Re^3: Do you have a middle name?

Apparently it translates to:

Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff who, of old were conscientious shepherds whose sheep were well tended and carefully protected from attack by rapacious enemies, who, of old twelve thousand years ago, to them appeared, when the first earth human from the spaceship, using light as origin of power, that started its long journey between the starry space, searching for those stars that have habitable planet circles and in which the new race of sensible humanity could procreate and enjoy a lifelong joy and peace with not a fear for attack by other intelligent creatures from starry space

As for the authenticity, I have really no way of knowing, but he was apparently in several editions of the Guiness Book of Records, including with a picture in the 1980 edition. According to the internet!

As for real world truth and Perlmonks--it's just an amusing anecdote.

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

RIP PCW It is as I've been saying!(Audio until 20090817)

Comment on Re^3: Do you have a middle name?

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Re^4: Do you have a middle name? by Gavin (Archbishop) on Dec 02, 2009 at 18:34 UTC
Bit odd someone called wolf looking after sheep don't you think.	[reply]
Re^4: Do you have a middle name? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 02, 2009 at 19:25 UTC
Hmm this translation looks far better than the German version ... I think you successfully backengineered the intention of the joker who created this myth. 8) Seems like someone stuffed a paragraph of some sci-fi into bablefish and erased the whitespaces and you got the original back. Believe me the translation is senseless crap and certainly no family name (and it's supposed to be German, not Afrikaans, Danish or even Yiddish)! If an American official really supplied such a passport he was either joking or drunk... And if the Book of Records really printed it ... ehm ... well maybe that's why they named it Guinness... ;-) Cheers Rolf UPDATE: Wow there is not only a WP-Page it's even translated into 5 languages with plenty of Germans complaining in the discussion-page =). Wouldn't be surprised if he's going to win a nobelprize next week and becomes governor of California shortly after...	[reply]
Re^5: Do you have a middle name? by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Dec 03, 2009 at 01:17 UTC
Did you find these references on the scanned pages of a books published in 1954 and 1957 respectively? There are also a bunch of links (at the bottom of the WP page), that (apparently) link to the scanned pages of newspapers around the same time. They don't work for me, but maybe you need to sign up to view them. If it was a hoax, it was a damned elaborate one that way pre-dated the internet. Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. RIP PCW It is as I've been saying!(Audio until 20090817)	[reply]
Re^6: Do you have a middle name? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 03, 2009 at 02:55 UTC
If it was a hoax, it was a damned elaborate one that way pre-dated the internet. Yeah excellent! It gets more and more amusing ... 8) I don't know if he is really listed in GBR from 1978 with the 600 letter name, but it's definitely a hoax which is quite obvious for German-speakers. Spaceship? 1904? Come on! The 600 letter version is full of typical errors for English-speakers translating with a dictionary and by far too modern for a family name. Some retarded spirits even try to use it as a prove that ETs visited Earth 12000 years ago! (NOTE: German was the first language ...) Already the given names are almost all very English (1904? Kenneth? Irvin? Lloyd? Quincy? Yancy? Why not IceCube?). And even the shortened 35 letter version is only likely when hyphens or spaces got lost in translation, because they are placenames you can't easily combine. I'd rather say they are typos, or the immigration officer was too lazy to copy and even concatenated the birthplace and in reality it's "Wolf Schlegel from Steinhausen born in Bergedorf" (both placenames in northern Germany)! Anyway I doubt that 35 letters are long enough for a record. (BUT: there are even Facebook people with that name, with one f in the "dorf" hihihi =) Germantown is the oldest German settlement in America (320 years), I suppose it's a Philly inside-joke and folklore to fool GBR and other outsider. xD Have a look at Museum of Hoaxes, seems like this Myth has been heavily copied. I'd only be interested to know if there is really a poor family named Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff living in Philadelphia... 8) Cheers Rolf	[reply]
Re^7: Do you have a middle name? by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Dec 03, 2009 at 02:59 UTC
Re^8: Do you have a middle name? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 03, 2009 at 03:14 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re^8: Do you have a middle name? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 03, 2009 at 03:44 UTC
Re^7: Do you have a middle name? by tbone1 (Monsignor) on Dec 03, 2009 at 14:47 UTC
Re^8: Do you have a middle name? by LanX (Saint) on Dec 03, 2009 at 16:56 UTC
Re^4: Do you have a middle name? by dsheroh (Monsignor) on Dec 03, 2009 at 10:36 UTC
twelve thousand years ago, to them appeared, when the first earth human from the spaceship, using light as origin of power So he was a Scientologist?	[reply]