The charming word Potschamperl (Potschamberl, Botschamperl) used to be used for night oats. A few days ago, this linguistic-historical pearl triggered various reactions among readers. On the Munich pages of the SZ you could read the spelling form Bodschambal, which may be appropriate in terms of pronunciation, but was otherwise considered inappropriate. Given its origins, it was argued that the spelling Potschamperl would be more appropriate for this word. This makes sense, because the term comes from French, where the chamber pot is called pot de chambre. In the 19th century, this word was borrowed into Bavarian and enjoyed great popularity here – not least because of its pleasant and elegant sound. In addition, this made it possible to avoid the coarse local version of Brunztile in sophisticated conversation. Potschamperl only went out of fashion when flush toilets became popular. In houses without a toilet, the Potschamperl was usually kept under the bed and was simply pulled out by the handle when needed. Once a malicious man is said to have put a cactus in his mother-in-law’s pot champagne. In Munich’s Valentin Museum there is even a Winter Potschamperl that is trimmed with fur (on the inside, of course, in the spirit of Karl Valentin).
office clerk
According to the daily burial list published by the city of Munich, two women who were well over 90 years old were buried last Wednesday. Their job titles were interesting, as both women were clerks. This beautiful word is not heard often anymore. A look at the dictionary reveals that an office clerk is an employee in a commercial company who carries out office and administrative tasks. The name is derived from the word Kontor, which, according to etymologists, is borrowed from the French comptoir and means office, office and payment table (compter, to calculate). The word Kontor appears in many writings of the 19th and early 20th centuries, not least by Franz Kafka and Ludwig Thoma. At the beginning of his novel “Münchnerinnen”, published in 1919, one can read: “The only person who seemed to be very busy was Mr. Benno Globerger, who was standing behind a desk in the open office next door.”