Erika Mustermann - German

German

German also sports a variety of placeholders; some, as in English, contain the element Dings, Dingens (also Dingenskirchen), Dingsda, Dingsbums, cognate with English thing. Also, Kram, Krimskrams, Krempel suggests a random heap of small items, e.g. an unsorted drawful of memorabilia or souvenirs. Apparillo (from Apparat) may be used for any kind of machinery or technical equipment. In a slightly higher register, Gerät represents a miscellaneous artifact or utensil, or, in casual German, may also refer to an item of remarkable size. The use of the word Teil (part) is a relatively recent placeholder in German that has gained great popularity since the late 1980s. Initially a very generic term, it has obtained specific meaning in certain contexts. Zeug or Zeugs (compare Dings, can be loosely translated as 'stuff') usually refers to either a heap of random items that is a nuisance to the speaker, or an uncountable substance or material, often a drug. Finally, Sache, as a placeholder, loosely corresponding to Latin res, describes an event or a condition. A generic term used especially when the speaker cannot think of the exact name or number, also used in enumerations analogously to et cetera, is the colloquial schlag-mich-tot or schieß-mich-tot (literally "strike/shoot me dead", to indicate that the speaker's memory fails him/her).

The German equivalent to the English John Doe for males and Jane Doe for females would be Max Mustermann (Max Specimen) and Erika Mustermann, respectively. For the former, Otto Normalverbraucher (after the protagonist of the 1948 movie Berliner Ballade, named in turn after the standard consumer for ration cards) is also widely known. Fritz or Fritzchen is often used in jokes as a placeholder for a mischievous little boy (little Johnny). In similar vein there is Onkel Fritz (lit. Uncle Fred).

There is also Krethi und Plethi or Hinz und Kunz for everybody similar to the English Tom, Dick and Harry if not in a slightly more derogatory way. For many years, Erika Mustermann has been used on the sample picture of German ID cards (“Personalausweis”). In Austria, Max Mustermann is used instead. Sometimes the term Musterfrau is used as the last name placeholder, possibly because it is felt to be more politically correct genderwise. When referring to an "Average Joe", the names Otto Normalverbraucher and Lieschen Müller (female) are commonly used, corresponding to the American "The Joneses". Otto Normalverbraucher is taken from bureaucratic jargon of post-World War II food rationing via the name of a 1948 film character (played by Gert Fröbe), while the name Lieschen Müller became popular in the year 1961 due to the movie Der Traum von Lieschen Müller. Military jargon also includes Jäger Dosenkohl / Haumichblau (lit. "Infantryman Tin-Can-Cabbage / Beat-Me-Up") as a derogatory placeholder for the name of a (poorly-performing) recruit. In Cologne, Otto (which can also refer to a gadget) and Gerdi are popularly used for men/boys and women/girls with unknown first names. Bert also had some popularity as a placeholder for names in the past.

For remote or exotic locations, Germans use Timbuktu, Buxtehude, Walachei (the Wallachia), Weitfortistan (weit fort = far away), Dort, wo der Pfeffer wächst (Where the pepper grows), as is also known in the English language. For towns or villages in the German-speaking world, Kuhdorf or Kuhkaff or just Kaff (lit. cow village, somewhat derogatory) and Kleinkleckersdorf (lit. Little-Messy-Village), Kleinsiehstenich (lit. Little-you-don't-see-it), Hintertupfing/Hintertupfingen (usually implies that some small, rural and old-fashioned village is meant) or Dingenskirchen (Ding is German for thing and -kirchen is a common ending of village names which is derived from Kirche meaning church); in Austria Hinterdupfing is also used. Herr X. aus Y. an der Z., which derives from usage in newspapers ('Mr. X from town Y. on the river Z.'), is used occasionally. Other terms such as Bad Sonstwo an der Irgend (lit.: Somewhere-Else-Spa on the Whatever ) have been suggested. For remote and rural places there is also the term Wo Fuchs und Hase sich gute Nacht sagen (lit. 'where fox and hare tell each other good night'). The abbreviation JWD (short for ganz weit draußen in a Berlin accent that replaces /g/ with /j/), meaning 'very far away', is used for remote towns or suburbs (far from the city center). Staycations are spent on Balkonien (sounding like an island, but meaning one’s balcony) or at Bad Meingarten (sounding like a spa, but mein Garten means my garden).

For abstract large numbers the numeral suffix -zig (as in zwanzig = 20, vierzig = 40, sechzig = 60) is used like 'umpteen': Ich habe schon zigmal gesagt ('I have told you so for umpteen times'). Another way of describing an unspecified number might be drölf (mixture of 'drei(zehn)' and 'zwölf', (1)3 and 12, respectively) or, for larger numbers, drölfzig, which have both become popular rather recently. An unknown ordinal number is was-weiß-ich-wievielte/r/s ('what do I know how many-th'). Exponents of 10 are also used as in English.

Unlikely days are Sankt-Nimmerleins-Tag ('Saint Never-let Day').