{"id":7929,"date":"2016-11-23T10:54:46","date_gmt":"2016-11-23T10:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=7929"},"modified":"2016-11-23T10:54:46","modified_gmt":"2016-11-23T10:54:46","slug":"untranslatable-german-words-der-pantoffelheld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/untranslatable-german-words-der-pantoffelheld\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable German Words: Der Pantoffelheld"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Guten Tag! Today it\u2019s time for another untranslatable word, in which I share some of the quirkiest, coolest words the German language has to offer \u2013 and try (usually fail) to find an identical English version! This time it\u2019s a funny one: Today\u2019s word is der Pantoffelheld.<\/p>\n<h3><u>What does der Pantoffelheld mean?<\/u><\/h3>\n<p>Pantoffelheld is used to describe a man whose girlfriend\/wife controls him; someone who has to ask for permission before doing anything or going anywhere, and who has no say in anything \u2013 especially at home.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a title=\"bunny slippers\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/roosterfarm\/2152775380\/in\/photolist-4hex7U-pcFoi7-7pTQSP-6DLeiU-e3USQ-dERyQ6-7zxRB9-btXEmo-cWhud-4C5Sts-28ATkD-gXr1Db-bFfjNm-381VcX-bGSsAV-5mrMtr-86UzQJ-aTzKFB-4tiJC3-dJpxxN-btXDXW-bGSrPr-btXEn9-btXEgu-Bo5CN-btXE4E-btXE27-bGSrQB-etgy2-D62US-bRi11-btXEeG-btXDQj-bGSrYK-o3gRxF-bGSsdx-5ssv2U-6rWy6v-9n1Af6-HSUR6-bM7vrK-9B4WWL-dDmhH-6adxx7-bGSsoD-BFqX5-btXEhh-6bHd3-bGSsge-D62J9\" aria-label=\"2152775380 F161a42fd4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  alt=\"bunny slippers\" width=\"500\" height=\"410\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/c5.staticflickr.com\/3\/2344\/2152775380_f161a42fd4.jpg\"><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Die Pantoffeln &#8211; slippers. Photo by roosterfarm on flickr.com under a CC license (CC BY 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><u>What is the literal translation of der Pantoffelheld?<\/u><\/h3>\n<p>This word is a combination of <strong>der Pantoffel<\/strong> (slipper \u2013 perhaps more commonly known as der Hausschuh) and <strong>der Held<\/strong> (hero). A slipper hero? What\u2019s that got to do with being controlled by your girlfriend?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is a German saying<strong> \u2018unter dem Pantoffel stehen\u2019<\/strong> \u2013<em> \u2018to stand underneath the slippers\u2019<\/em> \u2013 which essentially has the same meaning as the English \u2018to be under the thumb\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>My (German) mum\u2019s explanation was that the word Pantoffelheld takes the mickey out of the man\u2019s lack of influence by giving him power over (making him a hero of) something completely stupid (slippers).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><u>How would you use der Pantoffelheld in a sentence?<\/u><\/h3>\n<p>First off, you\u2019d use it in a teasing, derogatory way, and never in a formal situation. This sentence from German newspaper Die Zeit perfectly sums up both its meaning, and how to use it:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Einst war der Major ein Held, jetzt ist er nur noch Pantoffelheld.<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>\u2018Once the Major was a hero, but now he\u2019s just a \u2018slipper hero\u2019\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 343px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a title=\"hero\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wtfitshanna\/5730656587\/in\/photolist-9Jp7xV-76yBvf-6w2C4L-apN3ka-apN3cT-apN2VV-5oVSs9-9UMyhX-LWbGv-9UMybX-4ARXwS-dHoEaf-5ArNXo-85PNcK-33AsAy-eaX1Dg-66RRzT-3pxmrv-76yBeG-5jTD6E-y28bt-bAx9Vg-4Rz9cC-Cwrwm-98kmjq-4beRmA-iAahPs-dD4P5c-5jPqdK-5kvuGM-4TjnYe-4Tjonz-mDEkPp-5jTEiN-6PC2Qj-76uGXk-4ToCgY-4H5qV7-4TozXy-4TjxCr-4ToBQm-4TjtsB-51re3F-4SsdFC-c75nb-4TjoMa-5jPoHP-6Hvzxb-4ToQFh-684Dzo\" aria-label=\"5730656587 79f5b034b4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  alt=\"hero\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/c4.staticflickr.com\/3\/2153\/5730656587_79f5b034b4.jpg\"><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">der Held &#8211; hero. Photo by wtfitshanna on flickr.com under a CC license (CC BY-ND 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><u>What is the nearest English equivalent to der Pantoffelheld?<\/u><\/h3>\n<p>Saying a man is \u2018henpecked\u2019 or \u2018under the thumb\u2019 has the same meaning, though neither have the sarcastic nastiness of calling someone a \u2018slipper hero\u2019, in my opinion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What do you think of the word <strong>Pantoffelheld<\/strong>? Can you think of a better translation for it? Let me know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"287\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/11\/2152775380_f161a42fd4-350x287.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/11\/2152775380_f161a42fd4-350x287.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2016\/11\/2152775380_f161a42fd4.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Guten Tag! Today it\u2019s time for another untranslatable word, in which I share some of the quirkiest, coolest words the German language has to offer \u2013 and try (usually fail) to find an identical English version! This time it\u2019s a funny one: Today\u2019s word is der Pantoffelheld. What does der Pantoffelheld mean? Pantoffelheld is used&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/untranslatable-german-words-der-pantoffelheld\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":7937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[375970,95131,451644,376012,7435,376023,457062,2588,337679,257573,1401],"class_list":["post-7929","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-german-and-english","tag-german-language","tag-german-words","tag-germanlanguage","tag-home","tag-language","tag-pantoffelheld","tag-translation","tag-untranslatable-german","tag-untranslatable-words","tag-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7929","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=7929"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7938,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7929\/revisions\/7938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}