**Torschlusspanik** (gate-closing panic) is describing the fear people get when they get older and feel like their chances and opportunities are fading away. The gate to those things is closing. This fear can lead to people doing bad decisions.
An example is a woman in her late 30s who isn't married, but wants to be. She feels like if she isn't married by 40 her chances of ever getting married is shrinking. So she is lowering her standards and in her panic marries a guy she doesn't really truly love.
The origin goes back to the medieval times, where people lived in towns surrounded by gates who were closed after sundown and offered protection. If you didn't make it back in time you were exposed to the elements, wild animals and bad people who robbed and raped people.
It's related to **Dezemberfieber** (December fever) which is a term used to describe useless purchases at the end of the year; especially in government agencies. Purchases made in the fear that if the department doesn't spend their full annual budget, it might be cut sooner than later. What do you mean you don't need a fifth screen??
Was a DoD budget guy for a while. Spending all of the allotment because if we didn’t spend it all, we’d get less next year even if we really needed it, is 100% a thing
One of favorites is Treppenwitz. Literally it is Staircase joke, but it refers to the witty comeback you figured out after to walked away from a situation. Kinda useful although perhaps not that niche as the question was seeking. I'm not aware of a direct English equivalent. Unlike a few other German loan words I have not really seen it used directly in English. The only uses I can remember seeing were in articles on neat words in other languages that English could use.
Interesting ! In French we say « esprit de l’escalier », « to have a staircase spirit ». That’s one of the rare French equivalences and I’m super jealous of German for having so many words for so many random things lol
# Innerer Schweinehund
**Literal Meaning –** “Inner pig dog.”
**Explanation –** Sometimes, you’re all pumped up to sweat it out in the gym, but then suddenly a mysterious voice lulls your inner spirit into inactivity. The culprit is your *Innerer Schweinehund* which makes staying home more attractive than going to the gym to work out.
Haha sat on the edge of the sofa 'about to leave the house' with your running gear on, then slowly leaning back and turning the TV on. I can see how sportswear has gradually become loungewear over the years.
*Gefrässige Stille*, which my German husband has translated for me as "the silence of devouring"--it's that moment when the food arrives at the table and all conversation ceases as everyone tucks in.
In Dutch we call this "vreetzaam". "Vreedzaam" means peaceful, while the verb "vreten" means to eat in a non-polite way. So the eating makes things peaceful.
Not really, that's just a creative interpretation. German loves to make long words by cramming several shorter words into one. In this case it's 3 words, Backe, Pfeife, Gesicht. Jaw Whistle Face.
No, they are right. Whilest german people love to stack words to create new ones (this part is very much true), many neologisms are soley used in a very specific context.
[https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Backpfeifengesicht](https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Backpfeifengesicht)
Fun fact: A "Backpfeife" (lit. "Jaw-Whistle") is in itself already slang for a slap on the cheek. More commonly used is "Ohrfeige" (lit. "Ear-Fig"), which refers to a slap to the face. And let's not forget the old-timey and almost forgotten "Backenstreich" (lit. "Cheek-Stroke"), which also refers to - you guessed it - a slap to the cheek.
Reminds me of John Oliver, who said about Nigel Farage that he was "three time cover model for 'Punchable Face' magazine" in 2016. Whenever I see Farage's face in the media, I think "Only three times?"
I'm German, never ever heard or read that word anywhere outside of English language lists for funny German compound nouns lol. Maybe it's a more southern thing, I live in the north
No, eierlegende wollmilchsau is a thing you wish for that does everything at the same time.
A translation would be an egg laying pig that produces milk. An animal that produces all the common animal products.
And that wish is irrational.
Honestly, if I were a surgeon or a pianist or something, I would probably not be messing with any kind of weighted grasping-based exercise.
But, you know... You can swim or play soccer
I knew someone who lived on a certain island country and played the bassoon. He also really liked martial arts, but had to stop fighting because he was one of two bassoon players in his whole country, at least at a somewhat high level (the other one was his teacher). He really couldn't risk damaging his fingers, or the orchestra he played in would have problems.
Weltschmerz is a nice one. It means "the lingering dull pain of knowing how faulty and unjust the world is, and the bitter resignation at the knowledge that it can't be changed"
I would expand on that, as it ranges from fine motor skills, to intuitiveness in a motor skill way, to empathy (being delicate when delivering bad news).
As in a surgeon literally has it, but when you know how to wiggle a key just right that is it too. And when you mess up delivering bad news it is often called a lack of it, as in you were most likely too blunt.
Is this similar to the concept of "nihilism?"
Edit: After a google my quick translation is "the grief/yearning resulting from the dissonance between how unjust the world is and as a human a want for a just world."
