[texhax] What is a =?x-mac-roman?Q?TeXp=8Atzer=3F?=

[Jeff Barnett]

On 2/15/2011 8:31 PM, Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
> On 15 February 2011 Herbert Schulz wrote:
>
>   >  On Feb 15, 2011, at 7:05 PM, Philipp Stephani wrote:
>   >
>   >  >  Hello,
>   >  >
>   >  >  IÕve read the interview with Herb Schulz
>   >  >  ( http://tug.org/interviews/schulz.html ), and noticed that he
>   >  >  considers himself a TeXpŠtzer. Now what is that? A Google search
>   >  >  for ÒTeXpŠtzerÓ returns exactly one page Ð the interview itselfÉ
>   >  >
>   >  >  Philipp
>   >
>   >  Howdy,
>   >
>   >  You don't play chess. Take a look at
>   >  <  http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patzer>.
>
> Well, with the dieresis it sounds quite Austrian.  Simarly, "TeXpŠtzli"
> sounds quite Swiss. :)
>
> However:
>
>     $ dictcc patzer
>     blunder                                 Patzer
>     slip                                    Patzer
>     patzer                                  Patzer
>     snafu                                   Patzer
>     goof-up                                 Patzer
>     gaffe                                   Patzer
>     fish                                    Patzer
>     blooper                                 Patzer
>     boob                                    Patzer
>     goof                                    Patzer
>     whammy                                  Patzer
>     patzer of a player                      mittelmŠ§iger Spieler
>     to boob                                 einen Patzer machen
>
> The German word "Patzer" denotes a slip, a stupid mistake you usually
> don't make.  Maybe the word originates from chess (don't know), but
> it's quite conventional in German.
>
> However, in German the word "Patzer" denotes a mistake, one wouldn't
> associate it with a person.  One wouldn't say "Ich bin ein Patzer".
> I suppose that this is the root of the confusion (besides the dieresis).
>
> According to the output of dictcc, in English the word has another
> meaning too:
>
>      patzer of a player          mittelmŠ§iger Spieler
>
> I wasn't aware of it.  I'm not sure whether the word "Patzer"
> originates from chess, we Germans use it whenever we make a mistake
> which we usually don't.  But maybe chess made the word propagate to
> English.
Well one of you is right - I don't play much chess but many of my 
friends and acquaintances do and play quite well. Patzer was a common 
term for someone into chess that didn't play that well. The term had 
some similarity (as well as differences) to "kibitzer" in bridge. The 
difference was the amount of participation of the person. Many German 
terms were adapted to chess games such as blitzgreg (for rapid chess) 
and gregspiel (a game were opponents can't see each others' men and a 
referee passes some information). Pardon my spellings. Take a walk along 
the Santa Monica Boardwalk and ask any of the folks playing chess what 
they think a patzer is and they will point at their opponent!
-- 
Jeff Barnett