Sentence:  And I will admit now but never then that, more than once, listening to the Viennese chattering their <WSD>zany</WSD> German on the pavements, or taking himself to one of the struggling small theatres that were cropping up in cellars and bombed houses... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Unusual and awkward in a funny, comical manner; outlandish; clownish.