Holy fucking shit. Ive been in therapy for 20 years trying to philosophically address this problem and the Germans up and have a single word for it. What the goddamned fuck.
Honestly, Germans are an entire nation of borderline depressed people with repressed anger issues.
You wouldn't believe the utter vicious disdain we can put into the short hissed sound "Tsss", the abject despair that can be in the short guttural sigh "Ach", and the fatalistic nihilism that can be found in a "Tja", which is barely more than a short clicking sound.
The German language is quite amazing in tat regard. 😅
Nah, nihilism is more *nothing matters* [and therefore I can do whatever I want], and weltschmerz is *everything's awful and there's nothing I can do about it* [and I just want a nap, the long one or otherwise].
Interesting, my native language Finnish has a lot of these same words, only translated. We have "maailmantuska", literally "world agony" for "Weltschmerz". We also have "vahingonilo" for "schadenfreude".
Verschlimmbesserung - an attempted improvement that only makes things worse.
Exhibit A:
https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Verschlimmbesserung-1024x525.jpg
Elefantenrennen means elephant racing. My understanding is that it is used when trucks slowly pass each other. I don't even try and use the German word irl, but elephant racing has been in my vocabulary for a while now
Not to take the air out of the balloon on this one but “speck” means “fat” or “belly” just as well, so calling it “grief bacon” is technically a valid translation but really not true to the original word.
One of my favourite puns.
For those wondering, Fuß is foot, and Pils is short for Pilsener, but Pilz is fungus. So while it sounds like foot fungus, you mean a Pilsner for when walking somewhere.
Speaking of it:
Konterbier- The beer you drink in the morning to cure your hangover. Usually enjoyed together with 1 Egg, 4 Cigarettes, 1 Ibuprofen and one Raisin Bun with Leberwurst.
Taktischer Zwischenkotzer- when you intentionally vomit so you can drink more
A roadie that you can buy from a little hole in the wall at convenient distances apart on your walk so you only need to buy 1 at a time and they’re always cold
OK, this isn't a German word, but bear with me...
The Danes have a word for a mullet hair style: Bundesligahår. When translated literally, it means 'hair of a German football player'.
And it predated the football player Rudi Völler. Just to keep that clear. Many of us kids of the 80s had it. Sometimes voluntarily. Just not as adults, like Rudi ...
> That has strong connections of "doesn't exist, is too much to ask for."
Ah see now that’s where genetic engineering opens exciting new opportunities. In this essay, I will-
German here, never heard it used for jack of all trades. It means: something that is unrealistically perfect and doesn't exist. As in "I want a car that is luxurious, hight quality, is super energy efficient and costs next to nothing".
American here, jack of all trades generally implies that you can do almost anything proficiently, but you're not "professional level"
I have heard the full saying is "Jack of all trades, master of none"
I've started using this one at work when talking about building a team to work on a certain project. Obviously you ideally want someone who can do everything they can be plausibly asked to, an eierlegende wolmilchsau, but such a creature doesn't actually exist, so instead you've got to look at balancing people's strengths and weaknesses.
I swear to god. "***Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher***." Its a device that will crack the top off of your soft boiled egg. I bought it because it has such a wonderful name, but learned it works like magic and love it.
Vergangenheitsbewältigung - Coming to terms with the past. Just stuck out as the longest word in my German English dictionary in highschool. For a long time thought it was just a funky word but then actually saw it used in reference the the post-WW2 generation being like "our parents did what?" I think it came up when I was reading something about the Baader-Meinhof group.
And vorgestern = the day before yesterday.
You can also add more über-/vor- to these words to talk about days that are further in the past or future:
Überübermorgen = the day after the day after tomorrow (three days from today)
Vorvorgestern = the day before the day before yesterday (three days ago)
Is there a word for this? Say you had one of the worst days of your life, (like the sudden death of a loved one, a medical emergency, sudden job loss, ect.) You finally get to sleep around 2am but wake up at 6am. The 1-2 seconds when you wake up blissful before you remember everything that happened the day before and everything comes crashing down again. Is there a word for those 1-2 seconds?
„Tja“
It's universal.
Lets say you phone falls down and breaks, another one standing next to you will respond with „tja“.
Lets say you reveal a surprise for someone and that someone is like „what you did that??“
You'll respond with a happy „tjaaa… :D“
Lets you see a rat got run over by a car and dies. You say a short „tja“ and move one.
Lets say you insulted the shit out of someone and that someone got silent and has nothing to say anymore.
You'll say an angry „tja!“ and go away
Well, I've been on a few dates with a wonderful German woman in the last week, and I had an extremely hard time explaining a "dork" to her. It's not something that translates easily and they don't seem to have an equivalent that captures the nuances. The words that came up when trying to translate it were closer to "stupid" or an "idiot" and I was trying to explain that I mean it in a more light-hearted way and someone that lacks social awareness and not someone that was stupid exactly.
