Party People, Haifisch

I am not normally one to repeatedly peer out the window at neighbors' homes across the way, but, my god, it's been both an interesting and perplexing sight since moving to our new digs in the early months of the pandemic. At that time, there was not yet a Covid vaccine available, most folk--who could--were working from home and the mask mandate was in effect for businesses and on public transport. One particular house across the way from us seemed to be operating on a different frequency than the rest on the block. Most nights the already tight street parking would fill up with cars, folks armed with booze and no masks would pour out and make their way to what was quickly dubbed the Party House. Party House raged until the wee hours on the regular. 

Under non-pandemic circumstances I may have even wished for an invite, but during the early period of Covid, and even now, if I'm honest, I wanted nothing to do with being in an enclosed place with a bunch of people close-talking with one another. Why did they do it? Did anyone catch Covid? And, also, what was the draw to the rather underwhelming-looking house across the way? I soon noticed that people would double park in front of the Party House, pop in for a few minutes before quickly driving off again. I stopped looking after that. These days, the Party House still parties, but that activity is mostly restricted to weekends.

Shout out to the ultimate nosy neighbor Mrs. Kravitz of Bewitched fame.

***

I first learned the word for 'shark' in German from the song, Mackie Messer. An American singer by the name of Bobby Darin popularized the English version, Mack the Knife, back in the late 50s. Darin's was a jazzy, catchy tune and I never thought of how creepy the lyrics were until Mackie Messer hit my radar. Like with Grimms' fairy-tales in English, I think that Mack the Knife was sanitized (is 'disnified' a word?) somewhat for the English speaking public.  

The first stanza in English is a pretty literal translation of the original and makes little sense:

Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne, Und die trägt er im Gesicht. Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer, Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.

And the shark, it has teeth, And it wears them in the face. And Macheath, he has a knife, But the knife can't be seen.

Darin sings this version from the Broadway production of The Three Penny Opera:

Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear,
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack-knife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it out of sight.

'Haifisch' translates to: shark-fish. Most folk just say 'Hai' nowadays. Unbelievably, I found a shark tooth while beach combing the other day. My eye was on the look-out for smooth bits of glass, so I was startled to sift through the rocks and find this (great white?) mega-tooth in my mitts.

Shark tooth/Hai-Zahn