bonchen?

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Felix C
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bonchen?

#1

Post by Felix C » 24 Nov 2021, 21:54

Hello Everyone,

Apologizes stumped again.

For context:
The author was in the coal fired boiler room and his buddy in the oil fired boiler room. The latter's "bonchen" was a better billet.

Mein Busenfreund an Bord war Richard Walter Uns hatte schon auf der “Hertha” innige Freundschaft verbunden. Er fuhr als Maschinistenmaat im dritten Heizraum, wo die Kessel schon mit Oelfeuerung geheizt wurden, hatte daher ein etwas sauberes “Bonchen” als ich.

Found some very interesting definitions for Bonchen in older dictionaries. Not ideal when placed in context.

A little help please, as we used to say in Little League.

I am assuming he means billet, duty, etc. Wonder if anyone is familiar with the term?

Thanks
FC

GregSingh
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Re: bonchen?

#2

Post by GregSingh » 25 Nov 2021, 00:54

From my young years in Northern Germany I remember Bonchen as round/cylinder chocolate sweets!
Could be of French/Belgium origin where they called them bonbons.


Felix C
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Re: bonchen?

#3

Post by Felix C » 25 Nov 2021, 01:03

GregSingh wrote:
25 Nov 2021, 00:54
From my young years in Northern Germany I remember Bonchen as round/cylinder chocolate sweets!
Could be of French/Belgium origin where they called them bonbons.
The 1890 to 1900 dictionaries consulted indeed indicated a bonbon, sweet. etc.

The author is quite humourous throughout and it may be a play on words.

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danebrog
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Re: bonchen?

#4

Post by danebrog » 25 Nov 2021, 14:51

In the context it will be a piece of clothing: The author's friend worked on an oil-fired ship, while the author himself probably still served on a coal-fired one, so his "Bonchen" was not so clean ;-)
It will most probably be a slang expression no longer common today
What Greg meant is called "Bonschen", usually candies, occasionally also other sweets in general.

Felix C
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Re: bonchen?

#5

Post by Felix C » 25 Nov 2021, 15:09

danebrog wrote:
25 Nov 2021, 14:51
In the context it will be a piece of clothing: The author's friend worked on an oil-fired ship, while the author himself probably still served on a coal-fired one, so his "Bonchen" was not so clean ;-)
It will most probably be a slang expression no longer common today
What Greg meant is called "Bonschen", usually candies, occasionally also other sweets in general.
Thanks. In the immediately preceding chapter he was describing how dirty everything was after coaling ship.

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Hans1906
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Re: bonchen?

#6

Post by Hans1906 » 25 Nov 2021, 19:16

What Greg meant is called "Bonschen", usually candies, occasionally also other sweets in general.
In my childhood years in Germany, a "Bonschen" was the (north?) german slang/low german word for a Bonbon.
Especially in North Germany, Hamburg / Bremen, etc.

For what this word was used in the Marine/Kriegsmarine, unknown to me so far, someone will for sure know the correct answer...

Bonschen https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bonschen


Hans
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

Felix C
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Re: bonchen?

#7

Post by Felix C » 30 Nov 2021, 22:22

Thanks again Hans. Appreciate all comments. The author does include quite a bit of folk/slang in his work

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Hans1906
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Re: bonchen?

#8

Post by Hans1906 » 01 Dec 2021, 16:52

Felix, from the context, I think that a "Bonschen" could have been a typical white sailor shirt, worn for example by the stokers ("Heizer") of the Kriegsmarine at that time ?

Forum Marine Archiv https://www.forum-marinearchiv.de

Good luck for your further researches...

Ahoi! :milwink:


Hans
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

ManfredV
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Re: bonchen?

#9

Post by ManfredV » 03 Dec 2021, 23:38

I'm German. Never heard "bonchen" before. I'm from Franconia but also have relatives in Southern Bavaria, South Baden and Switzerland. Now I live in the Palatinate for 25 years. My parents demanded us to speak Standard German. So did many teachers at gymnasium. So I learned and use both Standard German and East Franconian. I also understand many other south german dialects and both swiss and austrian german. But no "bonchen".
Must be North German dialect.

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Hans1906
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Re: bonchen?

#10

Post by Hans1906 » 04 Dec 2021, 00:45

Manfred,
Here in northern Germany, people say "Bonschen" when they mean candies. The Worpsweder Bonschen Manufactur produces delicious sweets according to its own recipes in a small factory and sells them regionally, nationally and even worldwide.

Source: https://www.worpsweder-bonschen-manufactur.de

As school children, we received a "Bonschen" for good grades in school, sometimes a small bar of chocolate, rarely.
(Hershey /Cadbury, etc.) Mostly american / english sweets.

An African American GI gave my mother a small bar of nut chocolate in 1946, my mother still talked about it decades later, the children just smelled the paper years later, there was no chocolate in Germany after 1945.


Hans
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

Felix C
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Re: bonchen?

#11

Post by Felix C » 15 Jun 2022, 00:31

I believe it is a German corruption of the French Bouchon or wisp of straw used to rub down horses and this ties in with what danebrog surmised. The traditional engine room attendant rag for wiping equipment. And of course that could also be slang for working clothes as well as Hans1906. Well, always appreciate responses.

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