«Aazelle, Bölle schelle, d’Chatz ghat uf Walliselle»

English translation: count down, peel onions, the cat goes to Wallisellen

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:«Aazelle, Bölle schelle, d’Chatz ghat uf Walliselle»
English translation:count down, peel onions, the cat goes to Wallisellen
Entered by: Rolf Keiser

09:12 Mar 17, 2010
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Folklore
German term or phrase: «Aazelle, Bölle schelle, d’Chatz ghat uf Walliselle»
This about an attempt by 300 Swiss school pupils to break a Guiness record for the largest number of participants in a public sculpture lesson!!! The motif for the high relief mosaic that will emerge is the Wallisser cat

Projekt im Rahmen von «Wallisellen macht Schule»
Die Rekord-Bildhauerei-Unterrichtsstunde ist eingebettet in den «Gestaltung und Musik»-Unterricht der vier beteiligten Schulen. Vor dem Rekordversuch am 26. März 2010 hält die Künstlerin und Kulturmanagerin Piroska Szönye in jeder der 15 teilnehmenden Klassen eine Doppel-Lektion in angewandter Kunst. Die Künstlerin sagt: «Mit Kindern Kunst zu machen, ist wundervoll. Alle sind begeistert und wollen unbedingt dabei sein und ihr Bestes geben, um den Weltrekord zu schaffen!»

Gefragt, weshalb das Kunstprojekt rund um die Katze gestaltet wird, erklärt der Areal-Entwickler und Unternehmer Hans Hänseler, der die Idee dazu hatte: «Jedes Schweizer Kind kennt den Abzählreim *«Aazelle, Bölle schelle, d’Chatz ghat uf Walliselle*». Für ein Projekt mit Walliseller Schülerinnen und Schüler musste es die Katze sein.»
Jon Fedler
Local time: 12:48
count down, peel onions, the cat goes to Wallisellen
Explanation:
this is the literal translation which is a commonly known verse in the German part of Switzerland and which counts out or eliminates persons taking part in e.g. a specific play group or group of children, whereby Wallisellen is a town on the outskirts of Zurich

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Note added at 4 hrs (2010-03-17 13:53:05 GMT)
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"rock, paper, scissors" would be an appropriate term or analogy to signify the meaining behind the rhyme

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Note added at 5 days (2010-03-22 09:29:05 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks, Jonathan
Selected response from:

Rolf Keiser
Switzerland
Local time: 10:48
Grading comment
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I've..
British Diana
3 +2count down, peel onions, the cat goes to Wallisellen
Rolf Keiser
3 +1A beloved Swiss children's counting rhyme about a cat going to Wallisellen
Michele Johnson
3Do your numbers, peel the onions, cat goes to Wallisellen ...
Barbara Wiebking
Summary of reference entries provided
Wonderful reference of Swiss German words
Camilla Seifert

Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I've..


Explanation:
As in my Discussion entry, I favour leaving the original and just saying that it has to do with their town and a cat, and then give an English example with a cat, such as this one.


    Reference: http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:Mr3zD1Z3Rh0J:www.dltk-t...
British Diana
Germany
Local time: 10:48
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Rolf Keiser: sorry, Diana, but your response has absolutely nothing to do with the meaning behind and object of the rhyme
51 mins
  -> The meaning behind is Wallisellen and its connection to a cat, I suggested explaining this and just adding an equally typical English children's rhyme also connected with a cat. The point would be to add something English, just for the "flavour".

agree  Michele Johnson: Could not agree with you more Diana. Do Brits know "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe"?
1 hr
  -> Yes, of course, that is a genuine counting-out rhyme but you have a tiger and mine at least a "cat" cat.!

agree  CArcher
8 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
A beloved Swiss children's counting rhyme about a cat going to Wallisellen


Explanation:
There's really no point in a literal translation, because it makes no sense and doesn't rhyme. I don't think I'd even quote the original. You could just cite him instead of putting what he says in actual quotes, or partially quote him literally, i.e.:

Hans Hänseler explained that the theme originates from a beloved Swiss children's counting rhyme about a cat going to Wallisellen, adding: "For this project with local pupils, the obvious choice was therefore a cat."

