Anonymous
ID: wUI2/g8A
8/10/2025, 6:46:10 AM No.512668961
This is a key political discussion on a nuanced concept difference in English that represents an absence in English of something essential seen in American culture, but whose nuanced absence shows how German culture underserves its premise.
In Les Miserables, the German version has
>Wen du kampfst mit kanzer kraft
When you kampfst with all your kraft
Kraft
In English, our idea of craft has two meanings. First, that of a skilled master, which possesses a blue collar connotation that in English culture is below that of the gentlemanly scholar. In America we appropriate the Doktor der Filosofie to represent the English idea of the priest-scribe above the craftsman.
Craft also means craftiness, which implies cunning and mastery together. This conflicts directly with the German "kraft" which in English translates in Les Miz as "heart might mind and strength" or in other words, "ability".
In America, dumbass idiots who practice and adopt an ability, then exercise that ability, feel entitled to its results as if they themselves are the genius that invented the technique and not copycats. This conflicts with the aristocratic WASP sensibilities and is a key point in the blue/white collar class conflict in America.
However, German culture reveals that "ability" as the application of work ethic regardless of context, is a virtue in and of itself.
It strikes me that this is so alien to English culture, that English as a language interprets "craft" as almost cunning, nearly deceptive. "You made me think you were good, but you ain't shit".
In conclusion, English are the Ingaevones, the divine priests of the nation. Germanics are Irminones, the commoners, the noble workers. This was, briefly, well represented in Anglo-Germanic America. Though it led to political divisions which Jews exploited before rights and compromise could be codified.
In Les Miserables, the German version has
>Wen du kampfst mit kanzer kraft
When you kampfst with all your kraft
Kraft
In English, our idea of craft has two meanings. First, that of a skilled master, which possesses a blue collar connotation that in English culture is below that of the gentlemanly scholar. In America we appropriate the Doktor der Filosofie to represent the English idea of the priest-scribe above the craftsman.
Craft also means craftiness, which implies cunning and mastery together. This conflicts directly with the German "kraft" which in English translates in Les Miz as "heart might mind and strength" or in other words, "ability".
In America, dumbass idiots who practice and adopt an ability, then exercise that ability, feel entitled to its results as if they themselves are the genius that invented the technique and not copycats. This conflicts with the aristocratic WASP sensibilities and is a key point in the blue/white collar class conflict in America.
However, German culture reveals that "ability" as the application of work ethic regardless of context, is a virtue in and of itself.
It strikes me that this is so alien to English culture, that English as a language interprets "craft" as almost cunning, nearly deceptive. "You made me think you were good, but you ain't shit".
In conclusion, English are the Ingaevones, the divine priests of the nation. Germanics are Irminones, the commoners, the noble workers. This was, briefly, well represented in Anglo-Germanic America. Though it led to political divisions which Jews exploited before rights and compromise could be codified.
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