Sunday, June 04, 2006

Famous Austrians and the Bonus Question

Last week I asked you to name a tune by a famous Austrian and the hint was some humming. The march is very recognizable and you will have heard it before. The march was named after an Austrian Field Marshall called Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. It was composed by Johann Strauss Sr. and is called the "Radetzky March".

Other famous Austrian musicians: Falco, DJ Ötzi and Johann Strauss Jr.

Two famous Austrian writers: Franz Kafka (born in Prague, which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time), Rudolf Steiner (there are Steiner schools even in Finland).

The typewriter, sewing machine and gaslight are Austrian inventions. Ferdinand Porsche was also born in Austria-Hungary.

For a full list of (all) famous Austrians, see here.

You could also spend a few minutes to wonder what the definition for "famous" is. How many people out of 100 have to recognize somebody's picture in order for that person to be famous? Or is there some other way to measure that? Is being famous the same as being mentioned in a newspaper? On TV? On the radio? Does publishing a book qualify for fame? Or selling a painting or reading a poem? How about acting in a play for an audience? How does one become famous and what are these "infamous" people then all about? Known, but bad?
Are the words "familiar" and "famous" more related than "famous" and "fame"?

1 Comments:

At 14:34, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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