Tuesday 18 December 2018

Presents - Part 2 - False Friends

Some people call presents "gifts". I probably used to. But then I moved to Vienna and encountered the German language. Now, I never give anyone gifts.

My aversion to gifts is the result of my first attempt to buy one in a German speaking environment. It was not long before Christmas and a friend of mine back in Australia had given birth to a little boy. I decided that the Christmas market in front of the Rathaus in Vienna would be a perfect place to buy a present for the baby. I was hoping to find a cuddly toy he could have in his cot with him, or a wooden wheeled object he could, when a little older, roll about the kitchen floor.

But I was stumped. While there were lots and lots of lovely things for sale, each time I looked closer I found they bore labels on which were written the words "Nicht Giftig". Was it an Austrian law or a local custom that prevented these things from being presented as gifts, I wondered. I had been told years before that the Scots believe you should never give a knife as a present but why on earth would you prohibit people from providing children with teddies and wooden trains?

It must be the European Union, I decided, health and safety and the fact that all these things were handmade and so hadn't had an inspector check that they wouldn't choke a child or cause them harm. And while I disapproved of such measures and loved the idea of giving something that the child receiving it wouldn't find seven identical examples of lying under the tree, I didn't want my friend's child's dath on my conscience.

So I left the Christmas market and went to a department store, which was full of factorymade things. Like most shopping these days, it was pretty dispiriting as nothing there possessed beauty or had been made with a craftsman's skill. On the other hand, most things, having been made in China, had packaging printed in English, including messages about being safe for infants.

It was only after Christmas that I enrolled in German language lessons. Too late I discovered what "giftig" really meant.

4 comments:

  1. Goodness. How do you feel about mist?

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    1. Unclear? Mistified? Enough with the feeble attempts at so-called humour, Zoë (that is me talking to me, not admonishing you, in case it is unclear)

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  2. By the way, the superstition about knives is not limited to Scotland. You can find it mentioned in Merimee's novel Colomba, which is set in Corsica. And I worked with a woman born in Ireland who would not hand one scissors, but set them down near one on a flat surface--handing someone a sharp object might cut off the friendship.

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    1. Oh no, if you knew how many superstitions I already infuriate my family with - and now scissors can be added to the list. I hope you both have a wonderful Christmas & it would be nice to think we might meet up again in the new year

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