# Are they biting?



## Encolpius

Hello, I learnt the phrase in this thread. You all know the situation, you walk the river or pond you meet a fisherman and you ask him (her?): Are they biting? What is the German version? Beissen sie?  Thanks a lot.


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## Frieder

You could indeed ask "Bei*ß*en sie?", but you could also greet with a merry (but not too lusty) "Petri Heil" (they like it quiet those anglers).


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## Encolpius

Thanks. I know "Petri Heil" from Czech, they use the same greeting but we don't.


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## perpend

Wer ist Petri Heil? 

I want to say something like: Gehen sie an die Leine*?

*Angelleine.

Ich bin leider kein Angler.


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## Frieder

Petri ist der Genitiv von Petrus, dem Schutzheiligen (unter anderem) der Fischer.

Ich glaube, der Fachmann (der ich nicht bin) spricht von Angel_schnur_.

"Gehen Sie an die Leine?" kannst du nur in Hannover fragen .


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## Encolpius

Warum nur in Hannover?


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## Frieder

Weil Hannover an der Leine liegt - das ist ein Fluss.


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## Encolpius

Also es ist nur ein Witz und kein Idiom? 
Gehen sie an die Leine ist falsch?


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## berndf

Encolpius said:


> Gehen sie an die Leine ist falsch?


Ja. Man kann _Hunde an die Leine nehmen_. Aber _an die Leine gehen_ passt in der Tat nur für den Fluss.


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## Dan2

Frieder said:


> You could indeed ask "Bei*ß*en sie?"...


Might there be any tendency at all to avoid "Beißen sie?" because it is homophonous with "Beißen Sie?"?.  I understand of course that the context makes it clear what is meant, but sometimes people like to avoid ambiguity.

Also, is it imaginable that a jokester might reply to "Beißen sie?" with something like "Nein, ich beiße nicht, die Fische schon." or would that not occur to the German native speaker?

I'm just trying to get a better handle on how NS's perceive the sie/Sie ambiguity.


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## Frieder

Dan2 said:


> Also, is it imaginable that a jokester might reply to "Beißen sie?" with something like "Nein, ich beiße nicht, die Fische schon." or would that not occur to the German native speaker?


If I was an angler/fisherman I'd be tempted to respond that way. I just couldn't be sure whether the joke would go down well. 

I think the question "beißen sie?" will be appreciated as a friendly inquiry or some sort of greeting/salutation, and nobody will find any ambiguity there.


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## perpend

Heil Petri!

I was just attempting to imagine the scene with "gehen sie (die Fische) an die Angelleine", for "beißen sie".

Naja. Daneben getroffen.

Gibt es nicht etwas mit:
"spürst du was an der Leine"?
"knabbern sie an der Leine?"

Kann man "Leine" im Deutschen gar nicht für "Angelleine" verwenden?


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## bearded

Frieder said:


> I think the question "beißen sie?" will be appreciated


I think that in responding to 'beißen sie?' the angler would be obliged to formulate phrases like 'yes, many' or 'unfortunately not today' or similar, whereas to a 'Petri Heil' a simple head nodding would be sufficient as a response, without the attention being distracted from the fishing activity.  That is why fishermen probably prefer the latter as a greeting (I agree with Frieder's #2).


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## Frieder

@perpend :

Es heißt tatsächlich Angelschnur. Natürlich darf man auch _Leine _sagen. Damit bekennt man sich aber als Laie.

Es gibt aber auch noch _an den Haken gehen_, und zwar im wörtlichen wie im übertragenen Sinn.

"Und? Ist schon was an den Haken gegangen?"


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## perpend

Ahh. Erleinerung, er, Erleichterung.

"gehen die (die Fische) an den Haken" wäre dann eine Variante, oder?

Bei "Petri Heil" wäre ich verwirrt, obwohl es idiomatisch scheint.

Wäre das nicht eher beim Vorbeigehen gesagt?

"Beißen sie?" wäre eher eine Frage. Dies wurde schon oben als Thema angeschnitten.


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## Frieder

bearded man said:


> whereas to a 'Petri Heil' a simple head nodding would be sufficient as a response



If I remember correctly, the addressed person is supposed to answer "Petri Dank". But I don't know whether this is obligatory among fishermen.


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## perpend

Petri kann im Genitiv danken?


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## Frieder

Aus Wikipedia:

Als Antwort erwidert man im Normalfall ebenfalls mit "Petri Heil" Lediglich im Fall eines Beuteerfolgs antwortet man mit „Petri Dank“.​
(Wer sagt, dass Angler Latein können?)


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## perpend

Alles klar.


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## berndf

perpend said:


> Petri kann im Genitiv danken?


What is the problem? You transmit _Peter*'s* thanks_.


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## perpend

I get it now, from Frieder's post, but it's all Greek to an American English speaker, in this context.

Very, very few Americans learn Latin, bernd.


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## bearded

I would like to see the original meanings of those expressions confirmed.
My understanding:
Originally, 'Heil' is something like 'health/luck', so _Petri Heil _means ''Have St.Peter's luck/protection'' or  ''St.Peter may give you luck!'' or ''St.Peter may give you his protection''.
With 'Dank', though, it is not so simple in my opinion. ''Have St.Peter's thanks'' does not make much sense. It should be the fisherman who thanks, shouldn't it? (either for the wanderer's wish or for St.Peter's protection in case of success)
I suspect that ''Petri Dank'' is an expression adopted only for 'rhyming' with 'Petri Heil'.


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## perpend

bearded man said:


> I would like to see the original meanings of those expressions confirmed.



Me, too.


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## Encolpius

Frieder said:


> I think the question "beißen sie?" will be appreciated as a friendly inquiry or some sort of greeting/salutation, and nobody will find any ambiguity there.



Exactly, to start the small talk...it would be bizarre to start the conversation with "Schönes Wetter haben wir heute"...


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## Frieder

I wouldn't call that _bizarre _though. It's a common enough phrase/pick-up-line to start a conversation with. 
The only problem is that anglers usually don't lean towards small talk ...


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## Encolpius

Frieder said:


> I wouldn't call that _bizarre _though. It's a common enough phrase/pick-up-line to start a conversation with.
> The only problem is that anglers usually don't lean towards small talk ...



Of course, but just imagine a small village when friends meet I can imagine it as he first sentence


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