Life is Like a Chicken COOP Ladder: A Portrait of German Culture Through Folklore

by Alan Dundes

Book Overview

A work of major importance that demonstrates the value of folklore for understanding national character. Life Is Like a Chicken Coop Ladder was first published in 1984 and from the outset inspired a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231054947
• ISBN13: 9780231054942
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Colloquial German, not folklore

I first saw this book while living in southwest Germany five years ago. Its less about German folklore than it is about colloquial German. As a linguist, this is a fantastic volume. German language, when compared to English, is remarkably limited in its ability to throw out four-letter words. So the Germanic peoples developed some pretty entertaining idioms over time. If you speak any German, this is a must for understanding colloquial speech and command of the only original swear word in the language. Its insightful but certainly not 'folklore' in the American sense.