I also thought about something with the rhyme "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe; catch a tiger by the toe", but it seems a bit unwieldy.

Michele Johnson
Germany
Local time: 10:48
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  itla: I'm sorry, Michele. Totally agree with "eenie, etc.", neglected to scroll down this far.
41 mins
  -> No worries itla :)

disagree  Rolf Keiser: the implication is not a matter of counting, but a matter of eliminating/vde. my note
52 mins
  -> Well as a native speaker of English you would of course know that this is an "elimination rhyme"?

agree  CArcher
6 hrs
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3 days 21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Do your numbers, peel the onions, cat goes to Wallisellen ...


Explanation:
Found this on the Net:

Do your numbers
Peel the onions
Cat goes to Wallisellen
Home again she comes
On crookes legs she runs
Piff paff puff
Cross my heart and you are out.



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Note added at 3 days21 hrs (2010-03-21 06:34:25 GMT)
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Oh, on crooked legs, of course!

Here's another reference where you can listen to the Swiss version: http://cornelia.siteware.ch/blog/wordpress/2009/06/23/schwei...

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Note added at 3 days22 hrs (2010-03-21 07:19:47 GMT)
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This is a translation by Catherine Schelbert.

Example sentence(s):
  • The surface banality of the counting out rhyme A ZELLA PÖLLA SCHELLA / KATZ GOT UF WALLISELLA / KHUNNT SI WIDER HEI / HÄT SI KRUMMI BEI / PIFF PAFF PUFF / UND DU BISCH EHR UND REDLICH DUSS is belied by a fascinatingly profound and complex phenomenon.

    Reference: http://www.hans-danuser.ch/files/Counting_out_B.Stutzer.pdf
Barbara Wiebking
Germany
Local time: 10:48
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
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12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
count down, peel onions, the cat goes to Wallisellen


Explanation:
this is the literal translation which is a commonly known verse in the German part of Switzerland and which counts out or eliminates persons taking part in e.g. a specific play group or group of children, whereby Wallisellen is a town on the outskirts of Zurich

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2010-03-17 13:53:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"rock, paper, scissors" would be an appropriate term or analogy to signify the meaining behind the rhyme

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 days (2010-03-22 09:29:05 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks, Jonathan

Rolf Keiser
Switzerland
Local time: 10:48
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 3

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  LegalTrans D: aazelle war mir klar, Goldcoaster, aber "Bölle schelle", das war neu. Man lernt doch jeden Tag!
27 mins
  -> Tja, dieses "Schwiizerdüütsch" hat's in sich! Danke, Volkmar

neutral  Michele Johnson: Of course very helpful to understand the dialect, but look at the bigger picture. This is absolute nonsense in English and it doesn't rhyme anymore - the only relevant thing is the cat and the place name. Native readers would be scratching their heads.
3 hrs
  -> the implication has nothing to do with a cat going to Wallisellen

agree  Harald Moelzer (medical-translator)
1 day 12 hrs
  -> Danke, Harald
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Reference comments


9 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: Wonderful reference of Swiss German words

Reference information:
http://www.dialektwoerter.ch/ch/a.html

Bölle schelle - means peeling onions and you are right about the Chatz - cat goes to Wallisellen. Not too sure about Aazelle.... could be abbreviation of Appenzell..... but it appears to be a children's rhyme.
http://itunes.apple.com/ch/album/aazelle-bolle-schelle-e-gsc...

Camilla Seifert
South Africa
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Johanna Timm, PhD: aazelle=abzählen?
5 hrs
  -> You could well be right.... reading all the other answers - abzählen would make sense. Thanks!
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