{"id":7670,"date":"2016-09-14T08:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T08:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=7670"},"modified":"2016-09-13T09:31:04","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T09:31:04","slug":"german-childrens-stories-2-zappelphilipp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-childrens-stories-2-zappelphilipp\/","title":{"rendered":"German Children’s Stories 2: Zappelphilipp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today I\u2019m tying two topics together: An untranslatable word (we haven\u2019t had one of those for a while!) and a classic German children\u2019s story. One of these inspired the other. Want to learn more? The German word I am focusing on today is der Zappelphilipp.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does der Zappelphilipp mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A \u2018Zappelphilipp\u2019 is a word given to a child who is restless, fidgety, and generally cannot sit still.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What does der Zappelphilipp literally translate to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Zappel\u2019 comes from the verb \u2018zappeln\u2019 \u2013 to fidget.<\/strong> \u2018Philipp\u2019<\/strong> is exactly what it looks like \u2013 a boy\u2019s name.<\/strong> Why Philipp? The name comes from the Heinrich Hoffmann character in Struwwelpeter<\/em>, a 19th<\/sup> century German children\u2019s book. However, you can call any child a Zappelphillip; they don\u2019t need to be called Philipp. They don\u2019t even need to be a boy!<\/p>\n

Read on for more on the original Zappelphilipp!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Der

Der Zappel-Philipp. Own photo from the book Der Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffmann.<\/p><\/div>\n

Die Geschichte vom Zappel-Philipp – The story of Fidgety Philipp<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Die Geschichte vom Zappelphilipp is a story from the 19th century book Struwwelpeter<\/strong>, a collection of short stories by Heinrich Hoffmann. These stories were designed to show children the perils of misbehaving. In Zappel-Philipp<\/em>, Philipp can\u2019t stop fidgeting at the dinner table. His parents tell him to stop it, but he doesn\u2019t listen. In the end, he falls off his chair and the tablecloth and crockery fall on top of him. He gets off lightly, though, compared to the children in the other stories, most of whom die! I covered one of these stories, Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug<\/strong> (‘The very sad story with the matches’) in this post.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story, and indeed the whole collection of stories in Struwwelpeter are regarded as children\u2019s classics in Germany. So it is no wonder that the word Zappelphilipp has made it into everyday language.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How would you use der Zappelphilipp in a sentence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s very easy to use. You just say it as if you\u2019re calling someone a name. Something like, \u2018H\u00f6r auf! Du bist so ein Zappelphilipp!\u2019 — \u2018Stop it! You\u2019re such a Zappelphilipp!\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is the closest English equivalent to der Zappelphilipp?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The word \u2018fidget\u2019, used as a noun, is the closest I can think of: \u2018You\u2019re such a fidget\u2019. Any other suggestions are more than welcome!<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ve enjoyed this post. To finish, I\u2019ll leave you with an audio recording of Die Geschichte vom Zappel-Philipp, <\/u>so you can listen to it in German and read along with the English subtitles. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n