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08 jul 06 "what is a schweinhund and are you one?" "schweinhund" is a composite of the german words for "pig" and "dog". to be a schweinhund is to be a lowly, base, contemptible person; like a pig, and like a dog -- cowardly, filthy, devious, amoral, etc. simply a heinous being, crawling about in the underpit, worthy of no praise, and worthy of no absolution. the lowest of the low -- no redeeming qualities whatsoever. "schweinhund" isn't a proper german word -- the composite is an american invention, dreamed up for use in world war II movies (source). this literary use continued as a part of the 1980s PC game "castle wolfenstein" (the guards yelled this at you when you ran around in the nazi castle), which a few of you old folks might remember. i think "castle wolfenstein" has now evolved into a "1st person shooter" game (you see the game-world as you would from your own eyes, and run around shooting things). i'd be interested to know if the word "schweinhund" is still worked into the game's sound files. needless to say, the word "schweinhund" carries strong nazi overtones -- it's heard as something a nazi guard might call a prisoner of war as he kicks him about with his jack-boots. it's probably a good idea not to use the word in the presence of even halfway-normally socialized people, even though it isn't inherently evil or anything -- calling someone a "schweinhund" is the same thing as calling him a "dirtbag", or something of that ilk. but since the word's only original function was for movie-nazis to yell it, you can't use it without sounding horrible (even though real nazis never actually said it). no-one uses the word unless he's attempting to offend someone, is a neo-nazi, or picked up some bad speech habits from a bunch of neo-nazis. am i a contemptible low-life, so-described by viscious, militaristic, fascist, prejudiced authority? yeah, pretty much. |
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