Okay, I know Thanksgiving is a time to wax sappy and poetic about the people (my family, friends, teachers at Agricola, sometimes my students, and you, vague Internet lurker, reading my blog instead of eating turkey) and the things (Skype, Ritter Sport, the Nischel, dense novels, and perfectly mixed brownie batter), for which you're most thankful, but I'm not going to be that person.
Instead, I'm going to share the 10 German words whose sheer existence brings me joy. (I've also linked the word to an online dictionary with a pronunciation guide, so you can work on learning one or two of them to impress relatives at Christmas.)
10) Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude is one of those glorious words that German has and English doesn't have. It's now totally overused (and sometimes even misused) in English. Of course, it made its way to English because it perfectly describes the glee you feel when someone else screws up or is in pain. It's a wonderful word for an utterly malicious feeling.
At first, I wasn't going to include on the list, but then I was in class with my 12th graders who are struggling valiantly through Shakespeare. We were having a discussion about the characters of A Midsummer Night's Dream and one of my students was trying to say that a character was feeling happy because of the other character's problems. She looked at me after struggling to say this and said: "What's the word for that, you know, Schadenfreude, in English?"
To which I said simply: "Yeah, we use Schadenfreude, too. We don't have a word for that in English."
9) na ja
Okay, technically it means, "oh well", but na ja serves as the perfect filler word, not unlike "like" in English. But, paired with a shrug, it also conveys the perfect amount ambivalence when someone asks you a question.
8) Really, really long German words
German is a strange and wonderful language, filled with compound words that are jammed into other compound words, just because....well, because Germans can.
For example:
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
It roughly translates to "the law for the delegation of the monitoring of beef labeling". For many years, with its 63 letters, it was the longest German word, but it was actually retired this year when the law became obsolete. (For inquiring minds, here's a link that teaches you how to pronounce it.)
But of course, this job as "Danube steamship company captain" is still available:
Donaudampfschiffahrtgesellschaftskapitän
7) Kummerspeck
Another word that doesn't exist in English: the weight you gain from emotional eating. Literally translated as "comfort bacon", because apparently kummerschokolade wasn't good enough?
6) Treppenwitz
Yet another word we desperately need in English: the witty comeback you think of waaaay too late. The word conveys the image of someone walking down the stairs (Treppen) (probably away from the argument) and then thinking of a good comeback.
5) bummeln
Although it's often translated as sauntering, traipsing, or strolling (all of which are wonderful English words), bummeln is more than just sauntering through town or through a store. It is a deliberate careless and pointless wandering that is relaxed and also not in any way negative or connoting laziness. Also, it's fun to say.
4) naschen
Although snack is a great English word, the German version, naschen is also great. Usually it means you like to snack or nibble on sweet things, but the word itself is very onomatopoeic.
A person with a face you just want to punch or slap.
There's really nothing else I can say except that English linguists dropped the ball on this one by not giving us a tidy English equivalent
2) Fremdscham
Another word that needs to exist in English - the feeling of being embarrassed for someone else, usually a stranger. The closest thing we have in English is sympathy or empathy, but both of those lack the painful reality of being vicariously embarrassed by someone.
1) Handschuh
It's simple. Hand = hand, schuh = shoe.
Shoe for your hand = glove.
It's still my favorite German word because, like Germans themselves, it's honest (to the point of being obvious) and practical.
I hope you all enjoyed these fun German words and I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving with your loved ones. I had a very fun Thanksgiving my roommates here (even though I screwed up the cranberry sauce)!
Lots of Love (and Turkeys),
Your Humble Blogger
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