German Terms Rarely Used in English
If a term in this list is common in a particular academic discipline, then please move it to one of the lists above.
- Ampelmännchen
- Besserwisser. Someone who always "knows better."
- Eierlegende Wollmilchsau, literally "egg-laying wool-milk-sow", a jack of all trades
- Fahrvergnügen meaning "driving pleasure"; originally, the word was introduced in a Volkswagen advertising campaign in the U.S., one tag line was: "Are we having Fahrvergnügen yet?". Caused widespread puzzlement when it was used in television commercials with no explanation.
- Gastarbeiter — a German "guest worker" or foreign-born worker
- Götterdämmerung, literally "Twilight of the Gods", can refer to a disastrous conclusion of events such as the defeat of Nazi Germany that had an ideology in part based on Norse mythology; an allusion to the title of the Wagner opera.
- Kobold — a small mischievous fairy creature, traditionally translated as "Goblin", "Hobgoblin", and "Imp"; the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons has included reptilian Kobolds (as well as creatures called "Goblins", "Imps" and "Hobgoblins" in completely separate forms) as part of the bestiary for a number of editions, including the current edition, D&D 4th Edition. Kobold is also the origin of the name of the metal cobalt.
- Ordnung muss sein — "order must be", or, less literally, "tidiness is a necessity", a common phrase illustrating the great importance that German culture traditionally places on this aspect of life
- Schmutz (smut, dirt, filth). This term is, however, particularly popular in New York, reflecting the influence of the Yiddish language.
- ... über alles (originally "Deutschland über alles" (this sentence was meant originally to propagate a united Germany instead of small separated German Territories only); now used by extension in other cases, as in the Dead Kennedys song California Über Alles). This part (or rather, the whole first stanza) of the Deutschlandlied (Song of the Germans) is not part of the national anthem today, as it is thought to have been used to propagate the attitude of racial and national superiority in Nazi Germany, as in the phrase "Germany over all".
- Vorsprung durch Technik ('competitive edge through technology'): used in an advertising campaign by Audi, to suggest technical excellence
- Zweihänder, two-handed sword
Read more about this topic: German Loan Words
Famous quotes containing the words german, terms, rarely and/or english:
“Should the German people lay down their arms, the Soviets ... would occupy all eastern and south-eastern Europe together with the greater part of the Reich. Over all this territory, which with the Soviet Union included, would be of enormous extent, an iron curtain would at once descend.”
—Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945)
“Women have acquired equal place to man in society, but the double standard has really never been relinquished; certainly not by men. Modern man’s fear of passivity or of the active woman proves to be as eternal as modern woman’s struggle to come to terms with her femininity.”
—Peter Blos (20th century)
“A woman one loves rarely suffices for all our needs, so we deceive her with another whom we do not love.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“He that would the daughter win
Must with the mother first begin.”
—17th-century English proverb, collected in J. Ray, English Proverbs (1670)