27
(correlates: PerpetualCalendar, FlyHigh, DangerousLiterature, ...)