Mine were the “Zeug” words, Feuerzeug (thing that makes fire), Flugzeug (thing with wings), Schlagzeug (my favorite, thing that you hit), Werkzeug (thing for working), and so on and so weiter
The English language has the term “theater of the mind”, which means both figuratively and literally pretty much exactly the same. It’s just not as commonly used in everyday language. One specific common use these days is in tabletop roleplay gaming where it describes games that don’t use visual aides like miniatures and battlemaps: the whole action just happens in your head.
Ah yes the beauty of logic and simplicity in the German language and then you get slapped in the face with “Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz”. Actual german word. Roughly translates to: law delegating beef label monitoring.
I realized the same when I saw the German word for dictionary (wörterbuch) which basically means word book
My all time favorite German word is still shield toad. On vacation we went to a Schildkrötenkrankenhaus. German words are fun.
One of my favorites is “Arschgeige”. An insult the English language desperately needs.
you know whats funny? When I learned french in school a few years ago a freind of mine was really mad at the absence of logic with the words Le rêve (the dream) and Le cauchemar (nightmare). He said it would be more logical to name it malrêve.
Me too. And one of the first German words I learnt!
A very nice composed German word is “Feierabend”. On many languages there is no according term. A literal translation would be “celebration evening” and originally it described the evening before a celebration. Those celebrations took often place on the weekend, so the meaning changed to “day before the weekend” and eventually to it’s current meaning, describing the time when work is over.
thaaaank you!
for once, something nice about german…
Oh yeah? Then how come “Leberkäs” has neither liver nor cheese in it, huh?
Doch! Is the ultimative Argument.
German, where “umfahren” means to run someone over and also to drive around someone.
“Du solltest das Kind umfahren” (you should … the child). Can be good or very bad.
May I ask where you found that sticker? Friends of mine had a band once that was called Kopfkino (even though that’s probably a somewhat common name). They were from the Rhein-Main area.
The word that cemented that for me was Haustier (pet, literally ‘house animal’).
my favorite example of this is “handschuh”
edit: spelling.
If you find this hillarios you should read German military slang. Especially in equipment dictionaries or orders.
Falle, Schnapp- für Nagetier, grau.
Means Mäusefalle, or mice trap.
I am German and just realized a few days ago how horribly simple our language is.
My child said she can’t differ between laundry detergent (Waschmittel) and fabric softener (Weichspüler) and I said ‘”Well, one washes stuff and the other one makes it soft (weich in German). So the ‘Waschmittel’ is to wash something and the ‘Weichspüler’ is there to soften it. Then I noticed that dish liquid is called ‘Spülmittel’ in German. Because you rinse (spülen in German) your dishes with it. So it’s basically a kind of ‘What does it do?’ ‘Waschmittel’ (washing appliance) is something to wash with, while ‘Spülmittel'(rinsing appliance) is made to rinse with and ‘Weichspüler’ (soft rinser) softens your fabric while washing it.
However, some words like ‘Schnurrbart’ don’t seem to make sense at all or seem to have an expression included that isn’t used anymore.
I dont have the attention span it deserves to properly learn it, but what I do know of the language is fantastic. And the food…..
Don’t much care for beer though so idk how I’d fit in
Yeah that’s the shit! gtfo with all of your shitty ass ambulence words. I love my Krankenhaus as it is
I like the the word ‘Vorfreude’. I’m not sure if something like this exists in any other language. It is the joy of having some joy in the future. Like pre-joy if something like this exists 🙂
Funfact. Germany is the only language with the word ” Heimat”. Can’t translate that.
What a beautiful language.
Doppelhaushälfte – is my favorite German word. It’s hard to explain. It’s basically one half of a house that is build out of two houses. It’s a double house half and thus a house.
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So what is a Kopfkino
Mine were the “Zeug” words, Feuerzeug (thing that makes fire), Flugzeug (thing with wings), Schlagzeug (my favorite, thing that you hit), Werkzeug (thing for working), and so on and so weiter
The English language has the term “theater of the mind”, which means both figuratively and literally pretty much exactly the same. It’s just not as commonly used in everyday language. One specific common use these days is in tabletop roleplay gaming where it describes games that don’t use visual aides like miniatures and battlemaps: the whole action just happens in your head.
Ah yes the beauty of logic and simplicity in the German language and then you get slapped in the face with “Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz”. Actual german word. Roughly translates to: law delegating beef label monitoring.
I realized the same when I saw the German word for dictionary (wörterbuch) which basically means word book
My all time favorite German word is still shield toad. On vacation we went to a Schildkrötenkrankenhaus. German words are fun.
One of my favorites is “Arschgeige”. An insult the English language desperately needs.
you know whats funny? When I learned french in school a few years ago a freind of mine was really mad at the absence of logic with the words Le rêve (the dream) and Le cauchemar (nightmare). He said it would be more logical to name it malrêve.
Me too. And one of the first German words I learnt!
A very nice composed German word is “Feierabend”. On many languages there is no according term. A literal translation would be “celebration evening” and originally it described the evening before a celebration. Those celebrations took often place on the weekend, so the meaning changed to “day before the weekend” and eventually to it’s current meaning, describing the time when work is over.
thaaaank you!
for once, something nice about german…
Oh yeah? Then how come “Leberkäs” has neither liver nor cheese in it, huh?
Doch! Is the ultimative Argument.
German, where “umfahren” means to run someone over and also to drive around someone.
“Du solltest das Kind umfahren” (you should … the child). Can be good or very bad.
May I ask where you found that sticker? Friends of mine had a band once that was called Kopfkino (even though that’s probably a somewhat common name). They were from the Rhein-Main area.
The word that cemented that for me was Haustier (pet, literally ‘house animal’).
my favorite example of this is “handschuh”
edit: spelling.
If you find this hillarios you should read German military slang. Especially in equipment dictionaries or orders.
Falle, Schnapp- für Nagetier, grau.
Means Mäusefalle, or mice trap.
I am German and just realized a few days ago how horribly simple our language is.
My child said she can’t differ between laundry detergent (Waschmittel) and fabric softener (Weichspüler) and I said ‘”Well, one washes stuff and the other one makes it soft (weich in German). So the ‘Waschmittel’ is to wash something and the ‘Weichspüler’ is there to soften it. Then I noticed that dish liquid is called ‘Spülmittel’ in German. Because you rinse (spülen in German) your dishes with it. So it’s basically a kind of ‘What does it do?’ ‘Waschmittel’ (washing appliance) is something to wash with, while ‘Spülmittel'(rinsing appliance) is made to rinse with and ‘Weichspüler’ (soft rinser) softens your fabric while washing it.
However, some words like ‘Schnurrbart’ don’t seem to make sense at all or seem to have an expression included that isn’t used anymore.
I dont have the attention span it deserves to properly learn it, but what I do know of the language is fantastic. And the food…..
Don’t much care for beer though so idk how I’d fit in
Yeah that’s the shit! gtfo with all of your shitty ass ambulence words. I love my Krankenhaus as it is
I like the the word ‘Vorfreude’. I’m not sure if something like this exists in any other language. It is the joy of having some joy in the future. Like pre-joy if something like this exists 🙂
Funfact. Germany is the only language with the word ” Heimat”. Can’t translate that.
What a beautiful language.
Doppelhaushälfte – is my favorite German word. It’s hard to explain. It’s basically one half of a house that is build out of two houses. It’s a double house half and thus a house.
Handschuhe- shoes for the hand