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Comment by xg15 | Hacker News Reader

> In German, “der” means “the.” “Wiener” means “of Vienna (Austria).” Although the English “to sling” probably traces back to Old Norse’s “slynja,” meaning “to hurl,” the German verb “shlingen” means “to wolf or scarf down,” as in food.

Yes, as a German, I was appropriately confused and expected some horrific contraption to get better in hot-dog eating contests or something like that.

But that's nice too.

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> In Japan, if you use a word wrong, someone will quietly teach you the correct one. In Texas, I thanked a mechanic by saying "you are a good man of the trucks." He did not correct me. He put it on his voicemail. "You've reached Ray. Good man of the trucks."

But there is no german verb called "shlingen".

Does the person who wrote this, speak german?

I assume "schlingen" was meant, but this sounds more like "etwas herunterschlingen" aka eating quickly; that was mentioned via "scarf down, as in food", but to me it sounds more like a description of the object that is held here, like a sling.

But why would that be associated with Vienna, anyway? Nothing like that exists in Vienna really. Also I am not sure about that explanation; to sling makes more sense with hurling something in this context. And the thing looks like a huge slinger. Nobody is opening the mouth to eat everything coming out of that thing right?

Well, they didn't mean "schlingen" obviously, so I guess they made up a new word :)

Vienna is probably because of Wiener Würstchen, i.e. the hot dog sausages.

funnily enough the article uses brat, wiener and frankfurter to describe the sausages. i mean you could argue that wiener and frankfurter are the same, but a brat(wurst) clearly is a different type of dog.

In my experience the difference isnt as noticeable in the US or rather the terms are used more “liberally”

+1 for frankfurter and wiener, because those are regional synonyms for basically the same type of sausage. of course it might have some local adjustments, but you know what to expect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_sausage

but brat? a Bratwurst is a very different kind of sausage. thicker, different meat, different taste, different preparation, different taste. frankfurter / wienerli, are commonly boiled in water, bratwurst go on a grill. (Brat = braten = roast).

i got a western-european POV. maybe USians use these words differently. which means they're wrong. or wronger than europeans are when arguing what stuff should be called. doughnut / berliner / krapfen / [insert name you use], just to trigger some people.

In Germany Frankfurter are pork only and Wiener are pork and beef

oh well there you go, that's something i wasn't aware of. to me, all of them are 'Wienerli', no matter the type of meat. i even call the vegetarian ones 'Wienerli'.

Bratwurst and wieners are indeed different sausages in the US, but funnily enough you would never boil a wiener here, they are always grilled or microwaved in a pinch. Whereas brats are somewhat commonly boiled (often in beer) to cook the inside, then finished on the grill to brown the outside. Though I personally cook them entirely on the grill, as I think the boiling method is somewhat cheating.

> commonly boiled (often in beer)

woah, i'm intrigued...does the taste of the beer infuse into the sausage? wonder what the difference is between boiling it in a light lager versus a guinness.

as a by-product you then get sausage-flavored beer, but that doesn't sound nearly as yummy as beer-flavored sausage.

> as a by-product you then get sausage-flavored beer, but that doesn't sound nearly as yummy as beer-flavored sausage.

Boiled beer is not appetizing, no matter the flavor

It's different, but evidently it's still schlingable.

For further explanation Wiener means Wiener sausage and is a kind of Frankfurter sausage.

In Austria a Wiener is a different kind of sausage and the German Wiener is called Frankfurter

> expected some horrific contraption to get better in hot-dog eating contests or something like that.

KSAAS - Kobayashi Shake As A Service (TM)

Hmm, would any of these lead to more immediate understanding and laughter?

Der Wurstsetzwerfer

Das Fleischgeschützer

Der Wurstbeschleuniger

I dunno, I found the obvious, over-the-top faux-German of the original pretty hilarious, but maybe that's just me. Especially since it made the thing sound more concerning for German speakers than I imagine for English speakers. ("Schlinger" is the kind of word you'd expect in the name of a fantasy monster or WWII "Wunderwaffe"). Has some Spaceballs/Iron Sky energy to it.

But from your suggestions, "Wurstbeschleuniger" is very clever, "Wurstsatzwerfer" sounds a bit technical, "Fleischgeschütz" is um... how a german redditor might call his best piece.

Thanks. I worried that Fleisch one might be just what you said..

Does Wurstsatzwerfer sound to you like a pun on Ersatz + Werfer? I guess that might not work, and also isn't as funny in German. In English, the borrowed word "ersatz" brings a connotation of cheapness or fakeness.

Hah, wasn't aware of the English connotation of "ersatz". Thanks as well!

Both -satz (in the sense of set, kit or bank) and -werfer are technical terms often used for modern military equipment, so the word sounded a bit too "real" for me.

But that might just be different tastes.

"Wurstbeschleuniger" would work well, if you're ok with going scientific instead of military.

I wouldn't overthink it. It's "parody German": a hot dog slinger but "Germanized", if you will, to be funny

> When he was a standup comic in Los Angeles, Omapod host Tony Bock used to do a bit about the name. “Just saying ‘Der Viener Schlinger’ on a comedy stage gets a laugh, whether you’re in Nebraska or not,” he told me. “There’s something quintessentially Nebraskan about mustering the courage to solve the problem we faced before the advent of this invention: the inability to ‘schling’ the wieners.”

I know, just found it funny :)

In German spelling, "v" at the start of a word is pronounced "f"[1], so the title is really bizarre if you know the slightest amount of German. "Schlinger" has been covered by other comments.

[1]: Excepting words borrowed from other languages like "Vase".

I'm a German descended US-ian, speak both languages , and enjoy a good German language joke. This one could have been done better in written form. shrugs

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