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Yesterday was Mittwoch (Wednesday), the third day of the German week. It’s a Tag (day) that does not even deserve to be called a Tag, Mittwoch simply indicates the middle of the Woche (week). And even that is not true anymore. Why does this day have to suffer so much and be singled out like this? Let’s find out. From Wodan to Jesus…

Untranslatable words can also be a simple array of 4 numbers – 08/15 is a term that has entrenched itself in everyday German. Pun intended. What does 08/15 mean? According to the Duden, 08/15 means “bar jeglicher Originalität, persönlichen Note; auf ein alltäglich gewordenes Muster festgelegt und deshalb Langeweile oder Überdruss erzeugend” (bare of any originality, personal character…

These past few weeks and the upcoming ones have been showing tropische Temperaturen (tropical temperatures) in Germany, with up to 40°C (104°F). Not only time to look for some Sonnencreme (sunscreen) and some Schatten (shade), but also a Sprichwort (saying) and an Ausdruck (expression) that go along with it! As always, let’s start with the Sprichwort. For older posts, please follow this link. Now, let’s…

A significantly higher voter turnout made the European elections held a month ago a success for democracy. But there is one thing: The different leaders cannot agree on which of the Spitzenkandidaten should follow up Jean-Claude Juncker, the current president of the European Commission, the executive organ of the European Union. Let’s talk about that…

There is some weird stuff going on with the Grammatik (grammar) of Farben (colors) in German. Sometimes they are capitalized. Sometimes not. What are the rules? And how can you determine what to do? Let’s have a look. Substantivierung As a small reminder, Substantive (nouns) are written with a capital first letter. This is pretty…

Do you drink Kaffee (coffee)? Whether you drink it because you like the Geschmack (taste), just out of Gewohnheit (habit) or for the Koffein (caffeine), it sure is a very popular Getränk (drink). But wait a second – Kaffee contains Koffein? What’s going on here? Click here for previous entries in the series on curious words in German A Curious History So even though Kaffee is written…

You may remember Dwight Schrute, the quirky top paper salesman from NBC’s “The Office” (by the way, there is a German spin-off, called Stromberg). While the sitcom celebrated its finale back in May 2013, it is still one of the most watched shows today. And Mr Schrute is one of the audience’s favorite characters. Not…