5 ms·

Thanks for the story. Sorry, I know nothing about music, how do you paint someone's portrait with a piano? He was able to create a music based on a person?

josh2600 6y ago
Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of wanderlust and kummerspeck (German for grief bacon). It felt like I was being channeled by a ghost and the chords matched my facade like icing on a cake. Chick played the piano, all I could do was sit there and listen.
- defen 6y ago
  That's a really powerful story, but also > kummerspeck (German for grief bacon) Raises more questions than it answers
  - rostigerpudel 6y ago
    When you start eating because you are sad, then, given enough time in this state, you will gain weight -> bacon from grief
    - wholinator2 6y ago
      It still didn't make sense to me so I googled it and found, "Kummerspeck is the name for excess fat gained by emotional eating – specifically, the excessive eating people do in times of stress or sorrow." So it literally refers to the _fat_ (speck) someone gains by eating while feeling _grief or sorrow_ (kummer). Except that the specific word for fat they use is the word for _animal fat_ and in some instances literally means bacon. What an interesting word. https://blogs.transparent.com/german/kummerspeck-frustfressen/ https://blogs.transparent.com/german/kummerspeck-frustfresse...
    - cameldrv 6y ago
      Speck is bacon and also (human) fat. Kummerspeck is the fat you get from feeling bad.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - donquichotte 6y ago
    It's certainly not a common word in German. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen it, and all google search results are either dictionary entries or English articles that can be attributed to the Anglosphere's obsession with German compound words. Source: native speaker, reasonably literate
    - danielh 6y ago
      It is definitely colloquial and not a word you’d use everyday, but it is in Duden: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Kummerspeck https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Kummerspeck
      - mfkp 6y ago
        I love how I just automatically accept the German cookie banner without reading it (but understanding exactly what it says). Modern internet ist scheisse.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    - Xylakant 6y ago
      Might be regional, I certainly know it, I’m from southwest germany.
      - weinzierl 6y ago
        Bavaria (southeast Germany) agrees. It's colloquial and - maybe regional - but not an uncommon word in my experience.
      - avhception 6y ago
        NRW reporting in, too
      - MrGilbert 6y ago
        Northern germany also knows it. Maybe it has something to do with age. It's usage has declined over the years, I think. Maybe because it belittles the underlying issue, as it sounds rather "cute" to a native speaker. Just an educated guess, though.
  - usr1106 6y ago
    >> kummerspeck (German for grief bacon) > Raises more questions than it answers True. As a native speaker I know the word, but the sentence makes little sense to me. One could gain Kummerspeck (over weeks, months or years), but one could not be looking like Kummerspeck or sitting there like Kummerspeck. Unless in English the word has been loaned and the meaning shifted over time as it sometimes happens with loan words.
    - coldtea 6y ago
      One could gain Kummerspeck (over weeks, months or years), but one could not be looking like Kummerspeck or sitting there like Kummerspeck. One could very well be in the emotional state for Kummerspeck in that state of their lives, which is what is implied here. Basically parent means: "[Corea] saw in me that I have wanderlust, and that I'm depressed and fat from it". That is, the parent feels like Corea identified and expressed his personal and emotional state at the time, with his playing....
      - josh2600 6y ago
        Man, just coming back to this thread. Thank you for saying this. To add a slight bit more color, I didn’t think of myself as fat and depressed in that moment, more that I had been feeling gorged on the emotions of life and had metaphorically eaten my sorrows. To me, kummerspeck is the feeling of being unable to distinguish between the tears running down your face or the grease on your chin. It’s a feeling of relishing in the grief of burying someone who would want you to eat a ton of bacon at their funeral to celebrate their life. Emotions are rarely simple or easy to explain. It’s still worth the effort to try though.
  - busfahrer 6y ago
    As a German it's amusing to me that a translation was given for Kummerspeck, but not for Wanderlust.
    - wheels 6y ago
      Wanderlust is commonly used as a loanword in English. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wanderlust https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wanderlust
    - MockObject 6y ago
      As an American it's amusing to me that Wanderlust means the same in German, since both words are English as well.
      - cycomanic 6y ago
        To another German it's amusing that the individual words exist in German and English, but don't quite mean the same things in each language, i.e. are not really translations of each other.
    - jgwil2 6y ago
      Both wander and lust are also English words, albeit with slightly different shades of meaning, so it should be comprehensible to a non-German speaker who has never encountered it before, whereas Kummerspeck would not be.
      - martyvis 6y ago
        Coincidentally I saw a tweet yesterday which said that albeit looks like a German word but isn't
  - btkramer9 6y ago
    Not sure why English speakers are in love with German compound words but add me to the list because this phrase is wonderful
    - dhosek 6y ago
      Spanish has some wonderful compound words as well. Puzzle = rompecabezas (literally, breaks heads) mask (like we've been wearing for the last year) = tapabocas (covers/plugs mouths) half-sleep = duermevela (sleep candle) There are more, these are just two of my favorites.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- harveywi 6y ago
  > Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. It felt like I was being imitated, state by state, symbol by symbol, my inner-most thoughts understood but unspoken as my utterances were scribbled onto the infinite tape. > I was also a newly married man who had gained some weight. > As Chick tickled the ivories, he whispered, "I shall call the song of your life 'The Imitation Game'." > A moment later, he whispered my name. I do not recall me telling him my name. > "I wrote this for you, Benedict Kummerspeck," whispered Chick.

