muckefuck: (zhongkui)
muckefuck ([personal profile] muckefuck) wrote2014-02-17 04:35 pm
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Donnerschnee!

It's gonna be a slow ride home. I may end up thankful I packed three novels.

Coming in was smooth sailing, so I was caught off guard when I stepped outside to head to a meeting at another building and was hit with a stinging blast of tiny ice pellets. Within minutes it was snowing so heavily I could no longer see the far side of the lagoon. Reportedly it slackened during the noon hour, but by the time [livejournal.com profile] niemandsrose and I headed out together for Indian food, it was falling steadily again. On the way back, she was intrigued by the soft little pellets on the ground. "Is this graupel?" I confirmed that it was. "Can you say 'Es graupelt'?" Of course you can!

Back at the office, a colleague attested that she had actually heard "graupelt" from native speakers. Another colleague speculated that perhaps the proper form should be "gräupelt" by analogy with Schwabe - schwäbelt, but I ridiculed this, pointing out that in the latter case the -el- represents a verbal suffix with diminutive force whereas the -el- of graupeln clearly belongs to the nominal stem and, thus, no umlaut takes place. He slunk away suitably chastened.

Whatever you call it, right now there's about six-and-a-half centimetres on the ground with another two-and-a-half predicted before bedtime. I wonder if it's even worth my while to wait for the shuttle or if I should preemptively head for the train.

[identity profile] linuxcub.livejournal.com 2014-02-18 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"I ridiculed this"

Why ?

[identity profile] muckefuck.livejournal.com 2014-02-18 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Because (a) he was wrong and (b) I'm sort of an asshole.

[identity profile] linuxcub.livejournal.com 2014-02-18 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
No, don't think so (b), you're just messing with me :-)

[identity profile] muckefuck.livejournal.com 2014-02-18 07:20 pm (UTC)(link)
I cherish your faith in me, but since nominalism is a crock, that doesn't materially alter the percentage of assholishness in my character.

Moreover, isn't messing with people something assholes enjoy doing?