Unusual feature of the German language

[lethargic_man]

I finally acquiesced to aviva_m's demands, and skipped ahead in my German book so I can learn other tenses, as she's fed up of only being able to talk with me in the present. I've made a start now on the perfect tense—so now, as my boss put it, I can talk perfect German.

Meanwhile, I've learned about unusual feature of German: there are a number of prepositions which take a noun in the accusative when there's a motion involved, but in the dative instead when there isn't. That's interesting; I can't think of another language that does something like that (though of course I only know four in enough detail that I'd know of something like this). Anyone know of any further examples of anything similar?

Speaking of German, rysmiel's correspondence with me over the years has been peppered with the occasional "und so weit". From context I'd guessed it meant "and so on", but now I know it literally means "and so far", which doesn't mean the same thing at all. So can my germanophone readers confirm whether it has the former meaning at all? (Or, alternatively, can rysmiel let me know the intended meaning?)

Comments

[dhole.livejournal.com]

I had always assumed that it was "und so weiter", and that it was related to the Yiddish "veiter", meaning "keep going", or "a little further on".

usw.

[mike-koplow.livejournal.com]

When I studied German in high school literal decades ago, "und so weiter" (and so further) was German for "etc." But it was definitely with an "-er" at the end, unlike what rysmiel wrote. If it was "und so weiter," your contextual guess was right.

[liv]

I think und so weit is an old fashioned form of und so weiter, which idiomatically means etc, often abbreviated as usw. If you translate it word by word, it means "and thus further". It's so as in thus, not so as in therefore, which is an archaic but possible meaning of so even in English, and the standard meaning of so in German.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did not know that it is an older form. Thank you for the info.
I also only know 'und so weiter' for etc.