Death notices / Todesanzeigen

Fürther Nachrichten, 8.10.2005

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Does anyone else find this odd?

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18 thoughts on “Death notices / Todesanzeigen

  1. I find it very moving, rather than odd. I’m guessing it was something like childhood cancer (hence the bad times), and that this is the child’s parents speaking to her (?) directly.

    (Admittedly, I don’t understand every word, but I think I get the gist of it.)

  2. What I meant was: right in the middle of the human death notices. It’s OK, but I was surprised. You quite often see children’s death announced with just the first name, but this is a cat or a dog, isn’t it? From the age, it should be a dog. I agree that Regenbogenbrücke clinches it.

    David: it does start revealing itself in bedwarmer, plate washer, mousetooth! I hasten to say I feel sorry for anyone who’s mourning a death, whether human or animal.

  3. Intricacies, eh? I still thought bedwarmer and plate washer could refer to a child. I glossed over mousetooth, not understanding what it could mean (unless it refers to a liking for cheese). And I don’t understand the meaning of rainbow bridge. I’d simply assumed it was one of those private aspects of family-internal culture. But you both agree that it’s related to an animal, which is something I couldn’t guess.

  4. I think Rainbow Bridge is an American thing. You can probably Google it. It’s a sickly sweet vision of an afterlife where all your pets are waiting to see you.
    Even the ‘treuer Blick’ made me think of the way people talk about dogs, but I just thought it was a bit jarring, not that it really was a dog, not at that point. That’s what’s fascinating about reading it in the middle of the death notices – it only gradually reveals itself. I don’t know what Mausezahn means either.

  5. “Mausezahn” is a very cute endearment, which I’ve only heard in Franconia. (Literally, “mouse-tooth” of course.) I’m a bit partial to it.

    (And I agree it’s odd in the middle of the human death notices. My father, by the way, liked collecting odd death notices from the Erlanger Tagblatt, which is mostly identical to the Fürther Nachrichten — different local edition, that’s all. There was one with an extremely cringeworthy, obviously home-grown and heartfelt poem that made us, very inappropriately, howl with laughter.)

  6. Hmm, no-one has ever called me that – wonder why?
    Yes, this is really the Nürnberger Nachrichten, because it’s the Nuremberg pages. The Fürther Nachrichten contains both the Fürth and the Nuremberg sections, which is good.

    I read the death notices for their style, too. I found it hard to get used to ‘Unser Vater, Großvater, Onkel, Sohn und Bruder’.
    I particularly remember some professor who ‘ist plötzlich’ or maybe ‘unerwartet’ ‘zu seiner geistigen Heimat zurückgekehrt’.

  7. I guessed it meant that – but I still thought it could be a child! ;-)

    It’s the ‘weiches Schmusekissen’ that I really don’t understand…

    Well, I’m not sure about ‘treu’, either, but I guessed that ‘aufgemuntert’ is related to cheering up or encouraging (‘opmuntret’ in Danish). I had an image of a young child being brave on a sickbed. I had no idea it was referring to Fido – so much for getting the gist of it! ;-(

  8. Chris: the capitalized Du – well, I believe it’s still permitted. And it’s a problem. I’ve stopped using it in email, but not everyone has, and I know some people feel slightly offended when it’s not capitalized. It’s not as if I were the greatest defender of the reform, and I probably make a lot of mistakes, but should one use old spelling with friends who are particularly sensitive (you know who you are! actually, most of my friends don’t read this).

  9. I find some of the comments above very strange indeed Margaret. I immediately thought of a dog and certainly not a child. Who would use a child as a bed warmer, hoover, dishwasher and soft cushion etc.? Who in their right mind would name a child Momo? OK…I guess Americans might….and the Brits as well for that matter. The register is also totally out of line for a child. I didn’t find it odd at all. These kind of pet obituaries are published quite regularly in the “Ehninger Käseblatt”.

    Paul

  10. Paul: I haven’t seen one before except separately from the other death notices.
    Momo is surely a more common name in Germany than elsewhere – Michael Ende is German, there’s been a Momo in Lindenstraße for years, and anyway, it could be a nickname. I think that would be quite usual in a child’s death notice.

  11. Ah well “Bildungslücke” on my part then Margaret. I’ve never had the “pleasure” of seeing Lindenstrasse.
    I am looking for the name of a future dog….I’ll avoid “Momo”….

    Paul

  12. It’s really this children’s book Momo, by Michael Ende – dated 1973. Not that that’s enough reason to call someone that, but some people do have the name, and probably more the nickname.
    Might work in Spanish, though, or would you train the dog in English?

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