How’s that for a bit of “Kopfkino”? The “I bet you can’t come up with a one word translation for this” categoryĭer Ohrwurm – ear worm: When a song gets stuck in your head, it crawls around in there all day. It literally translates as “through fall”. The Germans, however, seem to think it comes from the wind, which is why they call them “wind pox”.ĭer Durchfall – diarrhea: This one is definitely the grossest one on my list. In German you can call it “the French disease”.ĭie Windpocken – chicken pox: When coming up with the name for this illness in English, people thought it looked like someone was pecked by a chicken. “Tollwut” therefore is “crazy rage”.ĭie französische Krankheit – syphilis: The English language has a few alternate names for the French disease, but they aren’t nearly as much fun. Diseases and Illnessesĭie Tollwut – rabies, great rage: The “Toll” in “Tollwut” doesn’t mean great, but “crazy”. The German, however, call this “hip gold”, which I find to be much more pleasant. A pair tire, muffin top or love handles are just a few options. It is the thing you give to the dragon to tame them.ĭas Hüftgold – extra fat around the midsection: We have a ton of words for this in English. It literally translates as “dragon feed”. You now have a “Kopfkino” of a “Kopfkino”.ĭas Drachenfutter – a gift given to a loved one as an apology: This word turns your loved-ones into dragons. Now that you know what it is, you can imagine the “Kopfkino”. It is like watching the scenario in your head. There is a relatively close English word “pipe dream”.ĭas Kopfkino – playing a scenario out in your mind: This one comes with a revolving door of an image. A “Zungenbrecher” is a “tongue breaker”.ĭas Luftschloss – a dream that will likely never come true: Literally this is an “air castle”. Take away the clothes and you have a “naked snail”, “Nacktschnecke”.ĭer Zungenbrecher – tongue twister: In German tongue twisters don’t just twist your tongue. Germans apparently see it more as clothing. I always considered the shell of a snail to be like carrying its home on its back. Words that are fun if you know their originĪwesome German Compound Nouns That are Greater than the Sum of Their Parts.ĭie Nacktschnecke – slug: This is literally a “naked snail”.German words that sound like English words that the German word is not.The “I bet you can’t come up with a one word translation for this” category.Awesome German Compound Nouns That are Greater than the Sum of Their Parts.
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