User:RingPlasma/My name is haas

"My name is haas" ("Mijn naam is haas" in Dutch) is an expression that means that somebody doesn't know anything. This expression is frequently used if someone says they know nothing, but actually de schijn ophoudt.

The expression in German is: "Mein Name ist Hase, Ich weiß von nichts." This is the commonly used expression, which is a contraction of the testimony given by Victor von Hase: "Mein Name ist Hase; ich verneine die Generalfragen; ich weiß von nichts." Apparently the fraternities of Europe thought that the play on words of his surname (Hase = Bunny Rabbit) was amusing, and the saying circulated throughout Germany and Holland. In English it would sound like this: "My name is Bunny Rabbit, I know nothing."

Background
This expression is claimed to originate from an event of 1855. A German student shot someone dead in a duel and wished to flee to France. In order to cross the border he was required to have identification papers, which he acquired from a medical student named Victor von Hase; after which Hase notified the authorities that he had lost his papers. As luck would have it, the papers were later recovered in France, where the murderer had lost them. The real Hase was ordered to appear before the court, where he stated, "My name is Hase, I know nothing." The name "Hase" was bastardized to "Haas" in Dutch, and has nothing to do with the animal of the same name (i.e., "haas" = "rabbit").

Trivia
The Dutch band Lowland Trio had a 1973 Dutch Top 40 entry with the song: "Mijn naam is haas".

Literature

 * Marcel Grauls: Mijn naam is Haas: hoe historische figuren in het woordenboek belandden. Leuven [u.a.]: Van Halewyck, 2001 ISBN 90-5617-327-8

Category:Idioms Category:Figures of speech

Mijn_naam_is_haas Victor_von_Hase