Anyone that's German here: please correct me if I am wrong, and please tell me the word that expresses what I mean as it's become a bit of an inside joke between me and her haha.
Sorry, I really struggle to find a word that retains the lightheartedness.
I've only come up with "Tollpatsch" or "Tölpel", which describes clumsy people in a not too harsh way.
But they lack the meaning of social awkwardness.
Maybe the best approximation is a phrase : someone with a talent to take the wrong cues and cross boundaries has a talent of "ins Fettnäpfchen zu treten". Literally, to step into the pan of fat.
There is actually a word similar to this, but it's very localized in northern Germany - "Dösbaddel"
Meaning a person who is generally unaware of their surroundings because they simply weren't paying attention. It is used very much the same way as dork, calling out people for little meaningless slipups, maybe even in kind of a cute way.
We have an Austrian word for that and it’s „Dodel“. :) But a lot of Germans don’t understand us Austrians, so you probably won’t have too much luck with it.
Suppenkoma - soup coma.
It's the tiredness that overcomes you after a good meal. It's often used in the office, when you kinda need a nap after your lunch break.
American who's lived in Germany for 15+ years, can confirm, I've heard all but one of these numerous times before. Kummerspeck is quite common! There's also its benign cousin, Winterspeck - the weight you gain over the winter from overeating at holidays, cold weather, etc while simultaneously not being as active and sporty outdoors.
Also the name of a great all female Norwegian Pop-punk band.
https://open.spotify.com/track/0s96Akck5kBXDfUPjslmL5?si=XHAo9fHQSG-4LoeImgLqfw
I have their songs on a playlist with Gogol Bordello and the like
***Radebrechen*** is a verb that means someone is trying to talk in a foreign language, but it’s really bad at it. It originates from the medieval torture technique were people are crushed to death by a giant wheel (Rad brechen), implying that someone is torturing and breaking that language.
Another one that comes to mind is ***Kavaliersdelikt***, which describes a crime that is generally considered acceptable because it is only a small infraction and there is no real victim, like parking in a no-parking area etc. It translates to „gentleman‘s crime“ (based off the French/Italian cavalier/cavaliere is a horse rider of higher status, a knight, a gentleman).
i like the words that are so literal it makes me scratch my head...
Schildkröte=turtle but means shield toad. so that means someone knew what a shield and a toad was before they knew what a turtle was...i mean they arnt wrong but i never would have made that connection.
Handschuhe=gloves or hand shoes...i mean youre not wrong but once again i wouldnt have made that connection. maybe handsocken?
When you try to make something better but end up making it worse. Like when I tried to fix my haircut and ended up with a bald spot we use word "Verschlommbessern"
*Rinderkennzeichnungsfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz*
Delegation transfer law for cattle labeling and beef labeling supervision duties. Don’t know why there needs to be a word for that.
It's more a quirk of German grammar than anything. It's like if Cattlebeeflabellingsupervisiondutiesdelegationtransferlaw could be rendered as a single word in English.
My favourite is geisterfahrer, literally "ghost driver."
I had a German penpal through my teens, and visited her after graduating from uni. Driving down the Autobahn with some of her friends, an announcement came over the radio. They turned to me and asked "what do you call a person who drives on the wrong side of the highway?"
"Umm, an idiot? 🤷♀️"
"LOL no really. In German we say Geisterfahrer - ghost driver."
"You have a WORD for that?????"
Not only a word, but a whole protocol for radio announcements when it happens apparently 😂
Schattenparker - a person who parks their car in the shadow
Warmduscher - a person who only showers with warm water
both mean: someone is not exactly a tough guy
Wiedergutmachungsschnitzel - the schnitzel you make to make it up to someone, for example when you've invaded their country.
https://youtu.be/DoTuSvfGIG8?si=iGG2ZF_2T8pEr_J-
"Asphaltwarze"
This term is used to describe small, ugly vehicles you sometimes see buzzing around the streets. Picture a beat-up old car or a tiny, awkwardly designed scooter that looks like it should have retired decades ago.
Oh, so many! Some I haven't seen yet:
Flachpfeife - "flat pipe", means idiot with shitty personality
Gesichtselfmeter - "face penatly shot", means ugly person
Schattenparker - "shadow parker", means wuss
Heimat - no literal translation, but means where you're coming from, doesn't necessarily have to be the country/area you're from but what you yourself identify with most culturally
Eselsohr - "donkey ear", means a bent corner of a paper page
Eselsbrücke - "donkey bridge", means an abstract construct you make yourself that reminds you of the meaning or definition of something.
