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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/books/action/view/entry_id/1083985
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Rated: 18+ · Book · Activity · #2313407
Book for recurring activity entries
#1083985 added March 16, 2025 at 6:43am
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Vokabular, Vokabular, Vokabular
Prompt

I knew where the verbs went and adjective endings,
both case and declension unerringly rending.
My grasp of grammatik was quite without par,
It's just a damn shame 'bout the vokabular.

A visit to Deutschland soon flushed out the problem;
I'd stand there quite speechless, a linguistic golem.
From menus to shopping, from signposts to guides,
my face would be red as a mandrill's backside.

I'd stutter and stammer and pull silly faces,
with pointing and hand gestures filling the spaces.
The cop-out solution brought failure's harsh sting,
as every damn noun was replaced by a "thing".

So "ein Ding", "zwei Dinge", "die Dinge da drĂ¼ben",
was met with amusement and some disapprovin'.
A good grasp of grammar is hardly much use
if knowledge of vocab's a sorry excuse.


Form: There probably is a name for it out there somewhere. A quick internet search tells me it's two lines amphibrachic tetrameter then two lines amphibrachic tetrameter catalectic, with a-a-b-b rhyme. (Well, it certainly sounds more impressive than "doggerel".)
Lines: 16

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