this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023

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What are your favorite examples of German words making it into English? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by nodimetotie@lemmy.world to c/germany@feddit.de

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[–] scorpionix@feddit.de 39 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Schadenfreude

Zeitgeist

Kindergarten

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Haven't heard Schadenfreude, good one to know

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[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 36 points 9 months ago (7 children)

I prefer English words making it incorrectly into German. "Getting a handy from your buddy at a public viewing" is totally innocent in German.

[–] Magnetar@feddit.de 11 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, I brought the beamer in my body bag.

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Beamer is a projector, right?

[–] Magnetar@feddit.de 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yep.

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[–] Krachsterben@feddit.de 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

My friend in Australia is a doctor studying psychiatry and he kept asking me what certain worlds meant and half the time I had no idea what they were or how to explain them lol.

Very random. Here's a wiki list but I remember there were some others too

Anwesenheit

Dermatozoenwahn

Entgleisen

Gedankenlautwerden

Mitgehen

Mitmachen

Pfropfschizophrenie

Schnauzkrampf

Wahneinfall

Verstimmung

vorbeigehen; vorbeireden

Witzelsucht

Würgstimme

Word salad/Wortsalat

Zeitraffer

Zeitlupenwahrnehmung

It's kind of interesting to see the long lasting effect of Germans pioneering the medical field for a very brief time in history.

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[–] admin@sh.itjust.works 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think doppelgänger is the most spread one.

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's a good one!

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[–] Pancito@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Gesundheit

Poltergeist

Spiel

Stool ( Stuhl )

Rucksack

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Good ones! Rucksack is interesting because it also exists as a backpack, which is literally the translation of rucksack.

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[–] this_is_router@feddit.de 16 points 9 months ago (2 children)

For the chess people: Zugzwang and Zwischenzug!

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[–] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 16 points 9 months ago

Zeitgeist

Spiel

Schadenfreude

Kindergarten

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.de 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, which however, were not discovered by the well known mathematician Eigen. Ansatz ist also commonly used in research articles.

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

It's funny how both the German and English stems from the whole word.

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[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Iceberg

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Really?

[–] PlexSheep@feddit.de 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

I mean the English usually don't call mountains Berg, right? Berg is German for mountain. Ice of course being Eis. And we like compound words.

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[–] ook_the_librarian@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Gift. No wait

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[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I guess mine would be kaput

[–] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Kaputt*

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[–] EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's ok, just tell us when it's working again

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[–] Froyn@kbin.social 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

As an American: Hamburger

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

I guess Wieners and Frankfurters would also count

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Meister

Gestalt

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Gestalt is an awesome word

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[–] uebquauntbez@feddit.de 11 points 9 months ago

(German) Angst Apfelstrudel Kindergarten Oberlichte ...

[–] the_wise_wolf@feddit.de 11 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Bremsstrahlung

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[–] dukatos@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Halt!

[–] Magnetar@feddit.de 13 points 9 months ago

Hammerzeit!

[–] greeny@feddit.de 9 points 9 months ago

Zugzwang

[–] ebikefolder@feddit.de 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Abseiling

[–] voodoocode@feddit.de 5 points 9 months ago

First orderly an abseiling

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[–] gandalf_der_12te@feddit.de 9 points 9 months ago (7 children)

In mathematics:

Eigenvektor

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[–] XurXipXiZap@feddit.de 8 points 9 months ago

Doppelgänger

[–] viking@infosec.pub 8 points 9 months ago

Abseil.

[–] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 9 months ago

"Ouch"

[–] Lotec4@feddit.de 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Weltschmerz

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[–] tkonicz@feddit.de 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Nagelbrett. https://coenbrothers.fandom.com/wiki/Nagelbett

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[–] CoconutKnight@feddit.de 4 points 9 months ago

Does "Neuschwanstein" count? As in the castle in bavaria. Because I find it amusing how native english speakers just stumple over the pronounciation. Also "Gesamtkunstwerk" because it seems kinda superflous.

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