| Sunday, March 18, 2007 |
| 999 Things - German is fun! |
Wow. I haven't added to my was-supposed-to-be-added-to-regularly-and-get-super-long-list. Since I am busy doing a lot of not terribly intresting things, I'll share a couple things with you that make me really happy to speak the German language. If any of you have never considered learning a second language, I highly recommend learning a few words of something just for the fun of it. Words that seem dull as dishwater in your native language will often take on a whole new light and wonder in another! Really! Taking the time to learn another language is one of the greatest gifts I have given myself. So here's a couple fun German words I'd like to gift you all with. Happy Sunday everyone :)
81. The German version of 'in the middle of nowhere' is im Arsch der Welt, which means 'in the ass of the world.'
82. A Thingamajig is a Dingsbums (when pronounced it sounds like dings-poomps). When I first got here, everything became a Dingsbums.
83. Names Jutta (sounds sorta like Utah, but with the stress on the first syllable) and Knut (K-noot). There was a story on the news a couple days ago about a baby polar bear in a German zoo, whose name is Knut. He was so adorable I've decided to replace cute with Knut, because it's just more fun to say ;)
84. Darn! = Quatsch! (Kv-ah-ch!)
85. As a knitter, I love that German patterns call picot trim Mausezähnchen (little mouse teeth).
86. Quotation marks are sometimes referred to as Gänsefüßchen or 'little goose feet'
87. All nouns are capitalized. It's amazing how things as mundane as Nosespray or a Hamsandwich (this would be a super compound Noun in German) seem more important somehow with a big, fat capital Letter.
88. Although I don't have much of a sweet tooth, one of my favourites at the bakery is a Bienenstich or 'bee sting cake' - named so because of the honey glaze on top.
89. A vacuum cleaner is a Staubsauger - literally dust-sucker.
90. If something is really great, you may hear someone say that it's Affengeil or 'horny as a monkey'!Labels: 999 Things |
posted by tatjana @ 9:22 p.m.   |
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| 11 Comments: |
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haha reminds me of the Greek language and some of the sayings...when translated to English they sound SO funny!!
I actually tried to learn german when living in Cyprus - very difficult! as a kid I had a penpal from Germany -we still keep in touch and she visited Australia twice!
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Okay. I have been sitting here saying all of these things over and over. I wish you gave a video tutorial. How funny!!!!!! Love it! Thank you oodles for all of you support and love my way! You are a wonderful sweet Bienenstich!!!!!Love, xxo, vanessa
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LOL those are funny :) We have 'muizentanden' for the picot edges and also apengeil for 'horny as a monkey'.
A vacuum cleaner is a 'stofzuiger' - also dust sucker :)
Strange how similar the two languages are really, isn't it?
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Those are great! It really is fun learning stuff in other languages.
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I love those! My dad spoke German, but all I ever learned was a couple of swear words.
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Glad you liked the poem. By the way, Knut was on BBC news last night - seems some activists want to put him down as he's too tame to be a real polar bear!! But he is just so knut!!!
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Great list! Learning new things is fun, and now I'll have a couple sayings to flip out around the table tonight. Hehe
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That was hilarious. Well, it is hilarious to me, because now I am sitting here trying to pronounce all these news words you have introduced into my vocabulary. I love the horny as a monkey one!!
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Just thinking about you!! 99 red balloons.......xxo,Vanessa
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i love this exercise of appreciating the language. we have the same saying in spanish, did you know? en el cu.. del mundo {we, argentinians use it a lot}.
i talk to fiona in spanish all the time, hope she appreciates later.
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Missy Miss!! I miss you!!! Is everything going well in your world??? How are you???
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haha reminds me of the Greek language and some of the sayings...when translated to English they sound SO funny!!
Edit CommentI actually tried to learn german when living in Cyprus - very difficult! as a kid I had a penpal from Germany -we still keep in touch and she visited Australia twice!