Hit me blue

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The word sequence "Hau mich blau" (also in the spelling Hau-mich-blau ) or the abbreviation Haumichblau are used in the German-speaking area for nonsensical assignments, both for April fools and for the so-called training initiation rites . The designation can also be found partly as a shortened corruption in the form of Haumi blue , which at the same time corresponds to the word sequence Hau mi blue used in many German and Low German dialects .

history

The joke question about "blow me blue" in the form of a nonsensical and unfulfilled, but believable-sounding order, a pack, portion, bag or the like. To get "Hau-mich-blau", "Haumichblau" or "Haumiblau" was often used in the past to "send someone into April". The joke was sometimes used all year round, especially with small children .

In addition, the custom is one of the nonsensical procurement orders that were made as jokes at the expense of trainees or other young professionals, especially in the 19th century and into the second half of the 20th century. In addition, due to the usual school year regulations at the time, training courses etc. usually started on April 1st. The nonsensical order to get "Hau-mich-blau" was often used as a training initiation rite across professions and a. preferably used in Hamburg . In the broadest sense, the earlier widespread “blow me blue” joke can be counted among the so-called rites of passage during the transition from student to apprentice and career starter .

The "victim" of the joke was usually in a pharmacy, a grocery store or a kiosk or similar. sent to get the "badly needed blow-me-blue". The inevitable result-less return of "dupes" then made the principal and etwaigem audience laughter and a mild form of gloating over the ignorance of so mocked , often as early as the "place of sale" itself. However, there are also examples where it the chosen “victim” succeeded - partly with the help of the indirectly involved “seller of 'knock me blue'” - in suddenly changing roles (“ turning the tables ”) and instead tricking the client.

The word sequence - the designation "Hau-mich-blau" is formed by adding individual words and thus belongs to a particularly popular joke question type, as is confirmed by the frequency of the variants and corrupted terms that occur. The use of the term can be traced back to around the 18th century, but it may have happened even earlier, as the custom of “sending in April” has been proven to have emerged as early as the 16th century. For example, registered u. a. a collection of terms on Mecklenburg folk traditions published in 1906 on the topic of “April sending” from children also called “Hau mich blau” and refers to a publication by Oskar Dähnhardt from 1898, while the magazine for German dialects used the phrase “da there's blow-me-blue ”listed. In addition, dialect variants can also be found, for example in the Low German dialects as “Hau mi blau” or summarized as “Haumiblau”, and in Banat Swabian as “Haumichbloo”. The joke was widespread and was used in many German-speaking countries and regions in Europe in the same or a similar way.

In the vernacular , the joke question designation Hau-mich-blau became independent in part as a synonymous word group designation for "a little boy ".

Usage examples

The joke can be found as an April Fool's joke or training initiation rite in a number of autobiographical and biographical books as well as in contemporary witness reports , but is also processed in works of fiction . Examples of this include:

  • in the autobiographical report by Heinrich Hochhaus (* 1919), who took part in the Second World War as a fighter pilot and published his memories in 1997 under the title For five Pfennig Haumichblau - A young man in the horrors of war . In it, Hochhaus tells of an experience as a schoolboy when he was sent to the Holler drugstore to buy Haumich blue for five pfennigs . The druggist, Mr. Holler, listened to his purchase request and then sent it back without goods, but with the message that Haumich blue was only available from fifty pfennigs and that it had to be picked up by the client himself. (Frieling, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8280-0270-6 , p. 76)
  • in the autobiographical report Gottfried and the third soldier - memories of a Transylvanian born in '42 by Ernst Gerhard Seidner (* 1942), who grew up in his place of birth Hermannstadt in Transylvania and in his book a. a. tells how, as the youngest of four children, he was often sent to the neighboring grocer, Mrs. Mandotscha, to run errands. One day he received an order from his older brother Walter to buy “Hau mich blau” for his mother for a leu . Ms. Mandotscha, however, was at a loss and closed her shop for a short time to consult with his astonished mother, who did not know anything about the order. Both women, according to Seidner, then slowly said “blow me blue” and suddenly began to laugh. (Hora-Verlag, Hermannstadt 2003, ISBN 973-8226-22-8 , p. 27)
  • in the biography of Max Mannheimer (1920–2016), Three Lives - Memories , edited by Marie-Luise von der Leyen , which came out in 2012. In it, Mannheimer recounts an episode in his childhood memories in which, as a six- or seven-year-old at the time - i.e. 1926 or 1927 - on the first of April in his place of birth Neutitschein (now Nový Jičín in the Czech Republic), one of the customers who usually came to the town square there Waiting and known taxi driver, Mr. Schattel, received a crown and was sent to a nearby pharmacy to get "Hau mich blau". However, he bought a bag of gummy candies and then lied to Mr. Schattel on his reproach "with an innocent air" that he had asked for what he wanted and then received the candy. "You can keep it", Mr. Schattel then told him "a little grumpy" because he had been tricked by the Mannheimer boy because he actually wanted to trick him. (DTB, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-423-24953-9 , p. 8)
Quotation from the German edition of the novel Butterfield 8 by John O'Hara :
“Go to the merchant and get a portion of Hau-mich-blau. The merchant says: What do you want? And what do you say then? "
" Hit-me-blue. "And then:" Ouch! "
  • in the novel Butterfield 8 by John O'Hara , which is set in New York in the 1930s and in which O'Hara his protagonists a. a. Lets exchange childhood experiences, the literary translation into German by Klaus Modick contains the following episode:

“They talked about their childhood experiences (it's always wonderful to discover how small America is through shared childhood memories). […]
'Go to the merchant and get a portion of blow-me-blue. The merchant says: What do you want? And what do you say then? '
'Hit-me-blue.' And then: 'Ouch!' "

- John O'Hara : Butterfield 8, 1935, 1962; German edition: C. H. Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57033-9 , p. 147
The original version of John O'Hara's Butterfield 8 in American English contains a joke common in the United States called "Pinch-me" (German "Kneif-me").
  • in the children's book Haumiblau - 208 Pfenniggeschichten for children by Walter Kempowski , which was published in 1986 and in which Kempowski also tells a story about the April Fool's joke that gave the title. (Thienemann, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-570-06625-8 )
  • in the journal Deutsche Studien , published by the Ost-Akademie in Lüneburg , in which a contemporary witness reported in 1978 that in 1943, as a second grader, he received a groschen from an older pupil with the order to fetch "Hau mich blau" from the pharmacy. The pharmacist was admittedly a philanthropist and did not want to embarrass him; rather, he crumbled a piece of cork into a bag, wrote "Hau mich blau" on it and pocketed the penny. The older student, who was waiting outside, was amazed and very disappointed that he did not come out of the pharmacy crying. ( German Studies , Volume 17-18, Ost-Akademie Lüneburg 1978, ISSN 0012-0812 , p. 308) 
  • in the regional reporting on Walter Konerding from Hattingen , who, according to his statements, received 50 pfennigs from his father in the 1960s as a five-year-old at the time  and was supposed to get a bag of "Hau mich blau" at the booth. When the salesman came around the counter with a cane, grinning , he realized that his father had been joking and that there was no such thing as “blow me blue”. The experience occupied him again and again and almost 50 years later, at the beginning of the 2010s, as a trained cabinet maker, he developed a candy machine with which a candy factory in Eckernförde now produces special candies and sells them in bags under the brand name “hau mich blau”

Regional variants

In southern Germany , besides Haumiblau , the terms Ibidum (“I'm stupid”) and Oxdradium (“Ochs, turn around”, cf. kitchen Latin ) are common, which are used in a similar way to Haumiblau .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See for example: Peter Bigos: “A bag of Haumichblau, please!” (1938) . Contemporary witness report at Seniorenbüro Hamburg e. V. , www.seniorenbuero-hamburg.de; accessed on March 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b Viktor Dammann: The whole place laughs when the apprentices are glued ... Haumiblau, glass planer, curve oil, lobster pistol and croissant shapes. In: Blick , Schweiz, from October 30, 1980.
  3. ^ Cf. John Meier (Ed.): Yearbook for Folk Song Research , Volume 16. Published on behalf of the German Folk Song Archive . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1971, ISSN  0075-2789 , p. 132.
  4. ↑ Cf. Mosquito fat and Hau-mich-blau . In: Trierischer Volksfreund from March 29, 2006; accessed on March 10, 2014.
  5. ↑ Richard Wossidlo (Ed.): Mecklenburgische Volksgebändungen , Volume 3: Child maintenance and child breeding. Published by the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology . Hinstorff, Rostock 1906, DNB 999205161 , p. 412.
  6. ^ Journal for German Dialects (ZDM). Published on behalf of the board of the General German Language Association . General German Language Association, Berlin, Volume 9, 1914, ISSN  0932-1314 , p. 361.
  7. ↑ Meta Grube: "Haumiblau" and "Dominis". In: Schleswig-Holstein. The culture magazine for the north. Published by Schleswig-Holsteinisches Heimatbund , 36th year (1985), No. 3 / I – II, ISSN  0036-6161 , p. 92 ff.
  8. ↑ See Hans Gehl (Ed.): Swabian Annual Run. Contributions to the folklore of the Banat Germans and Sathmar Swabians. Facla-Verlag, Timișoara (Romania) 1978, DNB 790410613 , p. 116.
  9. ↑ See discussion of a language lexicon in: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Published by the Hessian State Office for Historical Regional Studies and by the Working Group of the Historical Commissions in Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Marburg and Wiesbaden , Volumes 24-25, 1974, ISSN  0073-2001 , p. 401.
  10. ^ Illustration by Gordon Grant on Booth Tarkington : Penrod (1914).
  11. ↑ Manfred Sander: Sweet slaps that don't hurt anyone . On: Lokalkompass.de of February 17, 2012; accessed on March 10, 2014.
  12. ↑ Um a five a Ibidum . On: Merkur-online.de of March 29, 2003; Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  13. ^ Daniel Wirsching: April, April: Lice, dirt and Ibidum . In: Augsburger Allgemeine from March 31, 2008; Retrieved September 7, 2014.