Epstein hat sich nicht umgebracht

The open threads at Glenn Reynold's Instapundit are a delight. Comparable in intelligence and wit to Scott Alexander's commenters at Slate Star Codex but with a more grounded worldview.

Eclectic, knowledgeable, diverse in interests and tastes, experienced, wise, and humorous, you never know what might come up. I did especially enjoy this exchange which captures the marvelous variety.

Maxwell Edison MD • 12 hours ago

So I have a question for the Open Thread, and particularly for those fluent in German.

My grandparents came to the States from Frankfurt before the Great War. German was spoken at home, and I was encouraged to speak German in their house (and ONLY in their house).

There was a grammatical joke in the form of a poem to help with the various cases and genders. I can only recall the theme of the poem and the first two lines:

"Ich hab' ein kleine Mann
Er am mein Shulter sitzt"

(I have a little man
He sits on my shoulder)

The gist was the mythical little man sitting on my shoulder would whisper the words in my ear needed to convey plurals, genders, cases, and tenses of the confusing rules of German grammar. The joke was the little man was always wrong.

I have searched the Interwebz and asked every native German speaker I met over the past 20 years or so. No luck.

So here I come to the Instapundit Brain Trust in the hopes that someone, somewhere, can supply the rest of the poem.

ClydeDale Maxwell Edison MD • 12 hours ago

"Ich hab' ein kleine Mann
Er am mein Shulter sitzt"

er flüstert mir ins ohr
Epstein hat sich nicht umgebracht

Which is

I have a little man
He sits on my shoulder
He whispers in my ear
Epstein did not kill himself