josh2600 6y ago

Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of wanderlust and kummerspeck (German for grief bacon). It felt like I was being channeled by a ghost and the chords matched my facade like icing on a cake. Chick played the piano, all I could do was sit there and listen.

defen 6y ago
That's a really powerful story, but also > kummerspeck (German for grief bacon) Raises more questions than it answers
- rostigerpudel 6y ago
  When you start eating because you are sad, then, given enough time in this state, you will gain weight -> bacon from grief
  - wholinator2 6y ago
    It still didn't make sense to me so I googled it and found, "Kummerspeck is the name for excess fat gained by emotional eating – specifically, the excessive eating people do in times of stress or sorrow." So it literally refers to the _fat_ (speck) someone gains by eating while feeling _grief or sorrow_ (kummer). Except that the specific word for fat they use is the word for _animal fat_ and in some instances literally means bacon. What an interesting word. https://blogs.transparent.com/german/kummerspeck-frustfressen/ https://blogs.transparent.com/german/kummerspeck-frustfresse...
  - cameldrv 6y ago
    Speck is bacon and also (human) fat. Kummerspeck is the fat you get from feeling bad.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- donquichotte 6y ago
  It's certainly not a common word in German. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen it, and all google search results are either dictionary entries or English articles that can be attributed to the Anglosphere's obsession with German compound words. Source: native speaker, reasonably literate
  - danielh 6y ago
    It is definitely colloquial and not a word you’d use everyday, but it is in Duden: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Kummerspeck https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Kummerspeck
    - mfkp 6y ago
      I love how I just automatically accept the German cookie banner without reading it (but understanding exactly what it says). Modern internet ist scheisse.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - Xylakant 6y ago
    Might be regional, I certainly know it, I’m from southwest germany.
    - weinzierl 6y ago
      Bavaria (southeast Germany) agrees. It's colloquial and - maybe regional - but not an uncommon word in my experience.
    - avhception 6y ago
      NRW reporting in, too
    - MrGilbert 6y ago
      Northern germany also knows it. Maybe it has something to do with age. It's usage has declined over the years, I think. Maybe because it belittles the underlying issue, as it sounds rather "cute" to a native speaker. Just an educated guess, though.
- usr1106 6y ago
  >> kummerspeck (German for grief bacon) > Raises more questions than it answers True. As a native speaker I know the word, but the sentence makes little sense to me. One could gain Kummerspeck (over weeks, months or years), but one could not be looking like Kummerspeck or sitting there like Kummerspeck. Unless in English the word has been loaned and the meaning shifted over time as it sometimes happens with loan words.
  - coldtea 6y ago
    One could gain Kummerspeck (over weeks, months or years), but one could not be looking like Kummerspeck or sitting there like Kummerspeck. One could very well be in the emotional state for Kummerspeck in that state of their lives, which is what is implied here. Basically parent means: "[Corea] saw in me that I have wanderlust, and that I'm depressed and fat from it". That is, the parent feels like Corea identified and expressed his personal and emotional state at the time, with his playing....
    - josh2600 6y ago
      Man, just coming back to this thread. Thank you for saying this. To add a slight bit more color, I didn’t think of myself as fat and depressed in that moment, more that I had been feeling gorged on the emotions of life and had metaphorically eaten my sorrows. To me, kummerspeck is the feeling of being unable to distinguish between the tears running down your face or the grease on your chin. It’s a feeling of relishing in the grief of burying someone who would want you to eat a ton of bacon at their funeral to celebrate their life. Emotions are rarely simple or easy to explain. It’s still worth the effort to try though.
- busfahrer 6y ago
  As a German it's amusing to me that a translation was given for Kummerspeck, but not for Wanderlust.
  - wheels 6y ago
    Wanderlust is commonly used as a loanword in English. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wanderlust https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wanderlust
  - MockObject 6y ago
    As an American it's amusing to me that Wanderlust means the same in German, since both words are English as well.
    - cycomanic 6y ago
      To another German it's amusing that the individual words exist in German and English, but don't quite mean the same things in each language, i.e. are not really translations of each other.
  - jgwil2 6y ago
    Both wander and lust are also English words, albeit with slightly different shades of meaning, so it should be comprehensible to a non-German speaker who has never encountered it before, whereas Kummerspeck would not be.
    - martyvis 6y ago
      Coincidentally I saw a tweet yesterday which said that albeit looks like a German word but isn't
- btkramer9 6y ago
  Not sure why English speakers are in love with German compound words but add me to the list because this phrase is wonderful
  - dhosek 6y ago
    Spanish has some wonderful compound words as well. Puzzle = rompecabezas (literally, breaks heads) mask (like we've been wearing for the last year) = tapabocas (covers/plugs mouths) half-sleep = duermevela (sleep candle) There are more, these are just two of my favorites.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
harveywi 6y ago
> Chick asked me to sit in a chair a couple feet away from his piano. He stared at me with the a look that seemed to say "whatever you've got, I'll work with it." If I had to imagine how I looked back at him in that moment it would've been the simulacrum of a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. It felt like I was being imitated, state by state, symbol by symbol, my inner-most thoughts understood but unspoken as my utterances were scribbled onto the infinite tape. > I was also a newly married man who had gained some weight. > As Chick tickled the ivories, he whispered, "I shall call the song of your life 'The Imitation Game'." > A moment later, he whispered my name. I do not recall me telling him my name. > "I wrote this for you, Benedict Kummerspeck," whispered Chick.