The Regensburg teacher Ludwig Zehetner received the Waldschmidt Prize on Sunday. The Waldschmidt Association Eschlkam honored Zehetner’s outstanding expertise and research on the dialectology of Bavarian. “Collecting words is my passion,” said the 84-year-old at the award ceremony. He particularly enjoys hearing words that are considered extinct. As an example in his acceptance speech he gave the word Schwöldern, which refers to old, baggy trousers that hang down the buttocks. When a noble gentleman got up from the table at a recent meeting, Zehetner heard someone say: “Look what the Baron is for a Schwöldern o-hod.” In the dictionary office of the Academy of Sciences, the most recent evidence for the word comes from 1921, said Zehetner. A Schwöldern is a sloppy pair of trousers that was still considered fashionable among the younger generation until a few years ago. Such baggy, wide trousers that are worn far below the hips are called baggy pants.
Fool’s Castle
The Austrian author Tonio Schachinger recently received the German Book Prize for his novel “Echtzeitalter”. His first novel “Not Like You” was published in 2019, in which he tells the story of an Austrian professional footballer. At one point he writes about the main character Ivo: “His gaze goes into the emptiness, into nothingness, into the fool’s castle and thoughts run through there like in time lapse on a weather map, with quick highs and lows…”
Not only the Austrians like to look into the Narrenkastl, but also many Bavarians. Children in particular then put on this typical absent look, which Peter Cornelius also sings about in the song “You’re sorry, I know you”: “When I often look into the fool’s box for a bit, then I see a girl with eyes so blue…” Anyone who looks into the Narrenkastl is staring holes into the air without any effort. In this state the brain rests, its owner is now tramhaper and escapes from all worries and troubles for a short time in order to float into a dream.