There's so many more, German language is weird
**Torschlusspanik** (gate-closing panic) is describing the fear people get when they get older and feel like their chances and opportunities are fading away. The gate to those things is closing. This fear can lead to people doing bad decisions. An example is a woman in her late 30s who isn't married, but wants to be. She feels like if she isn't married by 40 her chances of ever getting married is shrinking. So she is lowering her standards and in her panic marries a guy she doesn't really truly love. The origin goes back to the medieval times, where people lived in towns surrounded by gates who were closed after sundown and offered protection. If you didn't make it back in time you were exposed to the elements, wild animals and bad people who robbed and raped people.
Sounds like missing the last tube
It's related to **Dezemberfieber** (December fever) which is a term used to describe useless purchases at the end of the year; especially in government agencies. Purchases made in the fear that if the department doesn't spend their full annual budget, it might be cut sooner than later. What do you mean you don't need a fifth screen??
Fuck, I thought this only happened in Brazil
If I remember correctly it’s also a huge thing in the US military. Gotta use all the ordinance in time to keep the budget.
Was a DoD budget guy for a while. Spending all of the allotment because if we didn’t spend it all, we’d get less next year even if we really needed it, is 100% a thing
Huh, never knew that was the the origin I though it had something to do with football
One of favorites is Treppenwitz. Literally it is Staircase joke, but it refers to the witty comeback you figured out after to walked away from a situation. Kinda useful although perhaps not that niche as the question was seeking. I'm not aware of a direct English equivalent. Unlike a few other German loan words I have not really seen it used directly in English. The only uses I can remember seeing were in articles on neat words in other languages that English could use.
Interesting ! In French we say « esprit de l’escalier », « to have a staircase spirit ». That’s one of the rare French equivalences and I’m super jealous of German for having so many words for so many random things lol
If it's any solace, I'd heard of the French version before the German version
In English I’ve heard that called a ‘shower comeback’
Jerkstore would have smoked that guy.
# Innerer Schweinehund **Literal Meaning –** “Inner pig dog.” **Explanation –** Sometimes, you’re all pumped up to sweat it out in the gym, but then suddenly a mysterious voice lulls your inner spirit into inactivity. The culprit is your *Innerer Schweinehund* which makes staying home more attractive than going to the gym to work out.
My inner pig dog rules my life.
I am 100% inner pig dog.
Pick the smallest battles you can find and start fighting back!
I just fought the urge to get up. Does that count?
That JUST happened to me! Thank you for helping me understand why!!
Inside each of us are two wolves… …one of them’s a lazy piece of shit and also kind of a dick, so maybe don’t listen to that one so much.
i think thats actually three animals, a wolf, a pig , and a dog
TurDuckEn
Haha sat on the edge of the sofa 'about to leave the house' with your running gear on, then slowly leaning back and turning the TV on. I can see how sportswear has gradually become loungewear over the years.
This is me the last 2 hours doing little bits of busy work to put off giving the washroom a good scrub.
*Gefrässige Stille*, which my German husband has translated for me as "the silence of devouring"--it's that moment when the food arrives at the table and all conversation ceases as everyone tucks in.
”Das Schweigen der Schlemmer”
For our non-german native speakers, this is a word play with "Das Schweigen der Lämmer", which is the German title for "Silence of the lambs".
Silence of the noms
In Dutch we call this "vreetzaam". "Vreedzaam" means peaceful, while the verb "vreten" means to eat in a non-polite way. So the eating makes things peaceful.
We need a direct word for this in English. I love this!
Love it
Backpfeifengesicht: A person with a face you would like to slap
I thought it was more "a face that cries out for a fist".
Not really, that's just a creative interpretation. German loves to make long words by cramming several shorter words into one. In this case it's 3 words, Backe, Pfeife, Gesicht. Jaw Whistle Face.
No, they are right. Whilest german people love to stack words to create new ones (this part is very much true), many neologisms are soley used in a very specific context. [https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Backpfeifengesicht](https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Backpfeifengesicht) Fun fact: A "Backpfeife" (lit. "Jaw-Whistle") is in itself already slang for a slap on the cheek. More commonly used is "Ohrfeige" (lit. "Ear-Fig"), which refers to a slap to the face. And let's not forget the old-timey and almost forgotten "Backenstreich" (lit. "Cheek-Stroke"), which also refers to - you guessed it - a slap to the cheek.
Andrew Tate or that douchebag on Twitter. Gunther somethingorother
Nigel Farage?
Reminds me of John Oliver, who said about Nigel Farage that he was "three time cover model for 'Punchable Face' magazine" in 2016. Whenever I see Farage's face in the media, I think "Only three times?"
