die Ente

In a cartoon skit by the famous German comedian Loriot, two grown men compelled by fate and a confusing hotel layout to share the same bathtub are having a genteel conversation (if marred by a certain amount of passive-aggressive behavior). But their polite chatter takes a nasty turn and tempers flare when one of the men–a college professor–wants his Ente in the bath. Die Ente is a duck–in this case, a rubber ducky. Eventually, the other man–a captain of industry–gives his permission with the supremely sarcastic statement, “Also lassen Sie die Ente in Gottes Namen herein”–“Let the duck in, in God’s name,” an expression that the porter of a castle might have used in medieval times. This so offends the professor that he snips in reply, “Nein, mit Ihnen teilt meine Ente das Wasser nicht”–“No, my duck’s not sharing the water with you!”