There’s an English idiom that states;
“If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid”.
Something similar to that can be said about the German language’s ability to form compound words.
Now, could you please humour me and let me know if there is one word that could describe a person who is too afraid to swim in the centre of a pool, can only take hot showers, always forgets their gym bag, and takes joy in the misery of others? 😆
Ah, I’m afraid that’s where even the German language reaches its limits.
As soon as you try to convey several separate notions in one word and you’re forced to use “and” in it, it breaks the word. A fine example is the word previously mentioned in this thread:
“Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz”
It’s a law (Gesetz) on the assignment (Übertragung) of tasks (Aufgaben) concerning the supervision (Überwachung) of cattle identification (Rinderkennzeichnung) AND the labelling (Etikettierung) of beef (Rindfleisch). Hence the “und” in there.
In other words, German compound words are very specific and usually don’t carry more than one meaning, I’m sorry to say. :)
German kids like inventing nonsensical words like that.
My favorite one I remember from my childhood is “Bettdeckenbezugsschonersonnenblumenmusterwebfehler”. Which roughly translates to: A weaving flaw in the sunflower pattern on a bed sheet cover.
There’s a word for what is happening: Gleichschaltung
The Germans really do have a fucking word for everything, don’t they?
We do, because it’s very easy to construct new and rather specific nouns in the German language.
The famous “Schadenfreude” is nothing else but a combination of “Schaden” (damage) and “Freude” (joy).
Wanna mildly insult someone…
There are countless synonyms like that, it even used to be some kind of trend inventing new ones.
In short, I think we Germans are expert “Wortneuschöpfer” (creators of new words).
There’s an English idiom that states; “If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid”.
Something similar to that can be said about the German language’s ability to form compound words.
Now, could you please humour me and let me know if there is one word that could describe a person who is too afraid to swim in the centre of a pool, can only take hot showers, always forgets their gym bag, and takes joy in the misery of others? 😆
Ah, I’m afraid that’s where even the German language reaches its limits.
As soon as you try to convey several separate notions in one word and you’re forced to use “and” in it, it breaks the word. A fine example is the word previously mentioned in this thread:
“Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz”
It’s a law (Gesetz) on the assignment (Übertragung) of tasks (Aufgaben) concerning the supervision (Überwachung) of cattle identification (Rinderkennzeichnung) AND the labelling (Etikettierung) of beef (Rindfleisch). Hence the “und” in there.
In other words, German compound words are very specific and usually don’t carry more than one meaning, I’m sorry to say. :)
I mean… In this context it is easy for, since we seen this one through already.
they have experience in these matters.
Yeah, but they just stitch words together by skipping the space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinderkennzeichnungs-_und_Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
German kids like inventing nonsensical words like that.
My favorite one I remember from my childhood is “Bettdeckenbezugsschonersonnenblumenmusterwebfehler”. Which roughly translates to: A weaving flaw in the sunflower pattern on a bed sheet cover.