Discussion Main / MistakenForServant

During the quarter-century when I was a Disneyland passholder, and occasionally since then, I was frequently mistaken for a Cast Member (even though I was neither in costume, nor wearing one of Disney's distinctive Cast Member name badges), and asked for directions to some attraction, or to the nearest restroom. As a passholder (and now as a former passholder), I could (and still can) usually answer the question.

Likewise, a few days ago, at a Hollywood Bowl concert, a fellow patron mistook me for an usher, because I was wearing a white short-sleeved dress shirt. And as a long-time Bowl subscriber, I was able to direct them where they needed to go.

Years ago, I was frequently mistaken for a Tower Records employee. Even though for the most part, the actual employees were dressed far more casually than I was.

I spend my saturdays docenting at a museum. And if I stop to do some shopping on my way home, still in my museum uniform, fellow shoppers have mistaken me for a store employee, somehow failing to notice the museum's insignia patch on my shirt.

Does "Schwing-Ding" carry any special meaning? There even seems to be a homepage for it as an "alternative lifestyle", but if it is just a schmucky word - well, it sounds strange to a German. "Schwingen" is "to swing" and "Ding" would be "Thing", but in the expression "Schwing Dein Ding" it would mean "Swing your dick around" - meant as an (obviously very colloquial) expression for "relax, let loose, let yourself go". So if it doesn't carry any meaning, it may be less confusing for us Germans to change it. (I don't mind it, it just stopped the reading flow abruptly)