{"id":9839,"date":"2018-04-26T15:22:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T15:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=9839"},"modified":"2018-04-26T15:24:50","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T15:24:50","slug":"the-curiosity-of-the-word-der-schnickschnack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-curiosity-of-the-word-der-schnickschnack\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curiosity of the Word “Der Schnickschnack”"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know when you rent a car, you can get all kinds of\u00a0Versicherungen\u00a0<\/em>(insurances) – do you really need them? Or is it just all\u00a0Schnickschnack<\/em>?\u00a0Schnick<\/em>-what? What is this word? Let’s find out!<\/p>\n

Click here for previous entries in the series on curious words in German<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Where does it come from?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

So ein Schnickschnack: Wertloses Zeug!<\/em> (What knick-knack: useless stuff!) (Image by foursummers at Pixabay.com under license CC0)<\/p><\/div>\n

Der Schnickschnack\u00a0<\/em>can easily be translated to the everyday word “frills” or the expression “bells and whistles”. People don’t want stuff with\u00a0Schnickschnack,\u00a0<\/em>superfluous stuff that only makes the product or service more burdensome but just not more useful. Frills, makes sense – they are there for being pretty, but serve no particular function. In the worst case, they are in the way. Bells and whistles, again, only add a burden. Having one bell, or one whistle, is enough. You cannot use them all at once, and if you would, it would only make things more confusing than better.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Schnickschnack<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Schnickschnack\u00a0<\/em>is a so-called\u00a0Reduplikation\u00a0<\/em>(reduplication), which repeats (a part of) a the word, for example Papa <\/em>(dad). It is quite uncommon in German. Schnickschnack\u00a0<\/i>is such a\u00a0Reduplikation<\/em>, because\u00a0you have Schnick<\/i>, which\u00a0repeats\u00a0Schnack.\u00a0<\/em>And what is\u00a0Schnack<\/em>?\u00a0Schnack\u00a0<\/em>comes from the low German\u00a0schnacken<\/em> (to chatter).\u00a0Schnickschnack\u00a0<\/em>therefore also refers to empty words that people may utter. It has been around since the 18th century. So quite the old word!<\/p>\n

It also means trinkets or\u00a0knick-knack – just\u00a0wertloses Zeug\u00a0<\/em>(useless stuff), as the Duden<\/a> puts it.<\/a><\/p>\n

Game show!<\/h2>\n