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RE: Cryptocurrency is the Notgeld of Our Time, Part I: A Tale of Two Decentralized Monetary Systems

in #blockchain8 years ago

Thank you @johano, I really appreciate your kind words and I'm so thankful to know a brilliant polyglot like yourself! And actually, very few people know about Notgeld, even in Germany, but I think you would appreciate the attraction. Many of the notes are written in phonetically-spelled local dialects, which gives them a local flavor, but often makes them all but incomprehensible even to other Germans who are not from the area and are not familiar with the local dialect. Of course, normally the dialects are only spoken and writing takes place in High German, and the dialects are dying out as well, as they are considered provincial, rustic, something the "hicks" in Germany speak. Unlike in Switzerland, where the opposite is the case and the dialects are a sign of class status, although they still usually only write in High German.

So for linguistically inclined people like us, many of the Notgeld notes are like little brain teaser puzzles, and a way to study vanishing dialects (as well as history and culture etc.). Schön, ne?