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 Tue Jun 06, 2006 13:58 pm Expression: "to schlepp boxes" |
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Hi Jamie, thanks for brining up this topic. I've just scanned the first part of the article coming across this interesting phrase: schlepping boxes -- which seems like another example of German words that have found their way into the English language.
How popular is the expression to schlepp something in modern English?
As for the article, all of the interviewees said they did their first job when there were teenagers or younger. With theexception of one person (a Harvard professor of psychology), all of them earned very little or no money through their first jobs and the experience was worth more to them than the salary they earned. I think in order to become financially independent you might have to do a number of jow paid jobs in order to learn that are other and more important rewards in addition to money.
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Torsten
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| Tue Jun 06, 2006 14:37 pm Expression: "to schlepp boxes" |
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| Torsten wrote: | | How popular is the expression to schlepp something in modern English? |
The farther east you go in the US, the more you hear it. When you get to Manhattan, you hear it a lot. I think we got it from German by way of Yiddish, which explains why it's more commonly heard in New York.
| Torsten wrote: | | As for the article, all of the interviewees said they did their first job when there were teenagers or younger. |
This is normal. You'll also notice that some of the people's parents had money, but the kid still had this low-paid job at a young age.
| Torsten wrote: | | With the exception of one person (a Harvard professor of psychology), |
Yes, I tend to be suspicious of people like him; people who never had a job until they were adults, and whose first and only jobs were in academia. They tend not to have a good grip on reality or on the real lives of ordinary people, but at the same time they have the power to influence society and government. They can be as dangerous as people who have never had a job outside of politics.
| Torsten wrote: | | all of them earned very little or no money through their first jobs and the experience was worth more to them than the salary they earned. I think in order to become financially independent you might have to do a number of low paid jobs in order to learn that are other and more important rewards in addition to money. |
Those low-paid jobs give you your first, most direct feedback on your ideas and behavior. A colleague of mine -- one of the best people I know -- goes farther than you and says that everyone should spend some time in a public contact job, such as waitressing, sales, etc. I agree with her. I learned plenty in the factories, but there were skills I would have acquired much sooner if I'd worked in direct contact with the public. |
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Jamie (K)
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Tue Jun 06, 2006 14:53 pm The onion.com |
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Yes, working for community services and charities is also an invaluable experience that helps you find out what exactly you want out of life.
By they way, I noticed that the CEO of TheOnion.com is featured in the slide show too. How did you come across TheOnion and how often do you use this site?
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| Tue Jun 06, 2006 15:24 pm The onion.com |
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| Torsten wrote: | | Yes, working for community services and charities is also an invaluable experience that helps you find out what exactly you want out of life. |
Younger Americans who go into the military or work for the Peace Corps usually come back home with their heads screwed on straighter than when they left. But working for local charities also improves one's outlook.
When I was 17 (too young to do it), I worked in a crisis intervention center for people with drug problems and other types of pathologies. I got to see the whole ugly side of life, and this knowledge helps me to this day. For one thing, I notice when people are going to cause trouble before other people do. I had one college student in my class whose "boyfriend" worked in the pornography industry, and I could see that he was using all the classic techniques to get her working in pornography and prostitution. She thought he was protecting her from it, but in fact he was working her into it little by little. I was able to convince her to get away from the guy, and to show her what he was doing, while other people, when she was distressed, would just try to help her "clarify her feelings" about her "relationship". It was a really close call, but because of that charity work I can recognize such "entrepreneurs" in the college student centers and I know how they operate.
| Torsten wrote: | | By they way, I noticed that the CEO of TheOnion.com is featured in the slide show too. How did you come across TheOnion and how often do you use this site? |
The Onion is also a newspaper with more or less the same content. I can't remember how I first found out about it. Generally, I use the site when I want a good laugh. (My favorite articles are the ones about Marxist students.) I also have some ESL students -- particularly those from Indonesia and Thailand -- who go into hysterical laughter over those articles and eagerly await new ones. These guys also love the Cubicle Culture column from the Wall Street Journal. |
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Jamie (K)
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Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Gl- words (lows, glistens, glimmers, glints, glitters) | Bizarre - or how to find a job in Germany? |