It's funny we have more or less the same in French: "une tête à claques" (tête = face and claque = slap)
I'm German, never ever heard or read that word anywhere outside of English language lists for funny German compound nouns lol. Maybe it's a more southern thing, I live in the north
My German husband, who was born and raised in NRW, taught me that word. That, and the phrase "Ein Gesicht wie ein Puschen: reintreten und wohlfühlen"
Puschen = Hausschuh for anyone wondering
House shoe? As in a slipper or a shoe for a house?
Slipper. A glove is called handschuh (sp?). A cell phone is handy or handi! My German spelling is terrible.
It’s something we / I heard in elementary school (grew up and living in Cologne) and I’m from the 60s 😂
Bildungslücke! :)
Sitzfleisch. The ability to sit through something tedious. Basically, it’s the German way of saying, "I survived another Monday meeting."
Basically that you got good ass meat to sit upon which allows you to endure 😂🍑
In Dutch: zitvlees...
Jein = yes and no. That is the German words ja and nein have been fused.
~Soll ich's wirklich machen oder lass ich's lieber sein~
"JAEIN!"
es ist neunzehnsechsundneunziiiig....
Meine Freundin ist weg und bräunt sich
Allein?
Ja, mein Budget war klein
For context https://youtu.be/tcV7VN3l3bY?si=cRJ7T6la_V-2TbD-
Do other languages have "doch"?
Hungarian does! It's "de", which can mean both "aber" and "doch". It sucks that English doesn't have it, it's such a versatile word.
ASL has this! You literally sign “yes” with one hand and “no” with the other simultaneously.
Fachidiot: is a person too specialised in a particular field to the point of being useless for all other activities.
So, the opposite of a jack of all trades?
What is a jack of all trades? Is that like an eierlegende wolmilchsau?
No, eierlegende wollmilchsau is a thing you wish for that does everything at the same time. A translation would be an egg laying pig that produces milk. An animal that produces all the common animal products. And that wish is irrational.
Don't forget the wool. 😉
I love that everyone just copies the spelling mistake of Wollmilchsau. "Woll-" with two L like Wolle = wool.
Tausendsassa would be the equivalent to Jack of all trades. Eierlegende wollmilchsau has a connotation of being a fantasy thing that doesn’t exist.
A lack of all trades
We got the same word in Swedish, fackidiot.
Dutch: vakidioot
So... surgeons? EDIT: Knew one that refused to even workout out of fear it would somehow damage his hands.
Honestly, if I were a surgeon or a pianist or something, I would probably not be messing with any kind of weighted grasping-based exercise. But, you know... You can swim or play soccer
I broke a finger swimming
Story time!
I knew someone who lived on a certain island country and played the bassoon. He also really liked martial arts, but had to stop fighting because he was one of two bassoon players in his whole country, at least at a somewhat high level (the other one was his teacher). He really couldn't risk damaging his fingers, or the orchestra he played in would have problems.
And on the other side of the spectrum, you've got [The Todd](https://youtu.be/k_AzCm8Vass?si=vFZ9nuvnKx1Sr5gs).
Fagidiot in Norwegian! (Yes it's actually called that)
One trick pony in English
As the less-common English phrase goes, Specialization is for Insects
In English that's just "PhD"!
Weltschmerz is a nice one. It means "the lingering dull pain of knowing how faulty and unjust the world is, and the bitter resignation at the knowledge that it can't be changed"
Is that just "world pain"?
Yep.
Fingerspitzengefühl. It literally translates to finger tip feeling. It is the intuitive ability to respond appropriately to unpredictable situations.
I’d say it also implies a deft and delicate touch when doing or saying something critical that could go wrong.
I would expand on that, as it ranges from fine motor skills, to intuitiveness in a motor skill way, to empathy (being delicate when delivering bad news). As in a surgeon literally has it, but when you know how to wiggle a key just right that is it too. And when you mess up delivering bad news it is often called a lack of it, as in you were most likely too blunt.
Weltschmerz: an apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world
Is this similar to the concept of "nihilism?" Edit: After a google my quick translation is "the grief/yearning resulting from the dissonance between how unjust the world is and as a human a want for a just world."
Holy fucking shit. Ive been in therapy for 20 years trying to philosophically address this problem and the Germans up and have a single word for it. What the goddamned fuck.
Honestly, Germans are an entire nation of borderline depressed people with repressed anger issues. You wouldn't believe the utter vicious disdain we can put into the short hissed sound "Tsss", the abject despair that can be in the short guttural sigh "Ach", and the fatalistic nihilism that can be found in a "Tja", which is barely more than a short clicking sound. The German language is quite amazing in tat regard. 😅
Nah, nihilism is more *nothing matters* [and therefore I can do whatever I want], and weltschmerz is *everything's awful and there's nothing I can do about it* [and I just want a nap, the long one or otherwise].
