most beautiful word (German)

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BillChin
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most beautiful word (German)

Post by BillChin »

from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3943507.stm

...
More than 20,000 words, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, have been sent in by email and letter.

German, for example, has a word to describe that niggling melody you just cannot get out of your head - 'Ohrwurm', literally 'earworm'.

'Eisenbahnknoten' is a 'knot of rail-lines' or, in other words, a railway junction.

And 'Kulturbeutel' - literally (body) care bag - is the toilet bag used to take toothbrush and shampoo .
...
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sturob
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Re: ot: most beautiful word (German)

Post by sturob »

BillChin wrote:'Eisenbahnknoten' is a 'knot of rail-lines' or, in other words, a railway junction.
Not to be confused with "Eisenbanknoten," same word minus the H, which means "iron banknote."

My favorite German word, who knows why, is "Stacheldraht." It means "barbed wire."

:D

Stuart
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Post by amar »

stachel=thorn
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Post by jsluder »

I like "schadenfreude" (a malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others). That one word explains why all the "reality TV" crap (among other things) is so popular in the US.

Cheers,
John
Giles: "We few, we happy few."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
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Post by Jeff Guevin »

jsluder wrote:I like "schadenfreude" (a malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others). That one word explains why all the "reality TV" crap (among other things) is so popular in the US.

Cheers,
John
Popular in the US? When I was recently in the UK, the latest "Big Brother" happenings were front page news. It probably was in France, too, but with all the naked women on the covers of their "periodicals", it was difficult to be sure. But on TV it seemed like it was either music videos, talk shows, or reality shows. Oh, or naked women.
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Post by jsluder »

Jeff Guevin wrote:
jsluder wrote: ... so popular in the US.
Popular in the US? ...
Just limiting my comment to the realm of my familiarity. I am, unfortunately, not widely traveled. :(

John
Giles: "We few, we happy few."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
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Post by Jeff Guevin »

jsluder wrote:
Jeff Guevin wrote:
jsluder wrote: ... so popular in the US.

Popular in the US? ...
Just limiting my comment to the realm of my familiarity. I am, unfortunately, not widely traveled. :(

John
I didn't mean to correct what you said, but rather to add to it--I was both pleased and dismayed, in my very limited travel experience, to find that we Americans aren't the only shallow/easily amused people on earth.

I generally find making my opinion known makes me feel very important. :oops:
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Post by Nanohedron »

Weltschmerz.

Literally, "world-pain": the sorrow one feels and accepts as one's necessary portion in life; sentimental pessimism. (from Webster)

See my reality post in the prose competition. :wink:
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Post by Bloomfield »

Before you get to Hubraum, Waldschrat, and Zwickmühle you haven't lived. Not to mention Schotter, baumeln and Futterneid.

:roll:
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Post by Nanohedron »

Bloomfield wrote:Before you get to Hubraum, Waldschrat, and Zwickmühle you haven't lived. Not to mention Schotter, baumeln and Futterneid.

:roll:
So give, already.
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Post by Bloomfield »

Nanohedron wrote: So give, already.
No. You didn't ask nicely enough.
/Bloomfield
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Post by Nanohedron »

Bloomfield wrote:
Nanohedron wrote: So give, already.
No. You didn't ask nicely enough.
Bitte?
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Post by Pat Cannady »

No one could accuse them of lacking in humor. They have ways of making you laugh.
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Post by Bloomfield »

Nanohedron wrote:
Bloomfield wrote:Before you get to Hubraum, Waldschrat, and Zwickmühle you haven't lived. Not to mention Schotter, baumeln and Futterneid.

:roll:
So give, already.
All right, all right.

Hubraum: cubic capacity, as of a motor in a car

Waldschrat=uncommon word for a scary monster living in the forest (Wald). Noone know what they look like, but they're ugly.

Zwickmühle: No English equivalent. Catch 22 comes closest I guess. It refers to having to chose only between two evils, or the inability to extricate oneself from a bad situation. Derives from a board game in which players place or move pieces trying to get three in a row (called a "Mühle" or mill), which enables you to remove one of your opponent's pieces.

Schotter: crushed rock, used on roads or walkways.

Baumeln: To dangle, as you would swinging from a tree limb (from Baum = tree).

Futterneid: lit. "fodder envy" that is, the jealous competition over food, esp. among siblings.
/Bloomfield
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Post by Nanohedron »

What I want to know is what in the blazes is fahrvergnugen???

To make omelettes, you have to break eggs. To make umlauts, you have to break open the charater map. At work, I have neither.
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