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[tamiam]

From oldassocprof:

Wer strebt hat, den koennen wir retten - Goethe

Translation?
I'm thinking "Wear a striped hat, then cones were rotten". Very profound.

[adhoc]

My personal favorites are:

anthroid: "Yes, but the Eskimo...."

acrimone: "All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"

[atalanta]

I've always been especially fond of Fishbrains' tag line:

"I like to think that a tear marked her cheek, like the trace of a snail creeping across white china."

('wear a striped hat'! can't stop snickering)

[tamiam]

well, what does it mean? (besides "tamiam the philistine doesn't speak german)

[crazybatlady]

Babel Fish says it means, "Who strives has, which we can save."

Super helpful, eh?

[microbe_doc]

In German the verb would be both "strebt" and "hat".  So the phrase is "Whoever strives (has striven, tried), they can be saved."

[tamiam]

"I strive to save him from the striped hat"?

(Remember Roseanne Roseannadanna - what's all this talk about endangered feces?)

[nabob]

I assume the quote refers to Faust, but i don't think oldassocprof has it quite right, since when I google it, I get no hits, and I think all of Goethe's works are online.

[grasshopper]

Well, I've been inspired to add my own.

My favourite is still Fishbrains'. Anything by or about Steve Martin is bound to be smart and funny. So while I don't quite get it (why would a snail be in the china cabinet?), I'll take it on faith that somehow, somewhere, it's smart and funny.

[science_expat]

I like it, Grasshopper!

Too hard for me to think of a good tag line however...

[dr_evil]

I was always fond of Francie's old one: "Objects in this post may be closer than they appear."  I also like the quote from LarryC that Notaprof uses: "Patience and an assumption of good faith are necessary to prevent misunderstandings."

One of the funniest ones I had seen elsewhere was "Where are we going and how did I get in this handbasket?"

Dr. Evil, who is still seeking a clever tag line.

[crazybatlady]

I like Spork's white privilege studies one.

[francie_]

I was always fond of Francie's old one: "Objects in this post may be closer than they appear."

Thanks, Dr. Evil!  I may go back to it when the countdown to 1K is over.

P.S.  I'm sure you are not a geek!

P.P.S.  "Whoever strives, hu can be saved."?

[atalanta]

In German the verb would be both "strebt" and "hat".  So the phrase is "Whoever strives (has striven, tried), they can be saved."

To strive might be the most literal translation, since the words strive and streben have the same root, but I think the meaning intended here is "to aspire".

So... "To those who aspire, redemption". (Does that need another verb...? Sorry, grammarians!)

I assume the quote refers to Faust, but i don't think oldassocprof has it quite right, since when I google it, I get no hits, and I think all of Goethe's works are online.

I had the same results you did, nabob. But my search turned up another interesting quote attributed (??) to Goethe:

"Nur die perverse Phantasie kann uns noch retten" (only a perverse fantasy can save us now!).

[elskerdk]

To strive might be the most literal translation, since the words strive and streben have the same root, but I think the meaning intended here is "to aspire".

So... "To those who aspire, redemption". (Does that need another verb...? Sorry, grammarians!)

I assume the quote refers to Faust, but i don't think oldassocprof has it quite right, since when I google it, I get no hits, and I think all of Goethe's works are online.

I would agree with the aspire translation.  That also makes it much more Goethe-esque to me.  On another note, how does one add a tag line or those little sayings underneath the stars for posting?