A euphemism is a mild or pleasant word or phrase that is used instead of one that is unpleasant or offensive (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euphemism). “Götz von Berlichingen” is such a phrase, and I absolutely adore it.
About Writers and Poets
When I attended high school in Germany in the early 1960s, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s works were as familiar to me as the classics of Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tennessee Williams might be to today’s American students.
About Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is a well-known German poet, playwright, novelist, and philosopher who lived from 1739 to 1842. Often compared to Germany’s William Shakespeare, Goethe was born in Frankfurt/Main and studied law in Leipzig and Strasburg. He was later appointed to Duke Karl August’s court in Weimar and remained there for the rest of his life. But Goethe’s true love was writing. He wrote poetry in a variety of styles and meters and produced celebrated dramas, novels, memoirs, and other literary classics. https://study.com/academy/lesson/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe-works-biography-quiz.html
Famous Euphemism
This prolific man had penned his first renowned drama when he was only twenty-four years old. His first drama was also the first of his works we discussed in high school. It was based on the memoir of an adventurer-poet, named Götz von Berlichingen, and included a quote that quickly rose to fame. In the third act of the drama, Götz is under siege by the Imperial Army. The captain of the army asks Götz to surrender. From a window, our hero replies, “Er kann mich am Arsche lecken – He can lick my arse.” You can image how uncouth those words must have sounded in the mid-1700s. Even today, it is a rather blunt way of putting it. At any rate, the expression, ‘Götz von Berlichingen,‘ known as the Swabian Salute, became a famous German euphemism. Instead of giving the finger, uttering the F—- word, or using other uncouth expressions, we would send a regal nod in the direction of the offender and simply say, “Götz von Berlichingen, Sir.”
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