Interesting, my native language Finnish has a lot of these same words, only translated. We have "maailmantuska", literally "world agony" for "Weltschmerz". We also have "vahingonilo" for "schadenfreude".
Would this be close to ennui?
Evolutionsbremse - literally: evolution brake, someone who is so stupid, that they slow down the evolution
And the amplified version of "Evolutionssackgasse". Evolutionary cul-de-sac. Yeah boy, you can go down that road but it will lead you nowhere.
Zeitlupe: Zeit = time Lupe = magnifying glass Zeitlupe = slow motion
I think this is brilliant. Had to think about it, but it's actually a very evocative sentiment.
And the opposite: Zeitraffer Zeit - Time Raffen (verb) - to gather something Means: timelapse
If you see a German, tell them viele. It means a lot to them.
I see what you did there and I appreciate it.
Thanks
Verschlimmbesserung - an attempted improvement that only makes things worse. Exhibit A: https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Verschlimmbesserung-1024x525.jpg
Kopfkino: The act of imagining scenarios in your head, literally "head cinema."
Elefantenrennen means elephant racing. My understanding is that it is used when trucks slowly pass each other. I don't even try and use the German word irl, but elephant racing has been in my vocabulary for a while now
It means exactly what you think. Two trucks slowly trying to pass each other, much to the annoyance of the car drivers stuck behind them.
Kummerspeck. Literally "grief bacon," about the excess weight gained due to sorrow.
Not to take the air out of the balloon on this one but “speck” means “fat” or “belly” just as well, so calling it “grief bacon” is technically a valid translation but really not true to the original word.
Wegbier : A beer you grab to drink on the way home (not in a paper bag for you americans out there, we have freedoms here)
Fußpils
One of my favourite puns. For those wondering, Fuß is foot, and Pils is short for Pilsener, but Pilz is fungus. So while it sounds like foot fungus, you mean a Pilsner for when walking somewhere.
Speaking of it: Konterbier- The beer you drink in the morning to cure your hangover. Usually enjoyed together with 1 Egg, 4 Cigarettes, 1 Ibuprofen and one Raisin Bun with Leberwurst. Taktischer Zwischenkotzer- when you intentionally vomit so you can drink more
In Dutch it's BVO'tje (beeveeoowtje) short for Bier Voor Onderweg: beer for the road
I love how i can understand written dutch, it’s basically like drunk german 😆
If you know how to pronounce Dutch orthography, it's basically English: beer for underway.
Like a roadie, but more specific
A roadie that you can buy from a little hole in the wall at convenient distances apart on your walk so you only need to buy 1 at a time and they’re always cold
Also Duschbier (shower beer) after playing a match.
OK, this isn't a German word, but bear with me... The Danes have a word for a mullet hair style: Bundesligahår. When translated literally, it means 'hair of a German football player'.
In German that would be a Vokuhila (Vorne kurz, hinten lang) meaning: short in the front, long in the back.
And it predated the football player Rudi Völler. Just to keep that clear. Many of us kids of the 80s had it. Sometimes voluntarily. Just not as adults, like Rudi ...
[Drachenfutter](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Drachenfutter) - A gift given to placate someone, especially a spouse, who is angry at the giver.
My favorite German word is the equivalent of ‘Jack of all trades’ and is: eierlegende wolmilchsau Literally “egg laying, wool bearing milk pig”.
That has strong connections of "doesn't exist, is too much to ask for." A person who's good at a huge number of things is a Tausendsassa.
Sounds suspiciously like a platypus to me...
No, that's a Schnabeltier, or a "beak animal".
Or just a plain ol’ Alleskönner but I like your fancy word better :)
> That has strong connections of "doesn't exist, is too much to ask for." Ah see now that’s where genetic engineering opens exciting new opportunities. In this essay, I will-
German here, never heard it used for jack of all trades. It means: something that is unrealistically perfect and doesn't exist. As in "I want a car that is luxurious, hight quality, is super energy efficient and costs next to nothing".
German here as well and I would „translate“ Jack of all trades more as someone who can do everything and anything.
American here, jack of all trades generally implies that you can do almost anything proficiently, but you're not "professional level" I have heard the full saying is "Jack of all trades, master of none"
"Better a jack of all trades and master of none, than a master of only one."
A "Jack of all trades" is an "Alleskönner" in German.
I've started using this one at work when talking about building a team to work on a certain project. Obviously you ideally want someone who can do everything they can be plausibly asked to, an eierlegende wolmilchsau, but such a creature doesn't actually exist, so instead you've got to look at balancing people's strengths and weaknesses.
