RE: NSL

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>And to a native German speaker, 'New Swabian League' sounds plain 
>wrong, as the Swabians are a rather small part of Germanyx and I see no
way
a 
>union of Germans, Austrians etc. could be named after them. Rather like

>calling the NAC the 'New Yorkshire Confederacy'. 

This is a truly excellent analogy. Schwabisch is just as far from
mainstream
Hochdeutsch as a broad Yorkshire dielect is from the Queen's English.
And the
Swabians have a reputation for being "tight with their Brass" to use a
good
Yorkshire phrase.

Here's the translation of a Joke I heard in Bremen that illustrates some
of
the traditional regional characteristics:

3 Kumpels were having a drink at a local Beergarten, one from Prussia,
one from
Saxony, and one from Swabia.
A fly landed in the Prussian's beer. Instantly he threw the beer away,
threw
his stein in the fire, and called for a replacement. Then a fly landed
in the
Saxon's beer. He merely fished the fly out, chucked it away, then
continued
drinking as if nothing had happened.
Then a fly landed in the Swabian's beer. He fished out the fly, forced
it to
disgorge all it had drunk back into the stein, then continued drinking.