Was zum Teufel ist denn "Schlendrian" ?
 

Schlendrian, Hamiltonian, and Laplacian are just a few of the world-famous Armenian mathematicians. The whole world knows their works (and even then, just barely), but nobody really knows their biographies. It's a shame.



[spoiler]...Lagrangian is another famous one. However, this joke doesn't quite work in English. In Russian, and perhaps, in other slavic languages, only the functionals and Armenian names come to mind when you hear something ending with -ian (means, literally, "son" in Armenian; cf. Nordic family names). In English, plenty of adjectives and adjectives-turned-nouns end with -ian. Mathematician, physician...
[/spoiler]

"Schlendrian" means roughly "an inefficient and/or careless manner of working." Something like a "botch" I think.

Alex

My granddad was Armenian...

[QUOTE=akruppa;150574]"Schlendrian" means roughly "an inefficient and/or careless manner of working." Something like a "botch" I think.

Alex[/QUOTE]"Kludge" would seem to fit the definition too.

Paul

I think "kludge" more refers to a poor, makeshift fix to an existing problem, while "Schlendrian" may very well be original work, but done poorly, due to the maker not caring very much. Apparently "Schlendrian" is derived from the verb "schlendern" which means "to stroll" or "to loaf," i.e. proceeding without paying much attention to anything.

Alex

The word exists in Danish too as "Slendrian": [URL="http://www.idiomordbogen.dk/idiom.php?site=7&page=0&searchoption=isequal&searchtype=full&searchstring=den%20gamle%20slendrian"]http://www.idiomordbogen.dk/idiom.php?site=7&page=0&searchoption=isequal&searchtype=full&searchstring=den%20gamle%20slendrian[/URL]

Translation of the first few lines:

"Slendrian" originates from the german "Schlendrian" and means here "a person who is poorly dressed, lasy and slacking". Strangely this word is not added to german dictionarys until 1817, and the first known use is from 1716, not long before the first danish use in the translation of Ludvig Holbergs novel about Niels Klim.

:threadhijacked:

Can a mod please move the discussion about "Schlendrian" to an own thread?

[QUOTE=Andi47;150645]Can a mod please move the discussion about "Schlendrian" to an own thread?[/QUOTE]

Was ist eine "Drahtjacke?" It sounds rather metallic and uncomfortable...

Anyhoo, I'm glad one of the other mods moved the insurgent subthread, because it took me too long to Schlender my way out of bed this morning in time to do so myselbst.

I notice that quickdic.org [not to be confused with the similarly-named website of the famous male porn star] translates Schlendrian as "jog trot", which is not the usage being discussed here.

Note also that J.S. Bach - rather the opposite of a Schlendrian-ista - was friends with a certain [url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Coffee_Cantata]Herr Schlendrian[/url]. I'll bet you didn't know that. No, don't even pretend you did, because we all know that that would be lying, and we don't want you perjure yourself. I must say, appreciation of classical music and the arts has really gone to the dogs - [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Q._Bach]wachet arf[/url], people!

I must at this point openly confess that I myself am quite tone-deaf when it comes to classical musicology ... in order to remedy this, and as a vehicle for general mid-life self improvement I have embarked on the composition of a [i]Meisterwerk[/i] in the classical baroque style, tentatively titled

[i]"Prelude, Vorspiel und Unfuge in D-mollig"[/i]

It's basically an homage to music appreciation as, erm, appreciated, in the company of [url=http://lyrics.doheth.co.uk/songs/spinal-tap/this-is-spinal-tap/big-bottom.php]voluptuous women[/url]. The aforelinked P.D.Q. Bach owns a piece he pompously titles [i]Die Grossest Fugue[/i] but I can assure you, mine will be far grosser still.

I would also like to instruct the future administrator of my eventual estate to make the following ditty, which again riffs on old PDQ's [i]Grabschrift[/i] but of course does it more crassly, my epitaph:

[i]Hier liegt ein Mann ganz ohnegleichen;
Musik so schlimm, sie lässt erbleichen
Wir haben ihn ins Grab geschmissen
Weil seine Werke, sind so [nicht gut].[/i]

Truly, its sheer awfulness puts the [i]erblassen[/i] in [i]Erblasser[/i] don't you agree?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;150662]Was ist eine "Drahtjacke?" It sounds rather metallic and uncomfortable...
[/QUOTE]

I have never heared "Drahtjacke". For me it sounds like a joke word for [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_(armour)"]Kettenhemd (Chainmail)[/URL], but I might be wrong...

[QUOTE=Andi47;150669]I have never heared "Drahtjacke". For me it sounds like a joke word for [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_(armour)"]Kettenhemd (Chainmail)[/URL], but I might be wrong...[/QUOTE]

Your previous post contained an emoticon which symbolizes it.

Lol you disturbed a perfectly good hijacking of a thread :) Now lets hijack this language thread with some math.

I too am intigued by from what thread was this a diversion

Heh. As an involuntary "OP", I'll stitch it back to some meaningful reading.

It's from [URL]http://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=11023[/URL]
Stemmed from
"P.S. Don't ask me what [I]Schlendrian[/I] means... but it's all over the pol51's source... [IMG]http://mersenneforum.org/images/smilies/extra/rolleyes.gif[/IMG]"

Mann, das ist Schlendrian
 

Interestingly, I just came across the word "Schlendrian" in Vol 1 of Thomas Mann's "Josef und Seine Brüder", the context was someone describing an informal noncontractual business arrangement as "Schlendrian", i.e. something akin to "Schlamperei."

[quote=Andi47;150669]I have never heared "Drahtjacke". For me it sounds like a joke word for [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_%28armour%29"]Kettenhemd (Chainmail)[/URL], but I might be wrong...[/quote]

Yeah its a German word and would be that meaning. I never have heart it in the wild so ...

[QUOTE=Andi47;150669]I have never heared "Drahtjacke". For me it sounds like a joke word for [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_(armour)"]Kettenhemd (Chainmail)[/URL], but I might be wrong...[/QUOTE]

Actually, I was attempting a feeble pun on the net slang "Threadjack". So everyone please, calmly take your whips and chain mail shirts and proceed calmly in single-file back to the dungeon. Sorry to get you all excited on false pretenses...