Re: MG & Blues & Blonkers ("...with my pocket calculator...")

[btm805@btrtx9.hrz.uni-bayreuth.de (B. Gramlich)]

Alan, Re:

> Ever hear of Die Toten Hosen?  How about you, Bernd?  A German friend
> introduced me to them about two years ago (well, the music, not the
> guys).  Pretty funny stuff.

Of course I know them, one of the best bands over here.  If you dig ironic rock
music with some punky touch, you'll like them.

> Bernd, since you did such a great job explaining "selbstdarstellung",
> care to explain what "Die Toten Hosen" means? :-)

Argh, that's a hard job.  But anyway, here we go:

The name comes from the slang expression ,Hier/Dort ist tote Hose` (literally:
`Here/There is (a) dead pair of trousers').  Young Germans use this expression
e.g. if they enter an almost empty pub where only one drunkard sits at the bar
in front of his twenty-xth drink and four men silently play cards at a small
table in the corner; the background music is muffled and boring, and there are
no girls around...  `Sad locality', `Boring place', `No action here' might be
good translations.  You can apply the same expression when you enter a boring
discotheque, when you happen to be at a lame concert, when you come to a dull
party, or when you see a way too peaceful demonstration...

So, ,Die Toten Hosen`

   a) literally means `The Dead Trousers',

   b) refers to the expression explained above, ironically branding the band a
   lame and boring one,

   c) of course has some (ironic) derogatory connotation concerning the band
   members' potency...

Cheers,

Bernd