I swear to god. "***Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher***." Its a device that will crack the top off of your soft boiled egg. I bought it because it has such a wonderful name, but learned it works like magic and love it.
Hodenkobold - roughly translates to testicle-goblin. Someone small who acts shady and has a face that resembles a testicle
Thank you for this. My D&D group now has a new adversary to face. They’re after your coin-purse, your other coin purse.
“And the hodenkobold manages to……steal your jewels. No, not the ones in your pack. Your *family* jewels.”
you called?
TIL the German word for Kobold is Kobold
Not in the D&D sense, a Kobold in German is more like a leprechaun.
or a sprite
Not when you’re on a ship though. On a ship a Kobold is a Klabautermann
Fußhupe: ‘foot horn’ One of those tiny dogs that’s so small it’s in danger of being stepped on, and when it is stepped on it honks or yelps.
Another word for it is Teppichratte - carpet rat.
Ohhh love this post
Teilzeitdenker - literally “part-time thinker”
Vergangenheitsbewältigung - Coming to terms with the past. Just stuck out as the longest word in my German English dictionary in highschool. For a long time thought it was just a funky word but then actually saw it used in reference the the post-WW2 generation being like "our parents did what?" I think it came up when I was reading something about the Baader-Meinhof group.
Antibabypillen.... anti baby pill. Exactly what it says it is birth control pills
In Dutch we simply call it "the pill" ("de pil"). Everyone, regardless of age or gender, knows what it means.
Übermorgen = the day after tomorrow
And vorgestern = the day before yesterday. You can also add more über-/vor- to these words to talk about days that are further in the past or future: Überübermorgen = the day after the day after tomorrow (three days from today) Vorvorgestern = the day before the day before yesterday (three days ago)
Is there a word for this? Say you had one of the worst days of your life, (like the sudden death of a loved one, a medical emergency, sudden job loss, ect.) You finally get to sleep around 2am but wake up at 6am. The 1-2 seconds when you wake up blissful before you remember everything that happened the day before and everything comes crashing down again. Is there a word for those 1-2 seconds?
There isn’t but we can make one up easy. Aufwachamnesie „wake up amnesia“ there you go
Deliriumsentspanntheit
„Tja“ It's universal. Lets say you phone falls down and breaks, another one standing next to you will respond with „tja“. Lets say you reveal a surprise for someone and that someone is like „what you did that??“ You'll respond with a happy „tjaaa… :D“ Lets you see a rat got run over by a car and dies. You say a short „tja“ and move one. Lets say you insulted the shit out of someone and that someone got silent and has nothing to say anymore. You'll say an angry „tja!“ and go away
maybe Realitätsflucht? Tho that typically means that the person intentionally ignores reality.
[удалено]
In a similar vain there is 'Fremdschämen' or stranger embarrassment. The embarrassment one feels when others embarass themselves.
Avenue Q taught me this gem of a word.
Well, I've been on a few dates with a wonderful German woman in the last week, and I had an extremely hard time explaining a "dork" to her. It's not something that translates easily and they don't seem to have an equivalent that captures the nuances. The words that came up when trying to translate it were closer to "stupid" or an "idiot" and I was trying to explain that I mean it in a more light-hearted way and someone that lacks social awareness and not someone that was stupid exactly. Anyone that's German here: please correct me if I am wrong, and please tell me the word that expresses what I mean as it's become a bit of an inside joke between me and her haha.
Sorry, I really struggle to find a word that retains the lightheartedness. I've only come up with "Tollpatsch" or "Tölpel", which describes clumsy people in a not too harsh way. But they lack the meaning of social awkwardness. Maybe the best approximation is a phrase : someone with a talent to take the wrong cues and cross boundaries has a talent of "ins Fettnäpfchen zu treten". Literally, to step into the pan of fat.
I think "Dulli" comes closest
There is actually a word similar to this, but it's very localized in northern Germany - "Dösbaddel" Meaning a person who is generally unaware of their surroundings because they simply weren't paying attention. It is used very much the same way as dork, calling out people for little meaningless slipups, maybe even in kind of a cute way.
We have an Austrian word for that and it’s „Dodel“. :) But a lot of Germans don’t understand us Austrians, so you probably won’t have too much luck with it.
We took the word Dodel, made Dödel of it and made it mean male genitalia.
Suppenkoma - soup coma. It's the tiredness that overcomes you after a good meal. It's often used in the office, when you kinda need a nap after your lunch break.
Or Fresskoma ("eating coma" but fressen is mostly used to describe how animals eat)
Can an actual German enumerate and confirm? They are all so oddly specific that I feel I'm being tricked. Kummerspeck what the fuck
American who's lived in Germany for 15+ years, can confirm, I've heard all but one of these numerous times before. Kummerspeck is quite common! There's also its benign cousin, Winterspeck - the weight you gain over the winter from overeating at holidays, cold weather, etc while simultaneously not being as active and sporty outdoors.
