Re: Ship Prefix's

Allan Goodall writes:
@:) At 03:33 PM 7/29/97 -0400, you wrote:

@:) >  From my (limited but still it was my first language) knowledge
@:) >of German, I would guess that the term "Panzerkampfwagen" is used
@:) >only by American devotees of German military history.
@:) 
@:) Well, I kind of like panzerkampfwagen (the rough German equivalent
@:) of AFV) and I'm NOT American...

  True, but you're not German either.  If you really like AFV then I
would think PKW would seem more appropriate.  You hear a lot about
the APC here in the states, but it's only rarely expanded to Armored
Personnel Carrier because that's a pain to say.  On the other hand,
"Panzer" is even easier to say than PKW.  I would suggest "Taximeter
Cabriolet" as a possible English equivalent to Panzerkampfwagen.

@:) > jelly doughnut.
@:) 
@:) Question: would Kennedy have made the same mistake if he had been
@:) visiting Hamburg?

  If he were visiting Hamburg he would have said "Ich bin eine
Frickadelle", the closest German culinary relative to our American
hamburger (despite the name).  It has onion in it, though, and
possibly bread, so he really would have been saying "I am a fried
patty of mostly ground meat, similar to our American Hamburgers but
actually a little closer to meatloaf", which probably would have
greatly confused the Communists.

-joachim