# Two questions on Stalag 17 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-on-stalag-17/595211 "2011-09-05T02:47:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-on-stalag-17/595211/1 "2011-09-05T02:47:59Z")
first, every visit by the postman/messenger caused exitement among the inmates. whenever the crowd got too noisy, he would shout “at ease!” and the inmate animal would reply “at ease!” i don’t get it. second, of what material was joey’s flute made? it must have been wood since animal was whitthling a replacement to the one thrown into the mud but why the shape? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-on-stalag-17/595211/2 "2011-09-05T03:37:27Z")
It’s not a flute – it’s an _Ocarina_ . It’s usually made of clay, but all sorts of materials have been used: > [@](#): > > The ocarina (/ɒkəˈriːnə/) is an ancient flute-like wind instrument.[1] Variations do exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is often ceramic, but other materials may also be used, such as plastic, wood, glass, clay, and metal. > **[Ocarina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocarina)** > > The ocarina (otherwise known as a potato flute) is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is traditionally made from clay or ceramic, but other materials are also used, such as plastic, wood, glass, metal, or bone. > The ocarina belongs to a very old family of instruments, believed to date back over 12,000 years. Ocarina-type instruments h... Animal was one of the barracks clowns – his repeating “at ease” was him actng up. It had no official function. He was poking fun at the straitlaced “nerdy” official. The authors of the original play were inmates in such a camp (whch was not the Stalag Luft III of _The Great Escape_ and _The Wooden Horse_). The situations were based in large part on their own experiences. But the play was extensively rewritten (in part by the director, Billy Wilder) for the film. > **[Stalag 17](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_17)** > > Stalag 17 is a 1953 American war film directed by Billy Wilder. It tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds 630 sergeants representing many different aircrew positions, but the film focuses on one particular barracks, where the men come to suspect that one of their number is an informant. The film was directed and produced by Billy Wilder, who with Edwin Blum adapte... ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-on-stalag-17/595211/3 "2011-09-05T10:27:47Z")
thanks. (why oh why am i so slow at combating my own ignorance?)