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  3. Linguistics

Ein schwarzer Schwan

English translation: Black Swan

11:16 Oct 24, 2009
German to English translations [Non-PRO]
Linguistics
German term or phrase: Ein schwarzer Schwan
I don't have any context but was wondering if the term is similar to "black sheep" in English.
Caitriona O'Callanain
Local time: 08:24
English translation:Black Swan
Explanation:
I came across this document recently (see link), and it is quite interesting! Maybe this helps?
Selected response from:

Céline Solenthaler (X)
Local time: 09:24
Grading comment
Thank you Céline, the article was very interesting and appropriate.

Regards
Caitriona
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +7No, it just means a black swan.
lindaellen (X)
4 +3Black Swan
Céline Solenthaler (X)
Summary of reference entries provided
Black swans in the philosophy of science
Annett Kottek (X)

  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
No, it just means a black swan.


Explanation:
No, it just means a black swan.

lindaellen (X)
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Christina Bergmann: Cygnus atratus. No connection to the "black sheep", that's right. You might want to look at the Wikipedia article "Black Swan"
7 mins
agree  Monika Elisabeth Sieger: simple as that!
9 mins
agree  Rolf Keiser: beautiful, elegant creatures.
39 mins
agree  Paul Kachur
1 hr
agree  Christine Bollmann
2 hrs
agree  Victorița Ionela Duță
3 hrs
agree  Ingrid Moore
6 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Black Swan


Explanation:
I came across this document recently (see link), and it is quite interesting! Maybe this helps?


    Reference: http://www.allianzglobalinvestors.de/privatkunden/data/pdf/r...
Céline Solenthaler (X)
Local time: 09:24
Native speaker of: German
Grading comment
Thank you Céline, the article was very interesting and appropriate.

Regards
Caitriona

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Thomas Pfann: Interesting document!
17 hrs
agree  Annett Kottek (X): Exactly! Expect the unexpected!
1 day 14 hrs
agree  Helen Shiner: Good find
1 day 15 hrs
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Reference comments


51 mins peer agreement (net): +9
Reference: Black swans in the philosophy of science

Reference information:
Philosophers often cite the example of the black swan if they want to underline the uncertainty of inductive reasoning (i.e. reasoning from experience). Europeans for thousand of years only ever observed white swans and thus came to the conclusion that ‘All swans are white.’ That proposition was proven untrue, however, when, in the late 18th C., black swans were discovered in Australia. To cite the black swan is to draw attention to the fact that just because something hasn’t been observed yet, that does not mean that this something does not/cannot exist.

See also the section on Karl Popper here: http://www.philosopher.org.uk/sci.htm

Or maybe: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifikationismus


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Note added at 1 Tag20 Stunden (2009-10-26 07:27:07 GMT)
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‘The black swan metaphor refers to the dangers of deriving general rules from observed facts, and only from those observed facts, a notion called Hume's problem of induction.’
http://books.google.com/books?id=y-SLU3b7FtsC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA...


‘On detecting and classifying aberrant behavior in unmanned autonomous systems under test and on mission …in the Age of the Black Swan

[…]

A Note on Black Swans
The Black Swan metaphor is used currently to signify a low probability but catastrophic event. Popular usage emphasizes this low probability. What is ignored in many examples of recent black swan events is that they have been enabled by situational evolution, and will occur with increasing frequency.’
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:Hflm3cTmSYoJ:www.parshi...

Annett Kottek (X)
United Kingdom
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Helen Shiner: Yes, useful to have this appended to this question.
16 mins
  -> Thank you, Helen. And it looks like Taleb's book [Michael’s comment below] has popularized the black swan metaphor.
agree  Ingeborg Gowans (X): very interesting comment
35 mins
  -> Thank you, Ingeborg.
agree  Barbara Wiebking: Yes, exactly.
46 mins
  -> Thank you, kriddl.
agree  Rebecca Garber
1 hr
  -> Thank you, Rebecca.
agree  franglish
3 hrs
  -> Thank you, franglish.
agree  Teresa Reinhardt: ..and so it doesn't 'just mean a black swan'
3 hrs
  -> Thank you, Teresa. I hadn’t realized how widespread the black swan metaphor has become. According to one document I found online, we are now in the ‘Age of the Black Swan’.
agree  Michael Hudson: You may enjoy a book on this subject "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Taleb. Author's insights based on the work of Karl Popper. At Barnes & Noble, Amazon.
3 hrs
  -> Thanks for reminding me, Michael! I haven’t read the book - - yet, but I saw Taleb lecture on it here in London. He seems to have single-handedly popularized the metaphor, judging from the many online references to it.
agree  Thomas Pfann: very interesting
22 hrs
  -> Thank you, Thomas.
agree  Lancashireman: Looks like lindaellen's answer could be heading for the 'most helpful' accolade: "No, it just means a black swan."
2 days 6 hrs
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