Klaus says they might say „Zahle ich auf Helle und Pfennig zurück „ which are two old forms of money.
He says they might also say „Mark“ for something.
I remember groschen being used for a 10 pfennig piece.
Having learnt German and lived* in various Germanies in pre-euro days I have been known to instinctively use 'Mark' for 'Euro' when speaking German.
*including 2 months in Schwäbisch Hall, which was a town so rich** it had its own coin, the Häller. hence the Heller in the Czech Republic, Austro-Hungary, German East Africa etc.
** because of salt - cf Bad Reichenhall in Bavaria (where salt is produced) and 'halen' - Welsh for salt.
A lot of places round here have
soultz or
seltz in their names. A chum lives in Niedersoultzbach - nether-salt-stream. A lot - a very lot - of places in Alsace have ludicrously long names made up of linguistic Lego blocks. They usually come in two or three flavours, Ober, Mittel and Nieder, then a defining middle bit such as
stein, selz, soultz, schaeffols etc., then a terminator such as
berg, bach, hoffen, heim or
hausen. Rummage around the box and pick one of each sort and you have the name of a typical Alsacien village.
The trouble is with this system that it's very hard to remember which particular set of blocks applies to which place: is it a
berg or a
heim, or was it maybe a
hoffen? Asking your way becomes chancy, too, because the locals usually leave bits off, e.g. when you're in Niederschaeffolsheim the
Schaeffolsheim is silent, but when you're somewhere close to Niedersteinbach or Obersteinbach they'll just be referred to as
Steinbach, unless you insist on the difference and brand yourself a low-life tourist.
