*ahem*

[lirazel]

Dear German language,

I love you and the fact that you have a word for everything. I also love that when there's not a word for something, you make one up by smooshing already-existing words together. I hope we get tons more loan-words from you (schadenfreude is one of the most useful words in the world!), but I hope we steal this one from you next:

fremdschämen: cringing embarrassment for the actions of others

What English says with seven words, you say with one.

SO. USEFUL.

It describes why I can't watch The Office or America's Funniest Home Videos and why I can't be friends with that one--very nice girl--from high school who I have a lot of common interests with but who makes me wince whenever she's around.

Thank you!

Umarmungen und Küsse,

Lauren

P.S. You are also the most fun language in the world to sing in.

Comments

[pamsblau.livejournal.com]

Ahem. Ich liebe Deutsch auch ja viel. The long words are just precious!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Ich liebe Deutsch, obwohl ich sprechen nur ein bischen. (See? I don't even know if I said that right!)

The long words are so fun! It's a very underrated language, I think.

[pamsblau.livejournal.com]

Yes it really is. Some people even hate it because it sounds too 'rude' to them.

Hee, almost right. It should be "...obwohl ich nur ein bisschen spreche."

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I think it's because of all the WII movies where the Nazis speach it super gutterally (did I make that word up?). I actually think French sounds really nasal and not at all pleasing to the ear, though, so I think my opinion isn't very popular.

See? I knew I would get it wrong! Thanks for the correction!

[pamsblau.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i guess so. I'm learning french and i have to say that i like the language but it is just sooo hard. Why must every single verb change in every single tense? Tell me, french, please, tell me*cries out loud* Is it too much to ask to have something simple for a change?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

That sounds awful!

[youreyesaregems.livejournal.com]

LJ PARACHUTE DROP.
I don't like how French sounds either. And German is the bestest. I'm learning Russian and its really succinct but I don't have the same feel for words that German gives me =(

/and now she parachutes out again.

[blackfrancine.livejournal.com]

Dude. In the movie Jarhead, there's a great one of those crazy German words. It means something like looking out on a horizon that goes on forever and feeling the bleakness of an uncertain future. Or something. I have no idea what the German word was--I'm gonna have to rewatch that movie someday and take note of it.

Also. I was tempted to post all the lyrics to 99 Luft Balloons here. But! Instead I give you this little gem:

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

It means something like looking out on a horizon that goes on forever and feeling the bleakness of an uncertain future

Ooooh! I must know this word!

99 Luftballoons! ICH LIEBE DIESEN SONG!

And I can't wait to get home to check out the Hoff. SILLINESS ABOUNDS!

[blackfrancine.livejournal.com]

The Hoff makes me giddy with the silliness when I watch this. Usually, I'm just embarrassed for him (um, I guess I'm feeling fremdshamen). But, when he sings in German? I sort of love him.

[magisterequitum.livejournal.com]

This is also why I love Latin.

So useful!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I know, right?

[ruuger]

We've got a word for that in Finnish too: 'myötähäpeä' :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Every language is better than ours!

That looks really gorgeous, actually. With all the umlauts.

[ruuger]

If you think that's gorgeous, how about epäjärjestelmällisyydellänsäkään or riiuuyöaie. Or maybe atomiydinenergiareaktorigeneraattorilauhduttajaturbiiniratasvaihde ;)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I still think they're beautiful! Though unwieldy! What do they mean?

[ruuger]

The first one is not really a 'real' word that anyone would actually use (and I actually mispelled it - it was supposed to be "epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydellänsäkään"). It was created by some language professor or someone to see how long can you make one word with nothing but prefixes and suffixes and means something like "not even with his/her ability to avoid being made unorganised by others".

The other two are real words, though. Riiuuyöaie means "a plan to go courting someone in hope of getting laid" and the last one is the name of some part in the turbine of a nuclear power plant :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Haha! How fun!

"a plan to go courting someone in hope of getting laid" I am so glad that word exists somewhere! Fantastic!

[marketchippie.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD, GERMAN.

