Please Translate Some Austrian for Me

[Gjorp]

I know the Austrians speak German.

But, one of my favourite songs is by a band from Austria. I was just wondering what the song and the band name are in English?

The Band Name:
Die Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung

The Song:
Einmal Moechte ich ein Boeser Sein

the 'oe' in Moechte and Boeser is actually supposed to be an umlauted 'o'.

And another thing. I hear Boeser as both 'die Boeser' and 'ein Boeser'. My understanding of German grammar says that the examples should be either 'der/das Boeser' or 'eine Boeser'.

But, again, the band is actually from Austria. Is this common in Austria and their dialectal idiosyncracy slipped into the language of the song, or did they do this on purpose?

[regnad kcin]

Its der Boeser. It means "bad guy".

The song title means "Just Once I'd Like to Be a Bad Guy".

Im not a native speaker, so someone is welcome to correct me.

If you have heard "die Boese", plural form meaning "the baddies", "the evil (guys)", it may sound like "Boeser" to untrained ears, just like "Deutsche" and "Deutscher" sound similar.

The band name is odd to me. "The First General ( as in all-encompassing) Insecurity" is my best stab at it without giving it too much thought. But "insecurity" aint quit it...

RK

[capybara]

I think that in dative (don't have a book with me and am rusty and my Dutch and German are mutually destructive, so pardon spelling) der Boeser would be die Boeser, so the context of the sentence would affect it.
I think the Allgemeine Verunsicherung is a joke on insurance company names; it would be (loosely translated for content) like The First Mutual Unassurance, or First General Insecurity Corp. Know what I mean? Versicherung is the word used for insurance.

[capybara]

No, actually of course dative would be dem Boeser. . . I swear there is a case where the maculine gets a femine sounding -e, though. Maybe I'm in Latin. . .
Oh, hell. I helped some with the band name, at least.

[Nils]

I guess capybara is right about the Unassurance.

And now to the "Böser"-Problem (I hope you can all read the ö and don't have funny html-code on your display...)

ein Böser = a bad guy
der Böse = the bad guy
eine Böse = a bad girl/woman
die Böse = the bad girl/woman
das Böse = the evil
die Bösen = the bad guys/girls/women

And dativ of "der Böse" would be "dem Bösen", and for the femine "die Böse" the dativ is "der Bösen". I speak a weird language I guess.

[regnad kcin]

Ah, yes! You guys are so correct about the band name being a pun on insurance!

Nils, you forgot dative plural, everyone's favorite = den Boesen

[mkl12]

the bad guy/girl/thing

Singular
Nominativ der Böse/die Böse/das Böse
Genitiv des Bösen/der Bösen/des Bösen
Dativ dem Bösen/der Bösen/dem Bösen
Akkusativ den Bösen/die Böse/das Böse

Plural
Nominativ die Bösen
Genitiv der Bösen
Dativ den Bösen
Akkusativ die Bösen

a bad guy/girl/thing

Singular
Nominativ ein Böser/eine Böse/ein Böses
Genitiv eines Bösen/einer Bösen/eines Bösen
Dativ einem Bösen/einer Bösen/einem Bösen
Akkusativ einen Bösen/eine Böse/ein Böses

Plural
Nominativ Böse
Genitiv Böser
Dativ Bösen
Akkusativ Böse

[psychonaut]

I just wanted to ask how on earth an anglophone like you got turned onto Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung. I thought I was the only one.

[universe.zip]

Originally posted by psychonaut
I just wanted to ask how on earth an anglophone like you got turned onto Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung. I thought I was the only one.

Heh. I was going to ask the same thing. I would never have dreamt the EAV were known outside Austria (well, they had a hit or two in the 80ies which were probably played in Germany, too).
Anyway, Nils has the grammar right, and capybara did a good job translating the title... I like the second version better, as the verb verunsichern means to make someone insecure.
And Gjorp: while the title is accurate German, their lyrics are dialect deluxe, so I just hope you won´t be trying to understand those.

[Lodrain]

Originally posted by capybara
No, actually of course dative would be dem Boeser. . . I swear there is a case where the maculine gets a femine sounding -e, though. Maybe I'm in Latin. . .
Oh, hell. I helped some with the band name, at least.

You're right, but it's an archaic feature, dropped from regular usage some time in the last two centuries. It was attached to the masculine and neuter nouns in the dative singular that took an -[e]s in the genitive singular. It's fossilized in a few phrases, like zu Hause, but nowadays, you'd only see it in songs and poetry for prosodic purposes, like in the song Bereit by the modern and very edgy KMDFM:

Wir drehen uns im Kreise, im gleichen Takt

For the German-impaired, that would be "we're turning in circles, in lockstep".

[panamajack]

[lame joke] I thought you wanted us to push Arnold Schwarzenegger or something. [/lame joke]


According to this history of the band, the name was in fact inspired by the insurance company.

[psychonaut]

Originally posted by universe.zip
And Gjorp: while the title is accurate German, their lyrics are dialect deluxe, so I just hope you won´t be trying to understand those.

I don't think it will be too much of a problem. I've got dozens of songs by EAV, and I can't recall any of them really laying on the dialect thick, unless it was intended as a joke. For instance, in "Küß die Hand, schöne Frau", they sing:

Schalali, schalala,
Herr Ober, bringen's uns no zwa!
Pommery, Pommeru,
stoss' ma an und sog'n ma Du!
Und weil wir so einsam san,
trink' ma aus und gemma ham.

It took me quite a while (and eventually help from a native speaker) to figure out that "ma san" is "wir sind" and "gemma ham" is "gehen wir heim". (I'm told that while such substitutions are typical of a Viennese accent, they're not restricted to the Bavarian dialect area.)

Anyway, in that case it's obvious the band were deliberately making fun of the way the character in the song spoke, so the dialecticisms are clearly affected. For most of their songs, though, I get the impression they are just singing hochdeutsch with an Austrian accent.^* That is, lots of rolled R's and voiceless initial sibilants, but not much in the way of nonstandard vocabulary.

Then again, I actually learned German by listening to EAV, so perhaps my perception of what is "normal" is somewhat skewed.

^*Well, except for all the songs where they sing in a Russian accent, or Spanish accent, or Japanese accent, or ...

[universe.zip]

Originally posted by psychonaut
Then again, I actually learned German by listening to EAV, so perhaps my perception of what is "normal" is somewhat skewed.

Then, my dear friend, you speak very nice German indeed!
Nah, it´s just that most (north) Germans don´t understand or pretend to have difficulties understanding Austrian pronounciation...
...and a few words are only used in Austria - "Häfn" for jail, eg. ("Küß die Hand Herr Kerkermeister").
Congratulations on your command of the language!