Wrong! I may not know what a V12 is, but I know der Handschuh should, logically, be die Handsocke (the hand sock): England 1, Germany 0. Germans are so logical, right? Born engineers, they come out of the womb on souped-up V12 engines and don’t stop motoring until they’ve covered the world’s surface with super-straight Autobahns*. There are few languages which cause an uncontrollable (and most probably inopportune) outburst of laughter when you learn the words for household appliances. I learned the words for cool ( kühl) and cupboard ( der Schrank) early in my German education, and guffawed unattractively when I realized that, in this language at least, 2 + 2 = fridge. They’re all fascinating (in their own way). My list consists of two examples from category one and seven from category three. Example Two: das Backpfeifengesicht (literally: the slap face), meaning: A face you’d like to slap. Example One: der Treppenwitz (literally: the staircase joke), meaning: The witty comeback you concocted too late. Finally, the words which open up whole new worlds of abstract understanding and are barely ever used in German.Meaning: The vicarious embarrassment you feel when you observe someone making a fool of him or herself. Example: die Fremdscham (literally: the foreign shame). The words which open up whole new worlds of abstract understanding and are actually used in German.The words which open up whole new worlds of abstract understanding - and are already used in English! Examples: der Ohrwurm, die Schadenfreude, der Weltschmerz, der Zeitgeist and die Wanderlust.Example: die Nacktschnecke (literally: naked snail), meaning: slug.
While Schmetterling (a German butterfly) may not be as euphonic as farfalle (an Italian butterfly) or mariposa (a Spanish butterfly), Schadenfreude (joy in other people’s misfortune) certainly has the upper hand over the Spanish vergüenza ajena, or the Italian gioia per il male altrui. “I can understand German as well as the maniac that invented it, but I talk it best through an interpreter.”Īnd yet many of the same people who poke fun at the consonant-filled mania of the German language also marvel at the German compound word as they learn German.
Twain reckoned the language must have been invented by a maniac: According to Moran, it sounds like typewriters eating tin foil being kicked down the stairs. Everyone from Mark Twain to Dylan Moran has launched into tirades on the German language.