The happy corpse
My Daughter, Carol, living in beautiful Baden Württemberg, is now completely fluent in the German language but, in earlier days, she was puzzled by certain yearly celebrations, namely Froh Leichnam, literally meaning 'happy corpse'. She knew that Leichnam was a corpse but could not understand why an inanimate body should be "happy" - or froh. Eventually curiosity got the better of her and she, reluctantly, queried the reason for this deceased joviality. Amid peals of laughter - and startled expressions of surprise - she was informed that the German people were celebrating FRONLEICHNAM - the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Sent by: Noel
Comments
In Germany somtimes small kids make the same mistake and speak of Frohen Leichnam, happy corpse.
Actually the word Fron is a a very old German word for Herr (as in lord and master) and the meaning of the word Fronleichnam is the 'body of the lord'. I hope this helps.
An old neighbor from Rheinland-Pfalz spoke very little English. After I moved to B-W, we would still talk on the phone sometimes and he always loved to ask me (in English) about "Happy Corpse" Day. This was one of his favorite jokes (along with a million revolving around 'Grüß Gott ...')
Flag this comment