Sinister: please... don't butcher two languages

[Rob Lorenson]

On 30 Sep 2000, at 10:35, n|ck g wrote:

> not your senorita wrote:
> 
> Our German friends, however, chose to call their aeroplanes "MESSERSCHMITT"
> which means "Mister Smith". I rest my case.>>>
> 
> i think that someone already pointed out that "das Messer" means "the knife" 
> but i have to point out that i have never, ever heard anyone refer to "ein 
> Flugzeug" (airplane : literally translated : flying thing) as anything but 
> "Flugzeug." sorry to rain on the parade...
> 
> the closest thing to Messerschmitt that i can think of is Messerschnitt. 
> which means "knife slice."

Sorry to piss in your lemonade, but...

The Messerschmitt Bf109e and Bf109g were very famous and very 
feared World War II planes, as was the Messerschmitt BF110.  
The BF110 appeared near the end of the war, and was used for 
dogfighting and bombing -- mainly bombing, because it was a high-
altitude plane.  The BF109e was Germany's premier dogfighter:  
extremely stable in the air, as well as highly manoeuverable, but it 
lacked speed compared to the Spitfire Mk series, and the P51 
Mustang.  But what it lacked in speed it more than made up for in 
firepower, packing machine guns and cannons, whereas its 
adversaries -- the Hurricane, the Spitfire, and the Mustang P51 only 
had machine guns.  The Zero (Japanese -- I think Mitsubishi made 
it, but I'm not sure) is by far the most kickass WWII fighter.  
Except for the Messerschmitt ME62e which came at the very end 
of the war, which was a jet.  It was used very little in combat, as 
Messerschmitt was unable to construct enough numbers in time to 
put it into wide use.  That's probably what they are referring to 
when they call their planes Messerschmitts.

Incidentally, Messerschmitt made planes in World War I, and 
some of their planes were also used during the Korean War.

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