Timoshka (asker) Sep 20, 2023:

@ everyone who posted discussion entries Sorry for the delay in getting back to this! The letter is indeed handwritten, and still looks more like "aus" than "ans" but I'm convinced the writer was actually quoting the Vienna folksong "Mir is alles ans, ob i a Geld hab oder kans." I wish I knew how to post an image of the handwritten version here, but apparently lack the technical skills! :-) At any rate, it seems she was saying "it's all the same to me, it's all the same to me..." based on all of the information provided by Björn Vrooman and confirmed by several others!

Anna Wright Sep 20, 2023:

Indeed, all due respect for the high level of skill required for this type of project translating historic primary sources steeped in the vernacular and culture of the time.

Lancashireman Sep 19, 2023:

Björn Are you seriously suggesting that, after half a career (or so it seems) spent deciphering handwritten correspondence from 1940s Vienna, Timoschka is incapable of telling his Sütterlin 'n's from his 'u's? In the highly unlikely circumstances that your supposition is correct, however, I applaud your inspired insight ;-)

Anna Wright Sep 19, 2023:

A case of deciphering the script, as well as the message. '[O]ans' does seem more plausible than 'aus'.

Björn Vrooman Sep 19, 2023:

No... ...not a typo.

Right at the beginning of the discussion, I asked whether Timoshka mistook an "n" for a "u"; I assume these are handwritten letters. That kind of thing has happened to me before, so I don't find it unusual.

Just take a look at the Sütterlin script that was in use until the 1940s: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sütterlinschrift#/media/Datei:...

The difference between "n" and "u" is really small.

And while many of these letters have a few "grammatical hiccups," the phrase "mir ist alles aus" sounds odd (maybe, but that's pretty far-fetched, "mir ist alles ein Graus" or "bei mir ist die Luft raus")--even to someone who used to live in southern Germany for a pretty long time.

Open to other interpretations, of course, but regarding Timoshka's other Qs, there was at least some kind of German reference you could point to.

Here, there's nothing. Guess we need to wait for more context.

Best wishes

Lancashireman Sep 19, 2023:

'aus' as typo for 'ans'? Plausible in one instance, less so in two. IMO, the source text should be taken at face value: "I'm at my wits' end"
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/be-at-yo...

Anna Wright Sep 19, 2023:

It does rather hinge on whether 1. 'ans' or 2. 'aus' appears in the source phrase, and what follows it (as presented, it's something of a cliff-hanger). It could be read as 1. a resigned 'what's one to do?' or 2. a more exhausted 'I'm all worn out /done in'.

Björn Vrooman Sep 19, 2023:

@Lancashireman Usually, I'd agree, but I think the phrase is being repeated, as it is in the song, because it'd be hard to make the connection without it.

You might also repeat something precisely because you're frustrated about how things are going. It's like shrugging it off or could even be seen as an "act" of defiance (=whatever).

Also, you know very well that all these folk music-loving Germans like repeating words for no other reason than to be able to clap their hands one more time =)

Of course, it all depends on whether we're talking about "ans" or "aus", though the latter actually doesn't make much sense to me here.

Best wishes and enjoy your evening

Lancashireman Sep 19, 2023:

Repetition of the phrase... ... sounds more like desperation than (hey-ho) acceptance of one's lot.

Anna Wright Sep 19, 2023:

@Björn, thanks. 'It is what is' came to mind, but seems too much of our time. Maybe, the simple 'it's all the same to me' works best.

Björn Vrooman Sep 19, 2023:

Here's the Swiss version:
"Der wo Geld hat, der kann Schuhe kaufen, der wo kein's hat, muss halt barfuss laufen.

Refrain: S'isch mer alles gleich, s'isch mer alles gleich, hab' ich Geld oder hab' ich keins."
https://lieder.giigaebank.ch/lieder/Wer Geld hat

@Anna
Some good options there. Feel free to post an answer; I'll agree. Something like "it is what it is" might work as well.

Best

Anna Wright Sep 19, 2023:

Agree with Björn -- 'ah well, that's how it goes/so be it/such is life/whatever comes my way' seems to be the mood, if it's a reference to that phrase and song lyric.

Björn Vrooman Sep 19, 2023:

Thanks,... seehand! A quite literal, but pretty accurate, rendering would be "it's all the same to me," I think. Nowadays, you'd really say something like "...but it's whatever..."--while sipping on your mocaccino, though =)

PS
One option could be: "[I really don't believe I'm the right person to teach a class full of young boys,] but so be it."

seehand Sep 19, 2023:

sehe ich genauso wie Björn...

Björn Vrooman Sep 19, 2023:

Did... ...you, by any chance, misread this?

Thanks for the hint about the song; there is a Viennese folk song called "Mir is 's alles ans":
https://www.wienervolksliedwerk.at/VMAW/VMAW/Liedtexte/miris...

But that would mean the letter in the middle is an "n," not a "u."

In "High German," that's "mir ist alles eins" = "mir ist es egal" = whatever:
https://www.lieder-archiv.de/wer_ein_geld_hat_s_ist_mir_alle...