# Ausfahrt Along the Road **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181 "2025-06-04T01:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/41 "2025-06-05T12:55:33Z")
There’s this [famous Welsh mistranslation](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/nov/01/5). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/42 "2025-06-05T13:16:04Z")
> [@Vlad\_Igor](#): > > Ahhh, Québec, where you need battries for your Walkman. Although today I suppose they’re battries rechargeables. Not sure what you mean. Google “batteries quebec” and you get lots of hits to stores selling batteries, doing business in French. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/43 "2025-06-05T13:17:36Z")
> [@bump](#): > > so many roads named “Frontage Road” in Texas. > > (hint: that’s what the access roads are labeled as on Texas highways) It’s a standard term. [Frontage road - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontage_road) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/44 "2025-06-05T13:23:16Z")
It was a joke. Texas has an inordinate number and length of frontage roads, so an unfamiliar person coming from somewhere without many could be gulled by the joke. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/45 "2025-06-05T21:25:43Z")
In continental French, batteries are “piles.” Some context. Many years ago, I was working in a music store after having live for a year in Strasbourg, France. One day a Québecois family came in and I helped them, in French. They bought a Walkman, and at the register I asked, “Vous voulez les piles pour le Walkman?” Confused looks. “Les quoi?” “Les piles, comme ça,” and I pulled a package of batteries from in front of the register. “Ahhh, ceux sont les batteries!” the mother said to me, smiling. “Mais non,” I said, “ceux sont les batteries,” pointing to an electronic drum set on the shelves next to the register kiosk. Québecois batterie = drums in continental French, thus the word play involving Neil Peart. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/46 "2025-06-05T21:31:24Z")
At a prior company, we were not client-facing, but we kept hearing about this German client of ours called “Antwort” who wanted various things done. Turns out “Antwort:” is just the German equivalent of “Re:” in the subject lines of emails, so all requests would come in with subjects “Antwort: Do some thing” and people would assume that “Antwort” was the client name it was for. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/47 "2025-06-05T21:40:15Z")
17-year old me giggled my way through Europe ordering this at the cafe. [![](https://canmuseum.com/Staging/Images/Cans/51563L.jpg) ](https://canmuseum.com/Staging/Images/Cans/51563L.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/48 "2025-06-05T22:03:57Z")
The Spanish word _pinche_ literally means a kitchen worker. In some Spanish-speaking countries, it implies low class, and is considered an insult. In Mexico and the southern U.S., it is insulting enough to be considered a swear word. In Spain, it carries no animus, and there are a lot of restaurants named “El Pinche”. This causes a lot of snickering among tourists from North America. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/49 "2025-06-06T00:37:19Z")
On vacation road trips circa 1965 my father would tell the story of the “Indian brave” who got separated from the band and was lost. Thus all the road signs advising “Watch For Falling Rock.” ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/50 "2025-06-07T16:10:51Z")
Maybe this is my bilingualism coming through but I’d probably say “pile” for one of the small batteries like in a watch, but “batterie” for a AA type. It’s clearly an anglicism. Batteries is also a drum kit, and the term for a set of pots and pans. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/51 "2025-06-07T16:18:59Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > On vacation road trips circa 1965 my father would tell the story of the “Indian brave” who got separated from the band and was lost. Thus all the road signs advising “Watch For Falling Rock.” That little ditty was also part of my father’s road commentary when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/52 "2025-06-07T16:49:25Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Batteries is also a drum kit, and the term for a set of pots and pans. Coming from the “collection of similar pieces of equipment” meaning of “battery” (where the electrical meaning is a battery of individual cells). My favourite multilingual chuckle is the fact that I learned “baguette” as a style of bread, but only realised that it just meant “wand” later, after reading about drummers hitting their battery with baguettes, or fairy godmothers casting spells with their magic baguettes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/53 "2025-06-09T13:56:10Z")
And even though, in English, a “baton” is a small, wand-like stick, in French, it’s a staff. I learned about that from watching another grad student in the same office playing Diablo, with French language localization. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/54 "2025-06-09T17:34:06Z")
Or you could use “verge”, which can mean stick or cane - or something more anatomical. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/55 "2025-06-09T19:01:52Z")
There’s a large German electronics manufacturer by that name. They must endure all sorts of juvenile humor when they sell in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/56 "2025-06-09T20:52:31Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Or you could use “verge”, which can mean stick or cane - or something more anatomical. Are you referring to the « Gentilhomme Huissier de la Verge Noire » ? 😁 > **[Black Rod](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rod)** > > modifier - modifier le code - modifier Wikidata Le gentilhomme huissier de la verge noire (Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, couramment appelé « Black Rod »), qui prend le nom d'« huissier du bâton noir » au sénat canadien depuis 1997, est une personnalité officielle du monde parlementaire dans plusieurs pays du Commonwealth, dont le Royaume-Uni, l'Australie, la Nouvelle-Zélande et le Canada. La fonction trouve son origine à la Chambre des lords du Royaume-Uni. > La fonction fut créée en Angleterr... (Senate of Canada apparently couldn’t take the giggling from teenagers in school trips and now call it le “Bâton noir”. No sense of tradition!) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/57 "2025-06-10T05:11:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Are you referring to the « Gentilhomme Huissier de la Verge Noire » ? 😁 That would depend on the circumstances. As it happens, at Westminster it’s currently a Lady Usher, which renders the point moot. So to speak.. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/58 "2025-06-18T02:04:53Z")
Apparently the Norman conquerers in England imported their own ranks of nobility, except for “Count” (keeping the English Earl), due to the similarity to an old English term ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/59 "2025-06-18T12:32:50Z")
Is that the reason? I had always just assumed that the local Earls were just really stubborn. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181/60 "2025-06-18T13:45:01Z")
Hardly. They were dispossessed and replaced by Normans. It was a total colonisation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ausfahrt-along-the-road/1019181.md?page=4)