Language as a (nonviolent) weapon

Language Log 2023-07-06

From the movie "Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową" (How I Unleashed World War II):

The initial Q&A: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Q: Name und Vorname? A: Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz.

Waveform, spectrogram, F0 track:

Just the answer:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

"Birthplace" Q&A, at the end of the scene:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Q: Geboren? A: Chrząszczyżewoszyce, powiat Łękołody.

From the English Wikipedia entry:

In a particularly famous scene, Dolas is questioned by a German-speaking Gestapo officer in Austria and answers that his name is "Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz"; the officer gets increasingly frustrated trying to write the fictitious Polish name.

…linking to "The 9 Most Unpronounceable Words in Polish".

The full movie (all 3:39:14 of it) seems to be here.

Update — I agree with Jarek Weckwerth that the difficulty is mainly a matter of orthography. But the actor's pronunciation of the (fictitious) first and last name is also not easy for non-Polish speakers to hear, remember, and imitate.