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Steissbeinschutz

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Umsteige

English translation:

transfer ticket

Added to glossary by Jo Simons (X)
Apr 5, 2012 20:20
12 yrs ago
German term

Anna nahm sich Umsteige

German to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Diary of a teenage girl in 1934
I'm translating the diary of a German teenage girl in the 1930s. Some of it is very hard to read. This sentence doesn't seem grammatically correct to me so I'm wondering if I might have misread 'nahm' (the 'n' only, I'm sure about the rest of the word), but 'Umsteige' is definitely what's written, at the end of a paragraph. I'm wondering if it's a contraction involving 'sollte'. Here's the context:

Anna wollte in der Stadt noch Besorgungen machen. Dazu hatten wir einen Koffer mitgenommen. Ich sollte am Opernhaus aussteigen und Anna nahm sich Umsteige.
Als das Opernhaus da war, schob Anna mir den Koffer zu, ich sollte ihr wahrscheinlich damit volgen. Ich dachte aber, ich mußte noch in der Bahn bleiben.

She realises then that she has stayed on the tram by mistake when she should've got off. She is in an unfamiliar city.

Many thanks if anyone can help me make sense of this!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 Anna got a transfer ticket
4 Anna took a transfer ticket
Change log

Apr 25, 2012 14:07: Jo Simons (X) Created KOG entry

Discussion

oa_xxx (X) Apr 9, 2012:
Hi Jo, I actually deleted my comment as I thought it didnt make sense after I wrote it! But I also got a mail about an entry from hazmatgerman which seems to be gone too - I guess you got it, about the 1941 Duden entry? So it seems to have been common enough which would make "Anna got/bought transfer tickets" right! I would think plural too.
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 8, 2012:
Dear Orla, I don't know why I can't see your kind input on here but yes, they were definitely meant to be going shopping together - Anna wouldn't leave her on her own, a teenager in a strange town. I'm wondering if she went to get transfer tickets plural, leaving the diarist with the Koffer which she was supposed to pick up and get off the tram, but that doesn't fit the grammar very well I agree. And she does mostly talk about 'wir...' Do others think transfer tickets plural would work? Thanks again!
Dorit Klingman Apr 6, 2012:
maybe "Umsteige" could be a transfer ticket?
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 5, 2012:
Thank you Helen, much appreciated!
Helen Shiner Apr 5, 2012:
entzückend http://www.dict.cc/deutsch-englisch/entzückend.html
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 5, 2012:
Additional query This is quite cheeky of me so feel free to ignore, but I'm also stuck on the word 'entzinkend', used in the following context when the diarist is describing what a film star she met looked like: 'Sie war in ein rotbraunes Samtkleid gekleidet, hatte das dunkle Haar schön zurechtgemacht und sah entzinkend aus, obwohl sie geschminkt war.'
I've researched zinc, which was used as a make up and hair product back then, but she seems to be suggesting the opposite. Does she look pale, maybe? Thanks again!
franglish Apr 5, 2012:
So, Anna went on her shopping tour alone, possibly using her transfer ticket. Makes sense.
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 5, 2012:
@Freekfluweel I think 'took a transfer' seems a very good bet. But they were meant to be going shopping together it seems, and Anna was expecting the diarist to get off with her, but I don't know why she would push the Koffer towards my diarist. While still on the tram, my diarist saw Anna looking around for her, then saw her still sitting on the tram. They lose each other after that and are reunited at Anna's parents' place hours later.
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 5, 2012:
@Franglish Sorry, the diarist stayed on the tram by mistake and saw Anna had got off and was looking for her. Once the tram got moving the diarist realised her mistake.
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 5, 2012:
@Franglish The writer ran back to the apartment and many hours later Anna appeared laughing about it all and called her a Träumlieschen.
franglish Apr 5, 2012:
@Jo So what did Anna do meanwhile? Does the writer mention anything? I gather she stayed on in the tram. Anyway, my reading og "Umsteige" is the same as Trudy's.
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 5, 2012:
Sorry, that was my mistake: it should read 'folgen'. The writer is German.
freekfluweel Apr 5, 2012:
written by a Dutch girl ? "volgen" and "nahm sich Umsteige"
Jo Simons (X) (asker) Apr 5, 2012:
That's very possible, but the diarist doesn't tend to use abbreviations and if she does they are very neatly marked with a full point after them. She ends up getting off the tram at the next stop and runs back to Anna's parents' house, so I'll never know if she was meant to change trams!
Trudy Peters Apr 5, 2012:
Could it be a 'transfer ticket' or 'pass'? (Umsteigekarte). She may have wanted to switch to another tram.

Proposed translations

+3
6 hrs
Selected

Anna got a transfer ticket

It seems to me that we are dealing with some dialect expressions here. Since the writer is a teenage girl, her writing skills might also be lacking and she is just expressing some vernacular language. The verb volgen is probably a spelling mistake.
Peer comment(s):
agree Ramey Rieger (X) : bought or took a transfer ticket
6 hrs
agree Horst Huber (X) : "Bought" would be my first guess.
12 hrs
agree oa_xxx (X) : plural? tickets..
3 days 12 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
18 hrs

Anna took a transfer ticket

Something went wrong...
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