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[ManMan]

Hi, I was active on this forum like a year ago and then real life kicked in, but who cares. The thing is, I remember posting on a forum about how I received a weird message from an unknown number, and I'm pretty sure it was this forum. Anyways, here's the message I had written about:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Seids es schun drinnen ?? Wann schwimmt er?? Sonst kemmen wir geg 11?? ?? Geht das??? Lg kathia

Pretty weird, huh? Apparently this was nothing but some gibberish that somewhat resembled german. At the time I thought I had just gone on a website I shouldn't have gone on and that's why I received that message.

Here's where the weirder part comes in: today, at 15:13, I received another message from... her?
This one made more sense. "Frohe ostertage... lg kathia" Which apparently means happy easter. I also noticed that she tried to call me, two months after the first message. I couldn't answer, though.

So, what exactly is this? Is it just a persistent guy trying to scam me or did I accidentally get in a relation with a fifteen year old student studying german who fell in love with me, all that while I was sleeping?
Also, I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I don't know where to speak of it.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Burn that bridge like... well there's not a relevant metaphor here, just douse this situation in kerosene and throw some dirt over the ashes.

[ManMan]

Burn that bridge like... well there's not a relevant metaphor here, just douse this situation in kerosene and throw some dirt over the ashes.

But what if it's a four year old german girl who got kidnapped and was only allowed to look for help once a month, but she can't write???

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Burn that bridge like... well there's not a relevant metaphor here, just douse this situation in kerosene and throw some dirt over the ashes.

But what if it's a four year old german girl who got kidnapped and was only allowed to look for help once a month, but she can't write???

Dude, I don't know what kind of websites you shouldn't have been on, but that sounds like terribleness waiting to happen. Also, you'll never know, cause they're speaking gibberish.

[martinuzz]

I don't think the first message was gibberish, just heavy dialect german (austrian / sweizerisch?). I believe it translates to "are they (/ is it / is he) already inside (/in the building)? When will he swim? Or we'll just come at 11? Is that okay? love+greetings kathia"

Kinda looks like someone was swimming a contest, and she wanted to know at what time exactly.

[Shook]

Seems about right, from my very limited knowledge of german. It honestly just seems like a wrong number to me, it happens occasionally. I mean, it could also be a mean trick to check if there's actually someone on that particular phone so they can start spamming the shit out of it, but they usually don't look like that. :v

[kilakan]

yeah definitely just seems like a wrong number deal.  You probably have a number similar to the person she is trying to contact.  Happens to me fairly often after I got my new phone number cause it's a recycled number so people are constantly looking for Deborah... (spoiler alert I am not deborah)

[martinuzz]

My best guess is that it's some kid's grandmother who isn't too familiar with internets / mobile phone and or a keyboard.

You could be a good scout and text her back, either in english 'sorry you must have typed the wrong number, perhaps my phone number resembles whomever you are trying to reach. Happy Easter to you too regardless', or in German "nun habe ich schon zweimal eine Nachrichte von sie empfangen, aber ich glaube ich sei nicht die richtige Person die sie erreichen wollte. Vielleicht ist meine Nummer ähnlich zu der Nummer ihrer Bekännte. Allerdings wünsche ich sie doch auch frohe Ostertage."

(please correct me german forumites if I made a grave error with the die/der/den/etc, Abitur is 20 years ago)

[flame99]

Seids es schun drinnen ?? Wann schwimmt er?? Sonst kemmen wir geg 11?? ?? Geht das??? Lg kathia

Okay I'm gonna try to translate this, at Tir's request. I'm not great at german though.
Seids es schun drinnen -- It is beautiful outside? This is assuming schun is supposed to be schoen/shuen.
Wann schwimmt er -- When is he swimming/when does he swim
Sonst kemmen wir geg 11 -- I'm not sure. Sonst can mean a lot of things, none of which really fit, and the rest of the sentence is "we leave at 11." Maybe sonst was meant to be sollt, which would make the sentence "should he leave at 11".
Geht das -- Does that work?

If you want to text back, try "Du hast eine schlect Nummer. Ich spricht keine Deutsche; sprichst du Englisch?", which is "You have a bad number. I speak no German; do you speak English?"

EDIT: Passed it onto a Swiss friend.

Are you allready inside? When does he swim? Otherwise we come by 11. Is that possible? Does that work/is that fine? greetings kathia

[Tiruin]

Seids es schun drinnen ?? Wann schwimmt er?? Sonst kemmen wir geg 11?? ?? Geht das??? Lg kathia

Okay I'm gonna try to translate this, at Tir's request. I'm not great at german though.

I saw this and messaged Cinder because she's in Germany but this help is great too

Although honestly I think it's also a misinterpretation//honest mistake, given how context worked out before flame's message here. Something I loved to learn was how to respond back--like once, I had a call from someone who called me over for a sleeping party...or to call a certain someone's name, at 10am, while I was on a trip. I kept having to say wrong number and they thought it was a joke (In context, we usually joke around here so it's taken like that) until I made sure to word my words in a way that made sure it was sure.

Greet them nice things in response and add 'wrong number' at the end! c: Maybe add in a nice 'recheck your number please' before the last line. I've found that the ending is generally a bit better to hold those important bits than having them as your first sentence in differing situations.

[ManMan]

You know, I would have replied but I'm afraid it's going to steal my money. The wrong number theory doesn't seem too plausible though: who would put in the same number by accident three times, one at a year of distance from the other?

I kinda wish I lived in a place that had reception, so I could answer if she ever calls. Though it would probably be more broken german.

[Reelya]

If they mistyped the phone number multiple times, and they were doing it from someone else's phone or something. I had some Indian girl sending me her prom photos, and would get messages about their meetups & whatnot occasionally. Eventually I replied "nice photo, but I'm not so-and-so". Raj I think it might have been.

[martinuzz]

You know, I would have replied but I'm afraid it's going to steal my money. The wrong number theory doesn't seem too plausible though: who would put in the same number by accident three times, one at a year of distance from the other?

I kinda wish I lived in a place that had reception, so I could answer if she ever calls. Though it would probably be more broken german.

If your number is just one or two ciphers off, and the person sending the message is not really good at typing a mobile phone, it's not unlikely at all that they'd accidentally message you more than one time.

Also, sending just one text message should be cheap enough, even to another country

[wierd]

I know this is off topic, but I am disappoint that ManMan does not use the john kricfalusi character of the same name as his avatar.

I mean, just look at this amazing super hero, and his protoge, boyboy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbtC5F_flqU



----

On topic:

Another explaination is having the wrong number in the contact list for a very distant relative. Somebody you rarely, if ever call, but through social convention, need to wish happy holidays, etc.

[TheBiggerFish]

This happened.