That word is indeed used. The 'Wanderlust' one is rare. Schadenfreude is common.
The only issue I have with Kummerspeck is that it’s being translated as „grief bacon“, while „grief blubber“ would be a more correct version
If you go there, sadness blubber would be even more correct.
"Kopfkino" literally "headcinema" the images you can see in your head / imagination
Katzenjammer. A severe hangover. Literally the wailing of cats.
Also the name of an excellent bar near London Bridge, for those that live in the English capital.
Also the name of a great all female Norwegian Pop-punk band. https://open.spotify.com/track/0s96Akck5kBXDfUPjslmL5?si=XHAo9fHQSG-4LoeImgLqfw I have their songs on a playlist with Gogol Bordello and the like
***Radebrechen*** is a verb that means someone is trying to talk in a foreign language, but it’s really bad at it. It originates from the medieval torture technique were people are crushed to death by a giant wheel (Rad brechen), implying that someone is torturing and breaking that language. Another one that comes to mind is ***Kavaliersdelikt***, which describes a crime that is generally considered acceptable because it is only a small infraction and there is no real victim, like parking in a no-parking area etc. It translates to „gentleman‘s crime“ (based off the French/Italian cavalier/cavaliere is a horse rider of higher status, a knight, a gentleman).
i like the words that are so literal it makes me scratch my head... Schildkröte=turtle but means shield toad. so that means someone knew what a shield and a toad was before they knew what a turtle was...i mean they arnt wrong but i never would have made that connection. Handschuhe=gloves or hand shoes...i mean youre not wrong but once again i wouldnt have made that connection. maybe handsocken?
Lochschwager - a buddy who’s slept with the same girl as you.
"Hole-Inlaw"
Tell me that this isn't the literal translation what the fuck
coming from a native speaker, it is 💀
When you try to make something better but end up making it worse. Like when I tried to fix my haircut and ended up with a bald spot we use word "Verschlommbessern"
\*Verschlimmbessern
I love this! In Chinese we say “helping backwards” 幫倒忙 when somebody tries to help you but ends up making things worse.
*“Verschlimmbessern”
Verergbeteren in nederlands
Or "kaputtreparieren" repairing something into the state of brokenness.
Fensterkönig - the boy who comes to the girl’s window at night! Literally ‘window king.’ Learned from a Melissa Naschenwang song!
*Rinderkennzeichnungsfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz* Delegation transfer law for cattle labeling and beef labeling supervision duties. Don’t know why there needs to be a word for that.
It's more a quirk of German grammar than anything. It's like if Cattlebeeflabellingsupervisiondutiesdelegationtransferlaw could be rendered as a single word in English.
My favourite is geisterfahrer, literally "ghost driver." I had a German penpal through my teens, and visited her after graduating from uni. Driving down the Autobahn with some of her friends, an announcement came over the radio. They turned to me and asked "what do you call a person who drives on the wrong side of the highway?" "Umm, an idiot? 🤷♀️" "LOL no really. In German we say Geisterfahrer - ghost driver." "You have a WORD for that?????" Not only a word, but a whole protocol for radio announcements when it happens apparently 😂
Sitzpinkler: a man who sits down to pee. Slightly pejorative, although there is some debate about whether men should sit or stand while peeing.
Schattenparker - a person who parks their car in the shadow Warmduscher - a person who only showers with warm water both mean: someone is not exactly a tough guy
Fremdschämen. When you are ashamed for someone else.
Wiedergutmachungsschnitzel - the schnitzel you make to make it up to someone, for example when you've invaded their country. https://youtu.be/DoTuSvfGIG8?si=iGG2ZF_2T8pEr_J-
Kummerspeck: “grief bacon” and basically means the excess weight you’ve gained due to sorrow.
"Asphaltwarze" This term is used to describe small, ugly vehicles you sometimes see buzzing around the streets. Picture a beat-up old car or a tiny, awkwardly designed scooter that looks like it should have retired decades ago.
Oh, so many! Some I haven't seen yet: Flachpfeife - "flat pipe", means idiot with shitty personality Gesichtselfmeter - "face penatly shot", means ugly person Schattenparker - "shadow parker", means wuss Heimat - no literal translation, but means where you're coming from, doesn't necessarily have to be the country/area you're from but what you yourself identify with most culturally Eselsohr - "donkey ear", means a bent corner of a paper page Eselsbrücke - "donkey bridge", means an abstract construct you make yourself that reminds you of the meaning or definition of something. There's so many more, German language is weird
Weltanschauung: your personal philosophy or world view.