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Untranslatable German Words: Der Nichtskönner Posted by Sten on Jun 26, 2018
What does Nichtskönner mean? The Duden gives us a straightforward definition: “jemand, der sein Fach nicht beherrscht; Stümper” (Someone that has not mastered their discipline; bungler) So that would give us a definition straight away! Done! Well, not quite. Nichtskönner is a word you could hear here and there, whereas bungler is not really used a lot. It…
Bombenentschärfung in Dresden Posted by Sten on May 25, 2018
Yesterday, something remarkable happened in Dresden, a city in Sachsen (Saxony), close to the Polish border. A Blindgänger (dud bomb) from the Zweite Weltkrieg (Second World War) was found close to the Altstadt (old city center) during Bauarbeiten (construction work). A bomb that was intended to destroy and kill and did not detonate 75 years ago. What did they do with it? Find out here! Gesprengt!…
Untranslatable German Words: der Schickimicki Posted by Sten on May 3, 2018
A friend of mine told me this week: “Schickimicki is one of my favorite German words!” It made me realize, it is quite a cute word! It also made me wonder: How would you accurately translate it to English? It is harder than you might think. Let’s go! Click here for previous posts in this series of…
Eine Gute-Nacht-Geschichte Posted by Sten on Apr 30, 2018
If you have Kinder (children), you know what it is like: Ich will noch nicht ins Bett! (I don’t want to go to sleep yet!) Of course, I am talking about Kinder, die noch nicht schlafen wollen (Children that do not yet want to go to sleep). And what do you tell them? A Gute-Nacht-Geschichte (good-night story). Here’s a very short…
The Curiosity of the Word “Der Schnickschnack” Posted by Sten on Apr 26, 2018
You know when you rent a car, you can get all kinds of Versicherungen (insurances) – do you really need them? Or is it just all Schnickschnack? Schnick-what? What is this word? Let’s find out! Click here for previous entries in the series on curious words in German Where does it come from? Der Schnickschnack can easily be translated to…
The Curiosity of the Word “Handy” Posted by Sten on Apr 19, 2018
Last weekend, we looked at the word USB-Stick, a so-called Scheinanglizismus (pseudo-anglicism), an English-looking word, that actually has no, or not the same, meaning in the English language. I thought it would be fun to dive a little deeper into these Scheinanglizismen. Today, we look at the German word Handy. Handy? Yes. Handy. Previous installments of Curious Words The Curiosity…
The Curiosity of the Word “USB-Stick” Posted by Sten on Apr 14, 2018
You know the words “flash drive”, “pen drive”, “thumb drive” – but “USB-Stick”? No, that is not a way to refer to the little, helpful memory – at least not in English. But in… German? How did such an English-sounding word make it in the German language, even though it is not related to the English…