'Die Luft der Freiheit weht' 1styr student translated:'the air of freedom hurts'

[bobbieinok]

Stanford's motto is the German phrase for 'the wind of freedom is blowing.'

Wehen is infinitive for 'to blow/wave' -- weh is German for 'hurt/pain', as in es tut weh for 'it hurts'

This PAINFUL mistranslation was made in a 1st yr German class at Stanford in the early 60s.

[Cracklin Charlie]

1. Funny.

When first reading, I thought maybe the student was making a pun of the motto, because of the school ‘s rigorous academic standards.

[bobbieinok]

2. translation was on a quiz-tut weh had been learned in previous months

I think TA thought that since they were learning German they should know what the school motto said.

It was a period when there was a lot going on in the area south of SF. I think it was about the time of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, but I'm not sure.

The translation gave all the German classes' TAs some welcome relief.