From: ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de   
      
   Lars Poulsen  wrote or quoted:   
   >In my vocabulary, Hochdeutsch is the standard ("educated") German.   
   >In the North, there is Plattdytsch and in the South theere is   
   >Schwäbisch.   
      
     It's kind of awkward that "Hochdeutsch" has two meanings:   
      
          On one hand, from a linguistics point of view, it's the variety   
     of German spoken in the higher regions, basically around central and   
     southern Germany.   
      
          In everyday use though, people usually mean the nationwide, sort   
     of media-standard form of German.   
      
          On top of that, the prefix "hoch-" can easily be taken to mean   
     "superior", which kind of adds to the confusion.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)