Satirical Name
Ulenspiegel was a leftist-oriented political satire magazine in the tradition of Simplicissimus and other classic humor and satire publications and was a precursor of later magazines, such as Pardon, Titanic, and Eulenspiegel. Called "one of the most important satirical journals of the postwar period", it was named after Till Eulenspiegel, a popular jester and hero from German folklore. His name is both innocuous and indicative of his character. In High German, Eulenspiegel means "owl mirror", but he respected no authority and played practical jokes, thus acting out the Plattdeutsch version of his name: ulen, "to sweep" or "clean", and Spiegel, which is hunter's jargon for "hind parts" or "backside", so that in the original Plattdeutsch, his surname means "wipe my ass", in essence, "kiss my ass".
During the postwar period, a number of Kabaretts opened in Germany, including the important Cabaret Ulenspiegel during 1946 in what later became West Berlin.
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Famous quotes containing the word satirical:
“The satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards,
that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber
and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit,
together with most weak hams.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)