I'm in a German intensive right now and it's ridiculous how much this language has taken over my life. Hysteria. It's like linguistic Legos.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

It was technically my minor, but I never learned very much of it because of bad teachers and I literally haven't used it in three or so years other than when I'm bouncing around the house singing Silbermond songs on the top of my lungs. But I love it so. Lil Sis and I are planning on moving back to Wien when she graduates (if we can find any kind of jobs at all, especially since she only speaks English and Spanish), so I need to get Rosetta Stone or something and refresh.

[marketchippie.livejournal.com]

Did you live there? (Jealous. I think I'm going this summer.)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

We both did study abroad there for a semester (though at different times). FAVORITE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY IN THE WORLD. I'm not even a city person at all, and I am MAD about it.

I hope you get to go and I can live vicariously through you! I need to do a picspam of my old pics sometime!

Your icon is so appropriate!

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Heh! That's one of the things I love best about German, too!

fremdschämen: cringing embarrassment for the actions of others

I have so totally needed this word!! Because that happens to me all the time...

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

So useful, right?

[ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com]

I don't speak German, so I'll offer some Guatemalan slang instead.

PUCHICA!

Also: fremdschämen: cringing embarrassment for the actions of others

explains why I can't watch Bones anymore and sometimes I have to skip eps of Monk.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Excellent! What's it mean?

I know! There are so many shows like that!

[ladysophiekitty.livejournal.com]

Well, apparently in El Salvador it's a "nicer version of puta, which means fuck"

but in Guatemala, it's like a "nice swearword" like damn, but it can also be used for a lot of things. Angrily, lovingly, etc. Whenever I'm upset I tend to either say hay caramba! (with the rolled r's over exaggerated) or Puchica.

[hazyflights.livejournal.com]

if it's good enough for Daniel Brühl

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I thought you would enjoy that! LOOK AT HIM. SO ADORABLE.

And yay--I know what movie that's from!

[bobthemole.livejournal.com]

I have a text file on my hard drive somewhere, called "strange german words". I collect them like tchotchkes. Let me dig it up...

Weltanschauung-A German term referring to a person's worldview or philosophy.

Schlimmbesserung--the attempted improvement that actually makes things much, much worse

gedankenexperiment - thought experiment. but it sounds cooler.

Schnurrbart - moustache

Sehnsucht - longing for a place that is missing or non-existing

Saudade - nostalgia with hope that a thing will return



Got any more?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Those are so great! I have some more somewhere, but not here at work...

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

"Fremdschämen" ist ein extrem nützliches Wort, genau wie "notgeil" und "harmoniesüchtig". :)

Most of the time though, the feeling is mutual and English often seems to have more words for me. Also german is a terrible language to write porn in.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Ich weiß! Extrem nützliches.

"notgeil" und "harmoniesüchtig". :)

Was ist das?

(I desperately wish my German was better. I need to work on it.)

I'm sure that's true--any time you learn a new language, I imagine you find lots of useful words you wish your language had.

Also german is a terrible language to write porn in.

*sporfle*

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

The language that gave me that experience was yiddish. :)

Notgeil means horny, only it geil on it's own means horny, the not makes clear that the person is desperate for a shag.

harmoniesüchtig means addicted to harmony, it's a word for a person who can't have a proper fight and tries to smooth over everything and pretend everything is fine just to avoid conflict.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! Yiddish has a lot of great words like that!

Ha! Too funny!

And I am definitely harmoniesüchtig. It's one of my flaws, so I'm glad I have a word for it now!

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

What an excellent word to co-opt! That is exactly why I can't watch I Love Lucy and The Office.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, there are lots of episodes of Lucy that I can't wait either, and The Office makes me cringe more than I can say.

[jennylayne.livejournal.com]

fremdschämen: cringing embarrassment for the actions of others


I also suffer from this, hated Bridget Jone's Diary for exactly that reason, and "The Office" bothers me too. Good to know there is an actual word for it.

[beloved-77.livejournal.com]

You are also the most fun language in the world to sing in.

It *so* is, right? :-)