my native language is German – I publish a daily news letter at http://paper.li/frizztext/1341655486 – so I was amused as I noticed that many German words are understood in USA and other countries for example Kaffeeklatsch, Autobahn, Kindergarden, Wunderkind, Gemutlichkeit etc. – do you understand one of the following words too? Write a comment or a question: Kitsch – kaputt – Muesli – Sauerkraut – Alpenglow – kaffeklatsching – Edelweiss – Bratwurst – Gummibear – Nixe – Weltschmerz – Glockenspiel – Rollmops – Wanderlust – Lust – Angst – U-boat – zigzag – Schweinehund – Kinderfeindlichkeit – Landflucht – verboten –
photo by frizztext, click on the picture to enter his galleries on flickr. Write a comment or a question…
related:
http://www.langweiledich.net/2012/09/deutsche-worter-im-ausland/
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https://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/germany-stereotypes/
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Flickr Comments 
Kitsch – kaputt – Muesli- Sauerkraut – these words are all commonly used in American English. So are Edelweiss – Bratwurst – verboten – Glockenspiel – – Wanderlust – Lust – Angst – U-boat – zigzag – Schweinehund – verboten –
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I remember stories about U-boats navigating a zigzag to escape the followers; they lost of course their wanderlust and angst was the rule.
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Reblogged this on Ralphie´s Portal and commented:
My favourite is: vollidioten bestendig!
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only vollidioten start a blitzkrieg!
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Genau.
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ich verstehe einige – verboten, lust, autobahn, kindergarten, kaputt, sauerkraut, angst, Edelweiss, muesli, wanderlust
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it is verboten to drive with lust without any angst to fast (while eating sauerkraut, bratwurst or muesli behind the driver’s wheel) on the autobahn – because the car might have an accident – and then the automobile is kaputt!
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Nice one! Did you come up with that 🙂
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sorry that I do not have any photos of sauerkraut, muesli or bratwurst but once I featured a photo with the topic angst:
title=”Como el perro y el gato” photo by Fotourbana, click on the picture to enter his galleries on Flickr
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Ups! I certainly feel angst with this photo
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me too, because in a former life I’ve been a cat for sure!
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love it! And the photo . I like what you saw.
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what a loverly picture
but what discuss the pretty girls ?
:-)) wolfgang
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probably about Kindergarden, for sure not about Blitzkrieg – but maybe something about Landflucht or even about the inner Schweinehund?
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i have it :
they are speaking about schnäppchen
(nur männer haben einen inneren schweinehund –
frauen sind zu listig dafür)
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Mein Mr. Green bezog sich auf deine Antwort von deepa und ist leider an die falsche Stelle gesprungen.
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“Das Boot” gefilmt in einem U-Boot, hat mich damals zutiefst beeindruckt und ich war heilfroh, dass mein Mann auf einem Zerstörer durch die Welt geschippert ist und nicht in einem U-Boot.
Heute ist ein Tag, da muss ich meinen inneren Schweinehund überwinden, denn der Hund muss ja bewegt werden.
Einen schönen Restsonntag mit viel Gemütlichkeit wünscht allen
magdalena
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Hi Frizz,.I do understand: kaffeeklatsch, kitsch, kaputt, autobahn, kindergarden, muesli, sauerkraut, Bratwurst, Verboten…And also I am able to say very politely, Eine .Wiessbier bitte,…Ja, Grosse bitte!!!
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when we visited Bavaria – nearly a separated state in Germany –
I saw this in a beergarden near the Oktoberfest:
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:)….That is nice!!!!
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You are right! I knew almost all the words on your list and if anyone had asked me if I knew German I would have said, “Nein!”
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when I once was in a foreign country, The Netherlands, they tried me to explain a no-go / NO / NEIN we say in Germany:
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What a cool sign! I assume it means cigarettes and cigars are ok, but not pipes!
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compare:
title=”I don’t know, what this sign means. Do you have any idea? by Werner Schnell Images (2.stream), on Flickr”
sent to my group BLOG IT!
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I love your blog and your language! My father long since deceased was from Bavaria- I wish I had paid more attention when I was younger- was is it like a separate country please?
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Germany is a union of 16 states (Bundesländer) but Bavaria (very proud!) often considered to quit that construction to be an own state again (like 200 years before) like Switzerland or Austria … – they talk in a little different style in Bavaria too …
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Yes I love the Deutsch accent but didn’t care when I was a child- I do now! Thank you for the explanation Frizz
Kathryn
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a typical Bavarian mind: religious, orthodox, too proud, called the “pitbull of morality” (in England) – the German shepherd (in Italy) = “der deutsche Schäfer(hund)”
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I love Bratwurst und Sauerkraut. 🙂 I did learn German at school, but not having spoken it since, so unfortunately mein Deutsch ist etwas eingerostert. 😦
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we have many rusty things (we say eingerostet) in Germany:
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😀
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once I wrote about stereotypes:
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title=”Die Deutschen” photo by giancarlo rado
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I will not eat bratwurst, sauerkraut of rollmops – it is verboten!
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could you really eat, what bakers in Germany usually offer?
it seems that a man-eater is inside of many Germans!
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Bakers – yes please! butchers – no thanks!
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Got all of them but 3 – probably because I’m a Heinz 57…
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yes Heinz or Fritz, Kurt or Karl, Gretel or Kunigunde are very German names!
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The joke in our house is that we have so many nationalities in our bloodline (English, scots, Irish, French, German, Prussian, polish, Mongolian, Spanish, First Nations – and that is only in the last 300 years) that we are like the old marketing campaign from Heinz ” 57 varieties” which has come to mean anything that is comprised or mixed from a lot of parts or origins… Much like your wonderful words! Wouldn’t mind being a Fritz or a Kunigunde though, they have bold personalities!
