Friedrich's Pet Names For Jo (Little Women Explained)

Emily: We also talked a little bit about how Jo and the professor establish a sort of this common language between them in the way they talk with each other because of the use of "thou" and "you" and "us". I guess for me it is like what we've discussed is that he doesn't want to hold her in distance. It is almost like a pet name for them to have a common language with each other but also establish that they are the ones closest to each other. Which is great. I don't think it is that extreme in German, in the actual language of German, among friends you say "du" and then for like, let's say professional relations, your boss or with someone you don't really know or don't really see, so then when you establish sort of rapport with them, you'll say "du". It is not quite as extreme as Fritz takes it in Little Women. Louisa was not a native German speaker. She was kind of doing her own thing with language which, you know, I don't have a problem with.

Niina: In German and in Russian I think, you know they use a lot of formal languages which is not that common in English, or here in Finland. But then in the 19th century, I would imagine that it was even more important for the Germans to use "Sie" and "Du" so there was a bigger difference.

Emily: Yeah probably.

Niina: So when Louisa was travelling in Germany. She must have been using "Sie" a lot when she was talking to people. Yeah, I think in that relationship between Jo and Friedrich, "Thou" becomes more of a pet name. Then it is interesting because when you read poems from Henry Thoreau or Goethe they are always using the word "thou". Makes you wonder if that was something that happened between Louisa and Henry, but that's all speculation.

Emily: Yeah, we can't know for sure but it is an interesting quirk. I think we also forget sort of the more antiquated nature of language at that time. I think we try so hard to modernize Little Women and bring it to our own time that I think we forget that it is very much a product of its time and is very much coloured by history. I think people forget factors a lot in the events in the book that actually colours it.

Niina: It annoyed me a lot how Greta Gerwig was complaining about how he is using the word "thou" and like I am reading Little Women when I'm 17 and I'm thinking it's actually really romantic, but then again I was studying German back then. Then again also the translations, like I've got this old Finnish translation of Little Women and the part where he calls Jo "Professorin, it is translated to "Professor's little wife".

(laughter)

Emily: Oh no!

Niina: And then in German, it means a female professor!

Emily: Female professor!

Niina: Female professor. He is giving her the title that she is his equal. I can imagine someone, a Finnish person reading Little Women, that poor translation from the 50s and go "Oh Friedrich is such a sexist" and then in the original, he is a feminist! Okay. I am pretty sure that the person who translated that didn't speak a word of German. To my copy, I corrected the German words there. I hope that the new translations are better but that was something.

Emily: I know this is a severe misunderstanding of that word. The thing is it is so cute when he calls her "Professorin" Even though he is older than her. He sees her also as a professor and on his level, even though on paper they don't start out that way. I really can't understand how people can't get behind this relationship.

Niina: A part of me hopes that they will make a Little Women adaptation where they clearly show that Friedrich is German and maybe also include parts of him living in Germany. That would be nice and it was important to Louisa that he was German