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Hallo, hallo, schön, dass du da bist
Hallo, hallo, schön, dass du da bist
Die Hacken und die Spitzen, die wollen nicht mehr sitzen
Die Hacken und die Zehen, wollen weitergehen \

I tried using google translator but I don't understand the results, in english or spanish. Looks like Hacken is heel, but I don't get it about Spitzen.

Also, why is "schön" followed by a comma? Isn't it like saying "Nice, to have you here". Like it looks weird.

I'm just starting to learn German.

Wolf
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JorgeeFG
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    There's a fun additional challenge here. If you sing this to Austrian children, they'll be confused, as Hacke in Austrian German exclusively means "hatchet", never "heel" (for which only Ferse is used). – phipsgabler Mar 18 '21 at 09:01
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    And maybe this is almost a duplicate: https://german.stackexchange.com/q/22334/1626. – phipsgabler Mar 18 '21 at 09:02
  • There's the German language word Haxe releating to leg. Is this not used in Austria, also? – Bernhard Döbler Mar 18 '21 at 12:43
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    Absolutely, but I think Hacke refers only to the same very small part of the foot as Ferse, doesn't it? – phipsgabler Mar 18 '21 at 13:00
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    @phipsgabler Same in modern standard German, I'd say. I understand the word, but I'd never use it to mean heel, and I'm not sure I'd understand it without context. It's probably outdated or dialect, or both. – Konrad Rudolph Mar 18 '21 at 14:18
  • @KonradRudolph There's probably a regional difference regarding the usage of "Hacke" vs "Ferse". Here in the Ruhr area, "Hacke" is predominant, as far as I can see -- I know that it is being used here in conjunction with "Spitze" (meaning the tip of the foot) in the context of football (e.g. "Hackenschuß": kicking the ball with the heel backwards) and dancing school (e.g. for Polka, the teachers litany goes "Hacke, Spitze, Hacke, Spitze, eins und zwei und drei und vier..." when teaching the most basic steps). – orithena Mar 18 '21 at 16:00
  • If you learn to dance, there is a common thing "hacke - spitze - hacke - spitze" to discribe the moving, where one touches the ground first with the toes, the with the heel, again the toes and then the heel. I know it from some children's dance games. – Allerleirauh Mar 20 '21 at 17:38

1 Answers1

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“Spitzen” here is most likely short for “Zehenspitzen” - which means the tips of (one’s) toes. The following line - which talks about heels and toes - would fit this interpretation.

And the comma isn’t related to the “schön” but rather to the “dass”, which is preceded by a comma because it connects a “Nebensatz” (subordinate clause) to the main clause of the sentence. Here is a resource that explains more in German. Here is an English one.

*Update: found a Spanish one, as well!

eurieka
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    Or just Fußspitzen. – Carsten S Mar 18 '21 at 07:12
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    tendiere auch eher zu Fußspitzen (als Gegensatz zu Hacken), obwohl im Kindergarten vielleicht Zehenspitzen insgesamt geläufiger sind. – Wolf Mar 18 '21 at 14:06
  • @CarstenS Could be if you regard Fußspitzen and Zehen as synonyms (see lines 3 and 4). But I doubt that kindergarten-children make a difference between Zehen and Zehenspitzen although there is one. – Paul Frost Mar 19 '21 at 12:16