{"id":13822,"date":"2022-03-16T13:47:59","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T13:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13822"},"modified":"2022-03-07T13:48:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T13:48:15","slug":"hamsterkauf-german-panic-buying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/hamsterkauf-german-panic-buying\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamsterkauf: German Panic Buying!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re going to talk about a German word that emerged as a result of the pandemic- or did it? The word in question is der Hamsterkauf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"hamsterkauf\"

Photo by Bj\u00f6rn Antonissen<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Recently I wrote a post on words that\u2019ve emerged to describe life during the Covid-19 pandemic (die Pandemie:<\/em> <\/strong>pandemic). You can read this here,<\/a> if you\u2019re interested. One of the words that\u2019s been used since the very start of it is der Hamsterkauf,<\/strong> which means \u2018panic buy\u2019 or \u2018panic shopping\u2019, as people cleared the supermarket shelves at the start of the pandemic out of fear of what was going to happen, and if there would be enough food for everybody. This word\u2019s literal translation is \u2018hamster shopping\u2019, because of the way hamsters stuff their cheeks full of food (der Hamster<\/strong>– hamster; der Einkauf<\/strong>– shopping\/purchase. Note Einkauf is the noun shopping\/purchase<\/em>, not the verb.)<\/p>\n

\"hamsterkauf\"

Photo by John Cameron<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Whilst the concept of a Hamsterkauf<\/em> <\/strong>is now widely associated with the 2020 pandemic, it was around long before then. The word comes from the verb hamstern- to hoard,<\/strong><\/em> a verb that was used to describe the exact same events happening during the 1st World War (der 1. Weltkrieg<\/strong>), when there were significant food shortages. The word \u2018hamstern\u2019<\/em><\/strong> popped up in a number of publications in Germany during this time- for example, in 1916 the author Erich M\u00fchsam wrote in his diary (das Tagebuch<\/strong>), \u201c\u2019Hamstern\u2018 ist das neueste Schlagwort der Presse und des Publikums\u201d (\u201c\u2019Hamstern\u2019 is the press and public’s newest catchphrase\u201d).<\/strong> Source –\u00a0Der ewige Hamster – WELT<\/a><\/p>\n

But the word hamstern<\/strong><\/em> is not reserved for these big, life-altering situations; in Germany, it\u2019s also used to describe the last-minute panic buying people do on Saturdays to have enough food to last them until Monday, seeing as German supermarkets and shops are closed (geschlossen<\/strong>) on Sundays. As you can imagine, this is even more urgent (dringend<\/strong>) on a bank holiday weekend!!<\/p>\n

\"hamsterkauf\"

Geschlossen: closed! Photo by Markus Spiske<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

So, there you have a bit of insight to the word Hamsterkauf!<\/strong><\/em> To finish, what sorts of things are usually bought in a Hamsterkauf? Here is a shopping list- feel free to add any items in the COMMENT BOX that you also deem essential (wesentlich<\/strong>)!<\/p>\n

Der Einkaufszettel: The shopping list!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Das Mehl – Flour
\nDie Pasta\/die Nudeln \u2013 Pasta\/noodles
\nDer Reis \u2013 Rice
\nDie Kartoffeln \u2013 Potatoes
\nDas \u00d6l \u2013 Oil
\nDie Tomatenso\u00dfe \u2013 Tomato sauce
\nDie Haferflocken \u2013 Oats
\nDer Dosenfisch \u2013 Canned fish
\nDie Dosenbohnen \u2013 Canned beans
\nDie Dosensuppe \u2013 Canned soup
\nDas gefrorenes Gem\u00fcse \u2013 Frozen vegetables
\nDie Trockenfr\u00fcchte \u2013 Dried fruit
\nDie Erdnussbutter \u2013 Peanut butter
\nDie N\u00fcsse \u2013 Nuts
\nDie Kekse – Biscuits
\nDas Klopapier \u2013 Toilet paper
\nDas antibakterielles Gel \u2013 Antibacterial gel
\nDie Seife \u2013 Soap<\/p>\n

\"hamsterkauf\"

Photo by Hello I’m Nik<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked this post, check out this one:\u00a0Zoom Meetings In German<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"hamsterkauf\"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re going to talk about a German word that emerged as a result of the pandemic- or did it? The word in question is der Hamsterkauf. Recently I wrote a post on words that\u2019ve emerged to describe life during the Covid-19 pandemic (die Pandemie: pandemic). You can read this here, if you\u2019re…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":13847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,70,8,551760],"tags":[529261,510876,376024,95131,376023,136,138,457121],"class_list":["post-13822","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-food","category-language","category-slang","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-food","tag-german-language","tag-language","tag-shopping","tag-slang","tag-world-war-1"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13822"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13871,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13822\/revisions\/13871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}