Achtung!

Even though I do not have German ancestors, but because at one time I was perfectly fluent in the German language, and because Baltimore's revered Mencken was once a member, and because I love to drink beer,  I joined the German Society of Maryland.

Over the years my language expertise has deteriorated but I still maintain a simple reading ability. ("If you don't use it, you lose it.")

So, I enjoy reading the Society's Vereinsnachrichten and learning new information  with a Germanic viewpoint, such as:

Bratkartoffelverhaeltnis  ... literally "fried potato relationship." Idiomatically: "Er hat ein Bratkartoffelverhaeltnis mit ihr" ... "He only sees her because she feeds him."

According to the Vereinsnachrichtung, and I quote: "... the origin of this expression dates back to the early 20th-century World War I era, when  short-term love affairs were entered into because one partner had better rations.

Today, it is more often than not used in Germany as a tongue-in-cheek synonym for a 'wilde Ehe' (wild marriage), referring to co-habitation without tying the knot."

Ay last, an interesting way to describe the relationship that me and Elaine have!

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More later. Auf Wiedersehen!