we all know schadenfreude, doppelganger and zeitgeist but german is rammed with glorious compound nouns...
die Tollwut - rabies
The ‘Toll’ in Tollwut doesn’t mean great, but ‘crazy’. ‘Toll’ is a old word for ‘verrückt’. Tollwut therefore is ‘crazy rage’.
(see also italian - rabbia, spanish - rabia and french - rage)
die Nacktschnecke - slug
This is literally a naked snail.
der Zungenbrecher - tongue twister
In German they don't twist your tongue. They break it.
das Luftschloss - air castle
This is a dream that will likely never come true.
das Kopfkino - playing a scenario out in your mind
We all have it, but the Germans call it a head cinema.
das Drachenfutter - dragon feed
What do you feed a dragon? Who is the dragon? The dragon is your loved ones and the feed is a gift you give. This is a gift given to a loved one as an apology.
das Hüftgold - hip gold
The German expression is so much friendlier than the English "spare tire" or "muffin top". The extra fat around your midsection in German is hip gold
die französische Krankheit - syphilis
This is an older word, but it was too funny not to have on the list. The French disease is syphilis.
(see also many similar in various european languages)
die Windpocken - chicken pox
While the English word is likely from a resemblance of the small red marks that a chicken would leave, if they pecked at you, the German word is about how it spreads. Wind pox are easily transmitted in the air with the wind, therefore "Windpocken".
das Fernweh - far pain
the opposite of homesickness, a desire to travel
der Kummerspeck - grief/sadness fat
Many people on the internet think this translates as grief bacon, but they are stretching the meaning a bit. It is more closely related to the word fat, as other translations for “Speck” includes “fat” and “lard”.
das Fremdschämen - foreign shame
Shame for something someone else has done
die Torschlusspanik - gate closing panic
Torschlusspanik derived from the times where cities had city walls and gates, at a certain time gates were closed overnight. If you came too late, you had to spend the night outside of the city. Nowadays Torschlusspanik describes the fear to miss something important, like marriage or having children.
der Treppenwitz - staircase joke
A joke you come up with when you are walking away from an argument
(see also french - 'l'esprit de l'escalier')
der Weltschmerz - world pain
The melancholic pain you feel when you watch the world and its state.
die Schnapsidee - schnapps idea
An idea that you have when you are drunk
verschlimmbessern - to better worsen
To make things worse while trying to make them better, a combination of verbessern (to make better) and verschlimmern (to make worse, exacerbate)
Sind sie nicht wunderbar?
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