On Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 4:50:58 PM UTC-5, Frank Berger wrote:
> On 3/6/2018 1:13 PM, O wrote:
> > In article <KcSdncCiMOADTAPH...@supernews.com>, Frank
> > Berger <frankd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On 3/6/2018 12:10 PM, nmsz...@gmail.com wrote:
> >>> On Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 8:47:57 AM UTC-5, Andrew Clarke wrote:
> >>>> In a discussion re Marcelle Meyer and music in France during the
> >>>> Occupation, I unwisely suggested that Goering's boast that if a single
> >>>> British bomb lands on Berlin "you can call me Meyer" was necessarily an
> >>>> ironic reference to Nazi antisemitism. In fact the phrase is/was a German
> >>>> idiom meaning "virtually impossible" and best translated as "you can call
> >>>> me a Dutchman" or "you can call me a monkey's uncle".
> >>>>
> >>>> It is translated as "You can call me a Dutchman" in an excellent
> >>>> documentary on Berlin life during WW2 available on YouTube.
> >>>>
> >>>> Andrew Clarke
> >>>> Canberra
> >>>
> >>> Searching YouTube for "You can call me a Dutchman" I couldn't bring up that
> >>> documentary. If possible, can you please post its URL?
> >>>
> >>
> >> What most of the references dismissing the remark as not being antisemitic
> >> omit
> >> is any explanation of the origin of the expression. If you say, "....... or
> >> you
> >> can call me a Dutchman or a monkey's uncle", the saying makes no sense unless
> >> you think it would be a bad thing to be a Dutchman or a monkey's uncle.. To
> >> say
> >> that Mayer is not exclusively a Jewish name in Germany doesn't prove Gorring
> >> didn't mean it in an antisemitic way. Meyer or Meir was a common Jewish
> >> first
> >> name and very well could have been seen that way. For all we know EVERYBODY
> >> in
> >> Germany interpreted it that way when Gorring said it. I think Occum's razor
> >> applies here.
> >
> >
> >
> > Various references - it's all over the web:
> >
> >
> > http://www.historynet.com/why-did-goering-say-you-can-call-me-meyer.htm
> >
> > From https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Göring:
> >
> > " € No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the Ruhr, my
> > name is not Göring. You may call me Meyer.
> > € Addressing the Luftwaffe (September 1939) as quoted in August
> > 1939: The Last Days of Peace (1979) by Nicholas Fleming, p. 171;
> > "Meyer" (or "Meier") is a common name in Germany. This statement would
> > come back to haunt him as Allied bombers devastated Germany; many
> > ordinary Germans, especially in Berlin, took to calling him "Meier",
> > and air raid sirens "Meier's Trumpets". It is said that he once himself
> > introduced himself as "Meier" when taking refuge in an air-raid shelter
> > in Berlin."
> >
> > And a pretty thorough discussion/argument about it at:
> >
> > https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=174241
> >
> > Not that any of this would make Göring more or less antisemitic. Of
> > course, guessing Göring's intent is impossible, but in this group, we
> > often attempt the impossible - we use words to describe music!
> >
> > -Owen
> >
> Let me repeat what I asked/said in the first place? What sense does the
> statement make if "Meyer" isn't derogatory in some way? If we agree it must be,
> why would it be derogatory?
Meyer was a Jewish name. Goring was really saying if one bomb falls (wherever it was), "you can call me a Jew."

On 8/28/2022 10:34 PM, Mottled Finish wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 4:50:58 PM UTC-5, Frank Berger wrote:
>> On 3/6/2018 1:13 PM, O wrote:
>>> In article <KcSdncCiMOADTAPH...@supernews.com>, Frank
>>> Berger <frankd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 3/6/2018 12:10 PM, nmsz...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>>> On Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 8:47:57 AM UTC-5, Andrew Clarke wrote:
>>>>>> In a discussion re Marcelle Meyer and music in France during the
>>>>>> Occupation, I unwisely suggested that Goering's boast that if a single
>>>>>> British bomb lands on Berlin "you can call me Meyer" was necessarily an
>>>>>> ironic reference to Nazi antisemitism. In fact the phrase is/was a German
>>>>>> idiom meaning "virtually impossible" and best translated as "you can call
>>>>>> me a Dutchman" or "you can call me a monkey's uncle".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It is translated as "You can call me a Dutchman" in an excellent
>>>>>> documentary on Berlin life during WW2 available on YouTube.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Andrew Clarke
>>>>>> Canberra
>>>>>
>>>>> Searching YouTube for "You can call me a Dutchman" I couldn't bring up that
>>>>> documentary. If possible, can you please post its URL?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> What most of the references dismissing the remark as not being antisemitic
>>>> omit
>>>> is any explanation of the origin of the expression. If you say, "...... or
>>>> you
>>>> can call me a Dutchman or a monkey's uncle", the saying makes no sense unless
>>>> you think it would be a bad thing to be a Dutchman or a monkey's uncle. To
>>>> say
>>>> that Mayer is not exclusively a Jewish name in Germany doesn't prove Gorring
>>>> didn't mean it in an antisemitic way. Meyer or Meir was a common Jewish
>>>> first
>>>> name and very well could have been seen that way. For all we know EVERYBODY
>>>> in
>>>> Germany interpreted it that way when Gorring said it. I think Occum's razor
>>>> applies here.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Various references - it's all over the web:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.historynet.com/why-did-goering-say-you-can-call-me-meyer.htm
>>>
>>> From https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Göring:
>>>
>>> " € No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the Ruhr, my
>>> name is not Göring. You may call me Meyer.
>>> € Addressing the Luftwaffe (September 1939) as quoted in August
>>> 1939: The Last Days of Peace (1979) by Nicholas Fleming, p. 171;
>>> "Meyer" (or "Meier") is a common name in Germany. This statement would
>>> come back to haunt him as Allied bombers devastated Germany; many
>>> ordinary Germans, especially in Berlin, took to calling him "Meier",
>>> and air raid sirens "Meier's Trumpets". It is said that he once himself
>>> introduced himself as "Meier" when taking refuge in an air-raid shelter
>>> in Berlin."
>>>
>>> And a pretty thorough discussion/argument about it at:
>>>
>>> https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=174241
>>>
>>> Not that any of this would make Göring more or less antisemitic. Of
>>> course, guessing Göring's intent is impossible, but in this group, we
>>> often attempt the impossible - we use words to describe music!
>>>
>>> -Owen
>>>
>> Let me repeat what I asked/said in the first place? What sense does the
>> statement make if "Meyer" isn't derogatory in some way? If we agree it must be,
>> why would it be derogatory?
> Meyer was a Jewish name. Goring was really saying if one bomb falls (wherever it was), "you can call me a Jew."

Coming in a little late, aren't you? If you had read the whole thread you would have none that everybody except one idiot knew that.