[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: sayings

[Austermann]

  My grandmother was Caroline Matschinske, born in  1874 in the Marinkov 
colony (Rozyszycze Parish) in Volhynia.  Her parents were Michael 
Matschinske and Caroline Ristau, who had migrated  there from Pomerania 
a few years earlier.  Grandma  came to Canada  along with other 
relatives when she was nineteen, spent a short time in  North Dakota,  
but lived most of her 90+ years in San Diego, California.

She had several little games and sayings  from the Old Country that she 
taught  to her daughters  and grandchildren.

One involved taking a person's hand and saying:

Ich sag' dir wahr    (I tell you truly)
Dein Kopf hat Haar (your head has hair)
Ich sag' dir weis  (I tell you wise)
Veilleicht auch Laeus' (perhaps with lice)
Ich sag' dir was (I tell you what)
In dein  Hand ist Nass (in your  hand is wet.)

At which point you're supposed to spit in the hand you're holding.  
Screechingly funny!

The other one that I recall  involved a persistent child and an 
impatient mother.

  "Was kochst du,Mama? "(what are you cooking, Mama?)
"Boehnchen, mein Kind." (little beans, my child)
"Was kochst du, Mama?"
"Boehnchen, mein Kind."
"Was kochst du, Mama?"
"Bohnen, du Esel!"(beans, you Ass!)

"Esel" wasn't the word   usually used- there is an earthier term  that 
packed more punch.    I'm a grandmother
  myself, now, and it's fun to think of these things.

-Genie