standuptragicomedy replied to your post “Babylon Berlin, Second Pass: Episode 7”
okay 1) how did i not notice that was Edgar holy shit you’re RIGHT, 2) WAY TO PRE-EMPT MY NOTE FOR THE SECOND ROUND OF THIS EP ABOUT ANNO TAKING OVER EVERY SINGLE THING IN GEREON’S LIFE (I’ve put way too much thought into Anno and Gereon’s relationship because as an only child I compulsively overanalyze any and all sibling relationships), and 3) I have never heard anything even close to “am i right or am i right” in Russian and that is…tragic.
1) @memory-for-trifles was the first to suspect, First of Her Name!! They met because Edgar was getting treatment in his neuro clinic can u believe
2) TURNABOUTS FAIR PLAY FOR BEATING ME TO THE HEADACHE JOKE BRO. (No but for reals I am so jazzed to jinx :))
3) Okay okay okay okay, SO (!), first of all thank you for the news re: If Russian Would Do This, AND today I asked my French-speaking coworker friend, who was born in the U.S. to French and Belgian parents, grew up here speaking French with them but kinda only them & his European family, then did live abroad in the Netherlands and France for a year as an adult, but as a result his French is perfectly fluent but kinda…isolated? Like he’s got no argot, basically. So take the Bernard take with a grain of salt, BUT I asked him if “Am I right or am I right?” is a construction he’d naturally generate in French, and he was like “Huh!” and after some pondering ended up describing it as something he could say, sure, but yeah it would feel like a calque of the English, basically. OR, maybe more accurately, a calque of the German??
So!– Germans! Darlings! “Hab ich recht oder hab ich recht?” — is this yours? Does this feel OF your language? Because English does this exactly the same and I’m feeling like it’s a FAMILY MOMENT. @vonmoors @kikidiesunddas
I am screaming at the discovery that Edgar is in the video. Like… What a glow up? Was he on Queer Eye??? (I’d watch that.)
(Bold of me to assume he would not be part of the Queer Eye crew. “Gereon, get your life together! Start with clothing that actually fits you!”)
On a serious note: This adds so much to his character. The theory that he witnessed the armenian genocide makes a lot of sense and it would make him a lot more tragic. It would also explain why he is so weirdly mild when it comes to physical violence. Like, yes, he lets his men kill people and tortures their minds, but he is not one to be physically violent himself. He is an interesting fella, easily my favorite character on the show.
Anno is like old-testament god, honestly. All-seeing and all-knowing, looming over Gereon like a threat.
On the “Hab ich recht oder hab ich recht?”-topic: I don’t know? It does feel very german in a way and I’ve actually watched a video today that mentioned that english came from Plattdeutsch, a german dialect, so the languages are very connected? But I do not know if it is true, I shall do more research when I got time. ANYWAY: The languages are very connected either way and I love it.
This is an extremely good point we really did not properly highlight the glow up
Honestly what a compelling before/after advertisement. You TOO Can Get Your Life Together and Become Berlin’s Best (Dressed) Mobster, Try: THERAPY
Anyway so glad we agree on how much we love EDGAR, Armenian refugee, mental health proponent, local business-owner, and stylishly threatening mild-mannered ruler of a highly creative city-wide crime syndicate.
Cain said “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and Anno Rath said “Y e s~~”
And yaaaayyy, we probably got it from you! The joke about English is that it’s basically three languages stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat, one of those most certainly being Low German (from the Saxons, along with French from the Normans and Latin from the nerds)