Re: ess-tset again

[David Raleigh Arnold]

On Wednesday 03 March 2004 02:34, Thomas Scharkowski wrote:
> According to "Duden Rechtschreibung 1961 an 1998"):
>
> "hei - ßen"
>
> Thomas
> Bochum
> Germany
>
> > På tirsdag, 2. mars 2004, kl. 11:07, skrev David Bobroff:
> >> In this instance the word is "heissen" (with ess-tset, of course).
> >> Should it be "heiss - en" or "hei - ssen"?  Or does the ess-tset
> >> get broken up thusly: "heis - sen"?  I know just enough about
> >> German to be completely unsure.
> >
> > I have just completed some songs for a German composer, and he sais
> > that ess-tset (ß) shall be broken s-s ("heis-sen").
> >
> > /Oddmund

I want to point out that the ess-tset is two esses.  Writing by hand,
one could easily use transitional forms, by using a long ess, which
looks like an eff without a horizontal line, followed by an ess.  They
can be joined as ti, fi, st, and other such combinations can be, and you
have a primitive ess-tset.  I have done that writing Italian with
Italic.  It used to be done in English, also.  It is a typographical or
writing issue rather than a language or grammatical issue, so no one can
say you are wrong however you choose to do it.

I don't want to get into whether the ess-tset is a new letter or just a
short cut or simply more decorative.  It just doesn't matter enough to
anyone but a newspaper publisher.  They are the ones who worry about
"right writing", because they need a consistent style.  The *grammar* is
ok regardless.  daveA

-- 
It's not that hard to understand the lesson of Viet Nam.  Never never
never never defend one tyrant against another, because The worst thing
that can happen is you might win.  The *Gulf* war was worse than Nam.
D. Raleigh Arnold dra@ (http://www.) openguitar.com address@hidden