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yes and sometimes I call me Heinz (if I’m doing, what Fritz never would do) …
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Great idea!
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My hubby’s favorite German word – Bratwurst! 😉 Mine would be Springerli, then muesli. When we were first married, we lived next door to a couple about the age of our parents. The husband was American, the wife German, met during WW II. Oh, the wonderful food she would cook and share with us, not to mention an occasional bottle of German wine on New Year’s Eve.
Thanks for visiting my blog and for following. May you have a good week ahead.
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I’m amused that YOU call yourself bearfoot – are you walking barefoot? if you have paws bigger than our cat: compliment, better than to be a “Hasenfuß” as we say in German: someone with the escaping feet (and anxious soul) of a hare …
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Yes, I walk barefoot a lot but mostly in the house, rarely outside. Although I cannot find any such documentation on the Internet, we “Hoosiers” (natives of Indiana) are always teased about being barefoot, sort of “who we are” or part of our personality. I don’t know how to explain it. Hubby certainly doesn’t go barefoot. As for the bear Gravatar, I have always had a fascination with bears and things that depict bears. 🙂
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Sweet! ♥
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Everyone needs a teddy! 😉
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and I adore your behavior to walk barefoot mostly!
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The german language is quite easy to understand – but to orientate in Germany is not easy – because when you are driving on one of the motorways in Germany then you find out that almost all cities are called “Ausfahrt” and the rest is called “Stau”… 🙂 😉
– nur Spaß machen… 🙂 😉
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🙂
still looking for the any key…
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How impressive that you have a daily news letter! I was not familiar with Kaffeklatsch. I looked it up and am glad I know it’s translation now. I used to park at “Heinz Field” or the Heinz plant when I worked (and lived) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). I have traveled to and worked in many countries, but as far as Germany I’ve only been to the Frankfurt airport or driven quickly through.
My native language is English, but I should be fluent in Japanese (it’s a shame I am not), I know basics. I believe many people know “sushi, arigato, sayonara, sake, etc.) I should be fluent in Spanish since I took classes in high school, but I only remember basics.
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olé let’s eat sushi! I also know: Yamaha, Kamikaze, Harakiri, Hamamatsu, Fukushima, and: 1-愛 2-集まる 3-誘惑 4-切望 5-恋 6-共感 7-踊る 8-手にキス 9-賛美者 10-熱狂 11-うずき 12-情熱 13-魅力的 14-栄える 15-許す
more at
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wonderful how the german people generously spread their favourite words around the globe … i know most of them, but did not realise zigzag was german … thanks for that one, an essential!!!
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we spell zick zack and ambrose bierce explained: “To move forward uncertainly, from side to side, as one carrying (a big) burden” – like me, searching for a daily blog topic … maybe today I’ll write about a jukebox …
P.S.:
yesterday I saw a picture in the internet, introducing a donkey in Pakistan, who was fallen on his side: carrying a too large burden of stones on his back – sad…
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I think you listed verboten twice. In this time of globalization, languages often melt together; especially in slang. Great post.
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yes that’s verboten – I’ve deleted my big failure (as I deleted my youtube and soundcloud accounts) and listed that word now only once! music is verboten in Germany: un-payable fucking copyright restrictions!
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copyright battle:
music industry vs. the people
http://www.taz.de/!105743/
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Kitsch – kaputt – Muesli – Sauerkraut – Alpenglow – Edelweiss (thanks to The Sound of Music) – Bratwurst – Gummibear – Glockenspiel – Wanderlust – Lust – Angst – U-boat – zigzag – verboten – …. and one of my favourite German words ever, uber!
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uber = über? like above my head = über meinem kopf?
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Yeah, sorry, I knew it had an accent in German but I don’t know how to find them on my keyboard. It’s used in English to mean something is even better than the best, or even greater than great, like “this post is uber cool”.
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uber = ueber = über = super = more than = hyper-hyper?
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Yeah, I’d say so.
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So true about German words in the US–My favorite is Shadenfreude. Actually, it is not my favorite in terms of wanting to see the misfortune of others, but, instead, in the fact that this word exists in German that accurately describes a feeling very common in the USA.
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I wrote about Schadenfreude:
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This is a beautiful picture. Easier to remember for me are the food words.
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Kindergarden (We have kindergardens in Mexico, I went to a kindergarden named “Jardín de niños del Pedregal” in Mexico City), Gummibear (a delicious fruity candy), muesli (there is a cereal which brand name is muesli, so I understand that muesli consists in a plate with oats, fruit and nuts), zigzag (we use it in Spanish language to describe a movement), I understand lust and angst because of my knowledge of English language, but we don´t use it in Spanish language
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kindergarten on the road again:
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Oh! What a lovely photo!
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Kaffe and Kuchen [after] Kirche 🙂
It’s a funny thing in our house we always love to say … “It’s Freitag !!!! ” announcing the joy of thinking about the weekend ahead 😉
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we enjoyed on a Freitag (friday)
at 4 p.m. in Berlin:
Kaffee (coffee) and Kuchen (cake)
with Klavier (piano):
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Sehr Gut 🙂
Thinking about it … we are off to Berlin on a mini break next week …perhaps we shall do that ! christkndlmarkt …gluhwein..bratwurst mit sempf (?) ..Ja Ja 😉
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Glühwein mit Bratwurst mit Senf –
take care of your belly!
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oops dropped in ‘i’ christkindlmarkt
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Weltanshauung, Kulturbanause, Donkey Chain, Gesundheit, Doppleganger, Wunderkind, Wunderbar, Fahrvergnugen, Baurishe Motor Werkse.
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Doppelganger, Bayerische Motoren-Werke = BMW
Donkey Chain: English
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